Silkie Hatch-A-Long

[Debs55]

KV skilkies
Well, this hatch has been a challenge. I've had bad hatches before and learned from each one. To make a long story short, I helped the two that pipped on the wrong end and they made it. I am relieved and so happy. I really wanted a red silkie.
Here's pics.
This is the red silkie. It is having a little trouble standing but I am hopeful!



Here's the second malpositioned chick


At 3:00 AM, I began to worry about the chicks and shrink wrapping which I have had trouble before... so I decide to check on them, I grabbed one that was the closest and candled it. It was dead. I opened it and it was shrink wrapped. I had one pipped but was having trouble! All of them were shrink wrapped and dead except the ones that I helped. They would have been too if I had not taken the risk! It could've been bad but I had to try!

So I held each egg up to my hear and listened. If I heard chirping, I began the process of helping them, beginning with the air cell only and a little bit at a time. My goal at first was to just find the beak. I helped three sizzles!!! Although it was not perfectly, I really am excited and thankful! AND I will buy a new incubator. I totally blame my incubator because I followed all of the rules of hatching to the T! .... well until the end!

So glad you were able to help your babies! They look adorable! keep us updated

 

[flocknfoal]

KV skilkies
Well, this hatch has been a challenge. I've had bad hatches before and learned from each one. To make a long story short, I helped the two that pipped on the wrong end and they made it. I am relieved and so happy. I really wanted a red silkie.
Here's pics.
This is the red silkie. It is having a little trouble standing but I am hopeful!



Here's the second malpositioned chick


At 3:00 AM, I began to worry about the chicks and shrink wrapping which I have had trouble before... so I decide to check on them, I grabbed one that was the closest and candled it. It was dead. I opened it and it was shrink wrapped. I had one pipped but was having trouble! All of them were shrink wrapped and dead except the ones that I helped. They would have been too if I had not taken the risk! It could've been bad but I had to try!

So I held each egg up to my hear and listened. If I heard chirping, I began the process of helping them, beginning with the air cell only and a little bit at a time. My goal at first was to just find the beak. I helped three sizzles!!! Although it was not perfectly, I really am excited and thankful! AND I will buy a new incubator. I totally blame my incubator because I followed all of the rules of hatching to the T! .... well until the end!

Congrats on the new babies!! They are adorable.

 

[jorey]

@1 Critter Camp congrats on the chicks. They are adorable. You did good helping. Its a hard choice to make. I know it was for me. I waited to long and lost the paint chick I wanted the most but I was able to save 5 others. It was the most gorgous baby too. Lots of black spots. But I learned for the next time ( 14 days left).

 

[1 Critter Camp]

The very last chick was stuck to the shell by a vessel, it's belly button (?) was protruded outward... as it tried to free itself, it began bleeding pretty badly. I was afraid it was going to bleed to death. I cut the last piece off and used a cotton ball. I used the stop bleeding powder we use for dog toe nails... and I put it back in the incubator with the cotton ball pressed against it. In the morning, it was better but it was not holding its head up. The abdomen area had dried up and almost looked normal. The bad thing is the chick could not stand and its neck was crooked. When I read that people have to "cull" a chick, I was thinking, is this what they mean??
I began thinking what I could do... I used a small piece of gauze and tape to create a neck brace. I propped it up in a cup with a towel so it could not stay crooked.
After about 12 hours, I could see progress. So, I took the neck brace off and placed it with the other chicks. I knew if it didn't eat/drink soon, it didn't matter how straight it was.
I left to go see a movie with my family and when I got back, it took me a moment to find the crooked chick. It was amazing to see that it was walking and holding its head up. Although I still might have had to "cull" it, I am glad I tried a chick neck brace! LOL
The first picture is without the brace. Second picture with brace. Third picture, after it has begun to walk and hang with the others. It is the chick on the left.

Now, he just blends in with the rest! His/her is named is Miracle! I am surprised that it was able to recover... mother nature is fascinating!!

I hope your hatch is less stressful than mine! I now have enough chickens that I hope they can breed and hatch by themselves!

 

[jorey]

Beautiful chicks.

