~ Silkie Hatch-a-Long August 2015 (SHIPPED EGGS GONE WRONG!!) ~

[paulaspina]

hello,
I too have been having trouble with hawks. they got three of my baby silkies/frizzels in a two day period and a young hen of my brood of layers, which are still too young to lay.LOL. My husband has spent the last two weekends screening the chicken coops. he is just about done and the girls are happy to be back in the outdoors..
this has been a trying experiment. hope things get better. we separated the silkie rooster too from the layers, Im told its better that way, the two older, one hen and one rooster, are learning to get along with the babies. Im hoping these qwill procreate eventually. the new chicken screened porch is prob about 16x16 and 7 feet high. Not sure how many can live comfortably in there.

paula
ps still waiting for Muscovy ducklings phase two to hatch. Phase one eggs were all unfertilized. The mama laid so faithfully on them for40 or so days.

 

[chickendreams24]

I hope the hawks leave soon for you

 

[GitaBooks]

I hope the hawks leave soon for you

Thanks.

I've been out with my chickens almost all day trying all sorts of things to provide cover for them. Right now I have a bunch or purple cloth strung up over the hawks flight path so that when it dive bombs it will have to pull up or get tangled. I'm hoping this gives my chickens time to duck for cover. I have multiple roosters that all have their eye to the sky right now and are doing a great job protecting their girls.

 

[silkienrescues]

oh what a night.
2 zipped and raced thru to hatching, 1 died after pipping thru the bottom of the egg. discovered it when the hatching chick rolled the egg over. I have to admit I went into panic mode. opened the incubator and checked each egg. 1 other had also picked the underside, the others who mostly had been pipped for 12-18 hours by now weren't doing anything. I cracked shell off the oldest pip and found dry stuck membrane enveloping the poor chick, so i broke its shell off a bit more and wet the membranes. no blood so opened them a bit and it hatched in 10 minutes. I was so worried now, the humidity was at 70% and above, there was some condensation on the viewing window, so i think it was right but they were drying out. frenzy of panic continued and I opened all the egg ends. all were dry white and shrink wrapping. only 1 bleed. left it with a wet cloth on it and he/she hatched this am. all the others are fine, navels good, sleepy but sit straight up when they hear anything...
So why dry chicks???
day 7 showed a bit too much wt loss. I was running dry but it was only 20-25% humidity in the incubator. I increased that to 35-40 after 2 days at 60% by lockdown the wt loss was good 12-13.5% on all but the 2 problem porous eggs (both needed help but are fine by the way). did read the article about 16% wt loss and not increasing humidity until the first pip. I caved on that and put it up on day 18.5, they begun pipping 12 hours later.
temps were 36.5-37.5.
8 out of 9 are alive and yes 6 i meddled but was it wrong?
Could that initial 7 days have set the trend?
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS...i have 5 shipped eggs with bad air cells and am so worried about them.

Lea

 

[GitaBooks]

oh what a night.
2 zipped and raced thru to hatching, 1 died after pipping thru the bottom of the egg. discovered it when the hatching chick rolled the egg over. I have to admit I went into panic mode. opened the incubator and checked each egg. 1 other had also picked the underside, the others who mostly had been pipped for 12-18 hours by now weren't doing anything. I cracked shell off the oldest pip and found dry stuck membrane enveloping the poor chick, so i broke its shell off a bit more and wet the membranes. no blood so opened them a bit and it hatched in 10 minutes. I was so worried now, the humidity was at 70% and above, there was some condensation on the viewing window, so i think it was right but they were drying out. frenzy of panic continued and I opened all the egg ends. all were dry white and shrink wrapping. only 1 bleed. left it with a wet cloth on it and he/she hatched this am. all the others are fine, navels good, sleepy but sit straight up when they hear anything...
So why dry chicks???
day 7 showed a bit too much wt loss. I was running dry but it was only 20-25% humidity in the incubator. I increased that to 35-40 after 2 days at 60% by lockdown the wt loss was good 12-13.5% on all but the 2 problem porous eggs (both needed help but are fine by the way). did read the article about 16% wt loss and not increasing humidity until the first pip. I caved on that and put it up on day 18.5, they begun pipping 12 hours later.
temps were 36.5-37.5.
8 out of 9 are alive and yes 6 i meddled but was it wrong?
Could that initial 7 days have set the trend?
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS...i have 5 shipped eggs with bad air cells and am so worried about them.

Lea

First off, congrats on the chicks!

I had to help my poor shrink-wrapped silkie chick also. However, mine wasn't in an incubator, it was under a heat light wrapped in a moist towel.

Were the eggs porous at all? That could play into some.

My eggs I am hatching all have bad air cells and so I just keep them upright, tipping them but still keeping them pointed upright. They are now on lock down. Hopefully they will hatch.

 

[RubyNala97]

I'm so sorry for everyone having trouble with hawks and loosing chicks. It's terrible. Mine are not allowed to free range unless I'm outside with them. (They are all still young). But that gets to be a pain. I was hoping to allow them to free range some when they are full grown but hearing about those hawks scare me! Can hawks take down full grown silkies?

