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

[Cats Cradle]

So excited to see all the progress. I honestly have not even looked at my incubator today. The last ones I set I drove myself crazy on days 19 and 20 looking for pips. So I promised myself that I would not even start looking until late tomorrow. So I am living vicariously through everyone's stories and pictures...so keep em coming!

Wow! That is an amazing level of self control! I *might* be able to pull that off with something I was hatching routinely or had access to plenty of. No way could I have made myself do that this time, for too many reasons. I'd waited months just to get the Andalusion eggs. And the muscovies... not only had they been in there FOREVER (34 days now) but this is my first time ever hatching anything other than a chicken. Add to that the fact that the time muscovies are lost is usually during lockdown... I HAD to watch! Although, when I asked the guy I got them from how long they take from pip to starting to zip and he said he didn't know... he usually just checks on them the day he thinks they will come out of the bator and they're all dry and fluffy then!

Anyways... I am seriously impressed. I'll try that sometime and I'll let you know how long I make it!

 

[Cats Cradle]

Hi everyone!

First... congrats on all the chicks hatched so far! I've enjoyed everyone of the pics... keep them coming!!!

Now my update... Smudgie is doing well this morning. We had another really rough afternoon and now she has her very own thread in the emergencies section. I got some great tips from some awesome experts! One person mentioned oxygen and that gave me the idea of taking her outside for fresh air and I think it did her some good. Later she had a little heavy breathing spell and I took her out and sat on the porch with her and her breathing returned to normal. I'm sure that air is better for her than the inside air.

This morning she actually walked just a bit... it was when I had her on the table for a feeding. I set her in her spot and before I could get set to feed her she walked a few steps to my arm and cuddled. I put her back and she did it again! I tried offering the food and she looked at it, but wasn't ready to eat on her own right then, but at least she looked at it. So... I'm very hopeful that she'll have a good day today!

As far as my eggs... nothing hatched yet. But I have 3 pipped Muscovies. The first one to pip is starting to SLOWLY zip. AND I have 5 pipped Andalusians!!! So finally some progress!!!

Looking forward to hearing all your updates today and seeing lots of pics!!!

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Cats Cradle....did the vet ever tell you what exactly is wrong with Smudgie?

I know that is is like to nurse them...trust me, you will get if you have not already gotten more attached to them. I had a little Naked Neck that ended up with a head injury that caused her to have seizures...I nursed her for days and when it became apparent she was never going to be able to be in the flock with the others and the seizures were happening every 10 minutes or so we had to do the humane thing and put her down. It was very saddening.

Well I just looked at my incubator, and got all excited because I saw a pip, got the flashlight to take a better look and it turns out it is just a little extra build up of shell/calcium on the egg. BOOOO I know better than to just sit there watch now because I think my mind starts playing tricks on my and I think I see the eggs move, then I think I hear them. One day a few hatches ago on day 19 I kept hearing this chirp, so I would go sit in front of the incubator and wait and listen. After several hours of doing this on and off the whole day I finally realized the chirp was from a wild bird sitting on the fence post outside the house. lol

I also run my incubator at 99.4, so somewhat cooler than what other people run, this does change the incubation period. I did have on my first hatch have some pip on the night of day 20 and hatch in the early morning hours of day 21, the others were into day 22 before they hatched. 99.4 is what my Brinsea directions say. I also have a cooling off feature that mimics the momma hen getting off the nest to go eat and what not. This feature actually drops the humidity and heat for 2 hours every 24 hours. The directions say to start this feature on day 7 and end it on day 18. I usually try to candle during those times as well.

So last night when I went in my larger coop to count heads and tuck them in for the night, I started panic because my white rock hen was not in her crate with her babies...I was looking everywhere for the three of them...finally found her in a nesting box, so guess what she has left that crate on her own. Now I have it open for one of my broodies. I think I might move her there tonight with a few eggs and lock her in...then maybe tomorrow night I can slip one of my incubator chicks in there with her and she will thing she hatched it. One less to go to the brooder and one more automatically integrated into the flock. I think I will do this with my Naked Neck hen, Nancy....she has been broody the longest of the two and has not had a baby yet...the other one Onxy already had 4 this spring.

Okay...well three cheers for more hatches today!

