She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[scflock]

My last one was another of those vague references. Did you catch that one?

 

[Kraftcrazychick]

The attractive one's the rooster *shudder*

Too true. I was never attracted to a man that wears a bigger bra than me.

 

[RubyNala97]

Here are some updated pics of the commune. Fabio is starting to look like a cult leader You can see that the chicks range from fluffy yellows to two week olds with wing feathers, and they were all hatched from the same nest by 3 different hens. The juvenile is a leftover from May

Love the pics, SC!! What a nice bunch you have there. Your juveniles look just like mine from May. Mine are 6 weeks old now.

 

[lazy gardener]

Too true. I was never attracted to a man that wears a bigger bra than me.

Or has prettier hair.

 

[WVduckchick]

My last one was another of those vague references. Did you catch that one?

Too true. I was never attracted to a man that wears a bigger bra than me.

 

[rossfam06]

Cool. I can't help but read fly mesh as 'my flesh' lol

I use a push pin to start my holes then my tweezers to widen.

I use a very small philips head screwdriver and lightly tap until I break a small hole. Then go to tweezers.

That was a nice one

Thanks....it was all my Hubby putting me on the spot.

and number 3 has hatched!

YEA!!!!!!!! So cute! I love how they sleep a lot after hatching.

It was my first try at incubation. I bought the incubator from a local dude, about 10 minutes away from my house, and he already had 7 eggs in it, on day 12! I thought "cool, I'll have chicks within 10 days!" Duh. Not my brightest move. lol I had the humidity way too high because the unit was so wrong. By day 23, nothing had hatched. Day 24, I opened the first one, it was wet and gooey, strong veins still across the top of the membrane. I didn't feel any movement, so I slit the membrane, clear across the top! Then it stated moving! That may be when I joined here to find out what to do. It chirped for several more hours, but sadly it died. I turned off the incubator after that, and it took me until the next day to open the others. I'm pretty sure I drowned them all. None hatched.

OH NO!!!!! I am so sorry!!!!. If I saw blood in the veins I personally would have waited. Even if the chick does not move. I was very lucky to have Amy guide me through my first incubation. I had 50+% hatch rate because I followed everything she said.

Here are some updated pics of the commune. Fabio is starting to look like a cult leader

You can see that the chicks range from fluffy yellows to two week olds with wing feathers, and they were all hatched from the same nest by 3 different hens. The juvenile is a leftover from May

Loving it!!!! So cute little fluffies!

I can see the resemblance!

Man....really?!

I feel the same way!!!!

 

[rossfam06]

Too true. I was never attracted to a man that wears a bigger bra than me.

Oh my goodness!!!! LoL!!!!!!

 

[WVduckchick]

Love the pics, SC!! What a nice bunch you have there. Your juveniles look just like mine from May. Mine are 6 weeks old now.

Awwww so sweet. 6 weeks flies by, huh?

 

[WVduckchick]

OH NO!!!!! I am so sorry!!!!. If I saw blood in the veins I personally would have waited. Even if the chick does not move. I was very lucky to have Amy guide me through my first incubation. I had 50+% hatch rate because I followed everything she said.

Well, I didn't know her majesty back then....

But seriously, I admit I didn't do enough research before trying it. Just went on a few pointers from my sister-in-law, and winged it. Looking back, I feel really bad about it. But hey, I learned a lot from all the mistakes, so such is life.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm sorry to hear that. That's a heart breaker.

You can only drown them if they pip into the air cell and have water in there right? Or am I confused?

I guess that's the usual thinking... after they pip... but a couple of these had developed to at least day 19-20, and were still super wet inside the membrane. Air cells were too small, etc. So maybe drowning them wasn't the right term for what I did. I'm just not sure what else you would call it. I feel like that's why they quit... too much fluid.

Yes, if there is extra moisture in the shell and they pip and that moisture fills the air cell or pip hole around the nose they aspirate on it and drown. I believe that if the air cells are too small and the chick is unable to pip into it they can also aspirate on the excess fluid in the shell in their attempt to internally pip.

I was under the impression that they absorb the yolk before the pip the air cell. Is this not the case?

Sorry if this is TMI but... I had fully developed chicks in my last two hatches. Some of them even defecated inside the egg. None of them pipped the air cell. I'm sure there are many reasons they fail at 19-20 days but In my case I'm pretty sure they suffocated on CO2. As they get bigger they put off more CO2 and I didn't have air coming in from the outside of the incubator to exchange oxygen for CO2 through the shell.

I will know If that's the case if this batch I'm hatching this weekend has a higher success rate. I have given them a lot more oxygen this time around with air vents open the whole time.

Another theory I have from reading a scientific paper about incubators. The chick starts to generate it's own heat at about day 14. Everyone leaves the temp alone thinking it will be the same for the egg, but it's not. Using my temp gun I realized that even keeping my incubator steady from day 14 to 21 the egg shell temps themselves went from 100 to 103 degrees from day 14 to day 20. I honestly think that's why it works in a still air incubator to turn it down to 99.5. I think the beginning of the hatch is slow and then accelerates towards the end, but that is hard on the chicks and results in losses. I now turn it down .5 degree every other day after about day 15. I watch the shell temps closely and try to keep them at 100 degrees. We will see if it pays off this time, but they are shipped eggs so it's not a perfect test.

I'm rambling.....

I believe the high altitude has been the problem. Because of this I have been more careful to ask if a person is at a higher altitude before discussing low humidity methods with them. As for yolk absorption, according to the development charts yolk absorption generally starts taking place on day 19 and finishes by day 20. Technically the yolk should in theory be aready absorbed before the external pip, but we all know that doesn't always happen. I've had two in my history of hatching that hatched before this took place completely. I noted on my last hatch some chicks with very little swelling to the abdomen with others having a full abdomen, leaving me to suspect some had recently finsihed absorbing while others had absorbed much earlier. (Keep in mind my first pip was halfway into day 18 and it hatched day 19. Most of mine hatched day 19/20, I think I had one that was officially into day 21 when it hatched. No unabsorbed yolk.) It differs for chick, but it should be absorbed prior to pip if the pip is "on time".

Quote:

Here are some updated pics of the commune. Fabio is starting to look like a cult leader

You can see that the chicks range from fluffy yellows to two week olds with wing feathers, and they were all hatched from the same nest by 3 different hens. The juvenile is a leftover from May

They are so stinkin' cute.