Hi everyone! OP here. Today is day 4, so I'm updating the progress! So far they are doing good. Some have detached air cells, but most of them have reattached. Many are very porous so I have the humidity up to 60%. Unfortunately, Egg "?" from the last batch died for unknown reasons. The rest of the newer eggs are going good! I'm not sure how many have started because I've only candled a few. Here are some progress pics! DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3

LOVE the progress pics!! Looking good! Sorry that you lost the one from the original batch. It had all odds stacked against it. I'm thinking of doing a quick candling tonight to check how many are developing. I don't even think I'll hold them, just put the light up to them real quick.

oh what a night. 2 zipped and raced thru to hatching, 1 died after pipping thru the bottom of the egg. discovered it when the hatching chick rolled the egg over. I have to admit I went into panic mode. opened the incubator and checked each egg. 1 other had also picked the underside, the others who mostly had been pipped for 12-18 hours by now weren't doing anything. I cracked shell off the oldest pip and found dry stuck membrane enveloping the poor chick, so i broke its shell off a bit more and wet the membranes. no blood so opened them a bit and it hatched in 10 minutes. I was so worried now, the humidity was at 70% and above, there was some condensation on the viewing window, so i think it was right but they were drying out. frenzy of panic continued and I opened all the egg ends. all were dry white and shrink wrapping. only 1 bleed. left it with a wet cloth on it and he/she hatched this am. all the others are fine, navels good, sleepy but sit straight up when they hear anything... So why dry chicks??? day 7 showed a bit too much wt loss. I was running dry but it was only 20-25% humidity in the incubator. I increased that to 35-40 after 2 days at 60% by lockdown the wt loss was good 12-13.5% on all but the 2 problem porous eggs (both needed help but are fine by the way). did read the article about 16% wt loss and not increasing humidity until the first pip. I caved on that and put it up on day 18.5, they begun pipping 12 hours later. temps were 36.5-37.5. 8 out of 9 are alive and yes 6 i meddled but was it wrong? Could that initial 7 days have set the trend? PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS...i have 5 shipped eggs with bad air cells and am so worried about them. Lea

Wow, what a day! How many were malpositioned? (The ones that pipped the wrong side/end)? Did you have them vertical or laying down days 1-18? How did the air cells look throughout incubation? What was your average humidity days 1-18? I think humidity really boils down to the average. So if you had it low for a few days, then high, it's ok depending on the air cells and how much moisture is lost over all. Is your hygrometer calibrated???

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm so sorry for everyone having trouble with hawks and loosing chicks. It's terrible. Mine are not allowed to free range unless I'm outside with them. (They are all still young). But that gets to be a pain. I was hoping to allow them to free range some when they are full grown but hearing about those hawks scare me! Can hawks take down full grown silkies?

Yes, hawks can take down full grown chickens of any breed, though they like to go after the smaller ones. Silkies are very easily taken, because of their crested head and trouble running or flying. I find my silkies are extra susceptible to predation.

 

[darkbluespace]

Candling is contagious I think : ) I just candled all 18 of mine and it looks like ALL 18 are developing! I am thrilled and also thinking that if a lot of them hatch that is going to be a lot of Silkies! I have two sizes of eggs so I am going to keep an eye on air cells in case the bigger ones need less humidity.

One of my older chicks looks like it has scissor beak, so that is bad news for that little chick. It is one of my 2 silver ones : (

 

[RubyNala97]

Yes, hawks can take down full grown chickens of any breed, though they like to go after the smaller ones. Silkies are very easily taken, because of their crested head and trouble running or flying. I find my silkies are extra susceptible to predation.

Wow! But that makes sense for the breed. So sad.

Candling is contagious I think : )   I just candled all 18 of mine and it looks like ALL 18 are developing!    I am thrilled and also thinking that if a lot of them hatch that is going to be a lot of Silkies!   I have two sizes of eggs so I am going to keep an eye on air cells in case the bigger ones need less humidity. 

One of my older chicks looks like it has scissor beak, so that is bad news for that little chick.  It is one of my 2 silver ones : (

That is great!! And they are local eggs, so I bet you will get a high hatch rate! Better make room for babies! Sorry to hear about your chick. I remember that hatch of yours. Anyway to correct that? Can it still eat & drink?

~~~~~
Candling is contagious! Just candled mine as it is almost officially day 4. 11/14 developing. Air cells still look TERRIBLE. The 3 that aren't developing look clear. But I was reading an article about shipped eggs that said if they don't develop that does not always mean they are infertile. They could have been fertile but the DNA was too scrambled for the embryos to start developing. The breeder said she has 6 girls to each boy. So that's probably what it is. I'm doing all I can for these eggs, all I can do now is wait & hope!

 

[silkienrescues]

oh good luck Gita, lockdown is so exciting and scary. Yes the eggs were all bar 1 a bit porous, some worse than others, although the wt loss wasn't biggest in the most porous eggs???

Ruby They were incubated flat the whole time (werent shipped), had great air cells, all attached and lovely sapes, dipped down on the last day (18), the 2 that lost most wt had big cells, they both needed help. wt loss at day 18 was 12-13%, except the 2 which were 16-17%. average humidity would have been 30-35, but they were under broody for 4 days, and she kept their wt loss in the perfect range. The malpositions were in 2 eggs that lost 12% and 12.5% wt. the one who made it had its head under it wing but was back towards the dip in air cell, the one who died was also back towards air cell, but its head was pressed beside the shell.

my incubator isnt very big, and I am wondering if radiant heat from the light to the shell could be the issue. they were closer to the heat source than the thermometer. the shrink wrapping was the inner membrane, it went brown and stuck to the chicks in patches, the outer stayed white. do i have this wrong is it the outer membrane that becomes stuck to the chick in shrink wrapping?

The 8 chicks are now out with the broody hen, who was a bit shocked that her eggs started moving, she stood up a bit fluffed up, hissed and growled when anyone moved. an hour later they are in and out under her, pecking at her face, and shes clucking happily to them.

thank you again for the imput.

Lea