Setting eggs today, 6-30-12...anyone else want to join in the fun???

[Stephanie739]

There is the australorp in the top left/center

 

[gvolkert]

I'm getting paranoid now - the chick is still kinda picking along the zip line and I can see it moving. I am worried about the humidity and the possibility of shrink wrap? How common is that? The humidity is staying between 70% and 75%. Is this high enough? What if my hygrometer isn't registering correctly?

 

[Kanga77510]

I have five chicks out of 11 set eggs. One is chipped away, but nothing has happened in the hours I've been watching it. We'll see what happens. Tomorrow is the official "due date".

 

[Cats Cradle]

I'm getting paranoid now - the chick is still kinda picking along the zip line and I can see it moving. I am worried about the humidity and the possibility of shrink wrap? How common is that? The humidity is staying between 70% and 75%. Is this high enough? What if my hygrometer isn't registering correctly?

You posted about an hour ago, so chick may already be out, but in case you're still worried I thought I'd reply!

They can and do take breaks when they need to. Hatching is hard work! Also, remember the entire yolk is absorbed right at the end..literally over just the last couple of days. Sometines chicks know they need to wait just a little longer before coming out! The chick has all it needs now... air. It can survive without food and water for a couple of days so there is no rush!

Your humidy sounds great! Your chick will zip all the way around until it gets back to where it started. Then it will push out! My favorite part is when they finally push hard eoungh to get their head out and straighten out the neck. Then they usually rest again. Finally they will kick free of the egg.

So... is chicky out yet? Or are you glued to your incubater watching every move?

 

[gvolkert]

Glued to my incubator - you bet. The membranes around the zip line are looking dried out and some of the feathers looked dry as well. the egg did roll a little bit and now I see there is still a little bit not zipped, but there is a crack there. The membrane in that little area is still holding the shell together.

I know I sound completely crazy to be so worked up by one little egg. I hope you can understand hope much it has helped me to know that others are going through similar pains....

I can her the chirps from the next room.... please hatch soon... please... please....

 

[Stephanie739]

I've got 11 babies of 15 eggs now. I have one other egg that is pipped, but nothing has changed in awhile. Another 2 eggs are not pipped, and the one I painted with nail polish on the crack died.

I helped a chick from its shell and it is doing great now. Looks like another blue australorp. It seemed stuck in that same place for a long time. I had 2 leghorn babies die during my last hatch when they gave up trying to get out around this same time, just a hole in the shell. I wonder if I would have been able to save them? Anyway, I didn't wait for this chick..I got him out.

I will wait on the other one that has pipped.

I have a blue barred roo baby.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I know it is so hard to watch them struggle. I have found it is best to let nature take its course. I have helped them before, but it is always hard to know just when to help and when to let them alone. One time the chick had pipped and several hours later there had not been any progress, I helped it a bit and could see that it was shrink wrapped, I was glad I helped it out. But I have also seen where people have helped and then chicks end up hatching that have deformities or other ailments. Such a hard decision to make.

Good luck with whatever you decided to do.

 

[Stephanie739]

Glued to my incubator - you bet. The membranes around the zip line are looking dried out and some of the feathers looked dry as well. the egg did roll a little bit and now I see there is still a little bit not zipped, but there is a crack there. The membrane in that little area is still holding the shell together.

I know I sound completely crazy to be so worked up by one little egg. I hope you can understand hope much it has helped me to know that others are going through similar pains....

I can her the chirps from the next room.... please hatch soon... please... please....

Right after I helped my chick out, I thought I made a mistake and wished I would have waited, but he or she is doing very well. I didn't want a repeat of my last hatch when the babies died at that point. They just gave up...

I did not hear any chirps from this chick.

I hope your baby hatches real soon

 

[Cats Cradle]

I know it is so hard to watch them struggle. I have found it is best to let nature take its course. I have helped them before, but it is always hard to know just when to help and when to let them alone. One time the chick had pipped and several hours later there had not been any progress, I helped it a bit and could see that it was shrink wrapped, I was glad I helped it out. But I have also seen where people have helped and then chicks end up hatching that have deformities or other ailments. Such a hard decision to make.

Good luck with whatever you decided to do.

I couldn't agree more. When you help and something goes wrong (frequently caused by helping too soon) it is really hard emotionally. (Trust me... been there!) When you let nature take it's course, you don't have yourself to blame. Plus, you are not perpetuating weak genes. I try to only help when I feel the problem is not related to the chick (for example low humidity) AND when really necessary. Most of the time if you just wait the chick will get out anyway.

Another consideration is the other chicks still to hatch. If you open the bator while others are still hatching, then you have dropped temp and humidity on all of the rest.

I find it really helps to sit on my hands while hatching! It is so tempting to help and usually not necessary or advisable. But of course, there are exceptions and when it's just you and your incubator you have to do what you feel is best! After all, you are the only one actually there to see what is going on!

 

[InTheJungle]

So since this is my first time ever using an incubator, I know I'm probably doing this wrong by adding an egg every day from the chickens. I can't see any thing no matter what light I use even a hole cut in cardboard over my turtle basking light. Too blotchy. The same with any store bought eggs. They look nice and white but candled there's a serious calcium problem. My brown eggs have speckles that are slowly fading since I started adding more calcium but they are getting darker brown too.

I write the laying date on the egg with a black wax pencil. We are now up to 7 chicken eggs between the two reds.

I have 2 sun conure eggs in there so far, fingers crossed one is really doing well and I can just make out the tiny red circle in the other, and today along with chicken egg#7 I added a pineapple green cheek conure egg, but had to put one of my water bottle caps in the turner because even sideways it slipped through. I set the parrot eggs on their sides.

I also added more water to the sections in the bottom. Do sponges or a sheet of foam work better? I don't want to move the tray and if I miss there are hole in the bottom were the water leaks all over my carpet. As I said, I keep the incubator under my bed.