 

[Cats Cradle]

Cats Cradle....did the vet ever tell you what exactly is wrong with Smudgie?

Not specifically. I think he felt it could be a variety of things, although Cocci was very likely. He would have run a fecal, but even though she rode in the car for over 2 hours to get there she hadn't provided one. (One of the concerns was her digestive tract was slowed way down... she was basically shutting down.) Since we really didn't know what we were dealing with for sure, he prescribed Albon because it treats cocci as well as bacterial infections. So it covered multiple bases.

I'm still pretty sure it was Cocci, but not sure why she got so sick so fast AFTER a full day on Corid. She wasn't even the hunchiest of the chicks we bought in, and the others bounced right back. Maybe she had more of the little guys in her system and reacted to a rapid die off? I think that's my best guess, but I really don't know.

I'm sorry to hear about your naked neck. It is hard when we loose the ones we've gotten to know better.

 

[gvolkert]

Day 21 - my hatched little peep is in a brooder now all alone. Three of the four remaining eggs in the bator are quitters. There was an awful stink in the bator and so I quickly pulled each out and candled. Two of them were stinkers and one was clearly a quitter. I put the fourth on back in because it looked link it might have pipped internally. I not feeling very confident about this last one since it seems my thermometer is off and the entire hatch has probably been 1 degree high. Given that the one chick that's out pipped early and hatched early I think I might just go ahead and start my new eggs tonight.

I've learned a lot from my first hatch and am hopeful my new knowledge will pay off with the next hatch.


Cats Cradle, I am glad to hear that Smudgie is improving and that you have a bunch of pips.

WyoChickenMamma, I hope you see some pips and zips soon

 

[Cats Cradle]

Day 21 - my hatched little peep is in a brooder now all alone. Three of the four remaining eggs in the bator are quitters. There was an awful stink in the bator and so I quickly pulled each out and candled. Two of them were stinkers and one was clearly a quitter. I put the fourth on back in because it looked link it might have pipped internally. I not feeling very confident about this last one since it seems my thermometer is off and the entire hatch has probably been 1 degree high. Given that the one chick that's out pipped early and hatched early I think I might just go ahead and start my new eggs tonight.

I've learned a lot from my first hatch and am hopeful my new knowledge will pay off with the next hatch.


Cats Cradle, I am glad to hear that Smudgie is improving and that you have a bunch of pips.

WyoChickenMamma, I hope you see some pips and zips soon

Sorry to hear about your quitters. I'm keeping my findgers crossed for your last little egg!

The first hatch is the hardest because EVERYTHING is new. Each hatch you'll learn more! But the first hatch is also the most exciting!

I now have:
Andalusians - 4 hatched, one zipping as we speak and one with a pip.
Muscovies - 3 are pipped, 2 of which seem to make one more tiny crack every 4 hours or more. These things hatch SLOWLY.
And, Smudgie is having a good afternoon!!!!

 

[Cats Cradle]

Anybody else up watching their bator tonight?

I FINALLY have muscovies making real progress... over 36 hours after pipping. I can see three bills now. Two are making good progress! I'm sure I'll have duckies before morning and I'm not going to miss my first duckies hatch!!!

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I am up, but still have seen a pip....it is not quite day 21 for me though. I am hoping they all hatch tomorrow.

Cats Cradle...are you staying up all night?

 

[Cats Cradle]

I'm not sure how much longer I can make it. I really want to see these duckies hatch though.

Sorry you haven't seen a pip yet! I always feel better when I see the first one. My Andalusians only had a few pips when we finished the 21st day. All that hatched were technically early on the 22nd day so hang in there!

How lng have you been using the Brinsea with the cooling feature? Have you noticed any diferences?

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I have used the cooling feature for some of the hatches...I did not run it on this one, I am not really sure why, I think we just forgot this time. I also have not used it when I had staggered hatches.

I will stay up a bit longer and check again before I go to bed for pips, but I won't stay up all night. I did that with the last hatch...3 weeks ago, I stayed up all night and only had one hatch and survive...the exhaustion just added to the sadness.


I have never had ducks, but I bet they are super cute and fun to watch hatch. My neighbor has geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens and guineas...she loves them all. I just stick with the chickens.

Good luck and happy hatching... Hope you get to catch them hatch.