 

[KV Silkies]

The very last chick was stuck to the shell by a vessel, it's belly button (?) was protruded outward... as it tried to free itself, it began bleeding pretty badly. I was afraid it was going to bleed to death. I cut the last piece off and used a cotton ball. I used the stop bleeding powder we use for dog toe nails... and I put it back in the incubator with the cotton ball pressed against it. In the morning, it was better but it was not holding its head up. The abdomen area had dried up and almost looked normal. The bad thing is the chick could not stand and its neck was crooked. When I read that people have to "cull" a chick, I was thinking, is this what they mean??
I began thinking what I could do... I used a small piece of gauze and tape to create a neck brace. I propped it up in a cup with a towel so it could not stay crooked.
After about 12 hours, I could see progress. So, I took the neck brace off and placed it with the other chicks. I knew if it didn't eat/drink soon, it didn't matter how straight it was.
I left to go see a movie with my family and when I got back, it took me a moment to find the crooked chick. It was amazing to see that it was walking and holding its head up. Although I still might have had to "cull" it, I am glad I tried a chick neck brace! LOL
The first picture is without the brace. Second picture with brace. Third picture, after it has begun to walk and hang with the others. It is the chick on the left.

Now, he just blends in with the rest! His/her is named is Miracle! I am surprised that it was able to recover... mother nature is fascinating!!

I hope your hatch is less stressful than mine! I now have enough chickens that I hope they can breed and hatch by themselves!

Congrats on your babies!!! They are all so darn cute!!!

I did lockdown yesterday, am excited/nervous/scared, lol. have 18 I put in lockdown... the waiting now is terrible!!! What kind of incubator do you have now?

 

[Debs55]

Congrats! I'm on day 10 for one broody and day 2 for the other. Im not very hopeful for the day 10 eggs…I think there is only one good one

 

[1 Critter Camp]

Congrats on your babies!!! They are all so darn cute!!!

I did lockdown yesterday, am excited/nervous/scared, lol. have 18 I put in lockdown... the waiting now is terrible!!! What kind of incubator do you have now?

I used the Farm Innovators for all of my hatches... none were really that great, finally after making all of my adjustments, I have decided the incubator needs an upgrade! I will not use it again... I used the Brinsea as an extra I bought used which this time I used to incubate those struggling. I could not have helped the chicks without a second incubator!!

 

[KV Silkies]

ok, my nerves are stretched to the limit! I heard a PEEP!!!!

I am soooo excited!!! man I hope everything goes ok! tomorrow is hatch day... day 21, so we'll see what happens, of course I have no clue which egg peeped, are 18 of them in there, I am not seeing any external pips yet either.... guess we'll see what's up at lunch when I head home for a bit! probably a good thing i'm at work....

 

[flocknfoal]

ok, my nerves are stretched to the limit! I heard a PEEP!!!!

I am soooo excited!!! man I hope everything goes ok! tomorrow is hatch day... day 21, so we'll see what happens, of course I have no clue which egg peeped, are 18 of them in there, I am not seeing any external pips yet either.... guess we'll see what's up at lunch when I head home for a bit! probably a good thing i'm at work....

The last day or two of waiting is the hardest! I had one tiny partial external pip Sunday night, then nothing. Monday (day 21) in the morning the pip grew a tiny bit and two other eggs had tiny cracks, then nothing for the rest of the morning not even hardly any peeping or movement. Around mid-afternoon the first one finally hatched, but the other two with cracks hadn't changed. Not even a full pip, just a little crack... for hours and hours. Those hours, when there is a pip and no movement, are the hardest! It's so hard to keep from opening it up to 'help', but I've learned the hard way that nature works so much better than my help. One or two have survived when I've gotten impatient and helped, but most have died. When I leave them to hatch naturally their odds are much better, but those hours drag on and on and ooooon. Finally around 9 pm last night, more than 12 hours after the initial pip, a second one hatched, and around 10 pm a 3rd one hatched. Sometimes it's even been closer to 24 hours after the first pip before they hatch. But now I have three strong healthy chicks. There's still one egg in the hatching area. I'll give it until tonight or tomorrow morning.

I raised the humidity a bit this time b/c of the problem I had with one getting shell stuck last time. It was around 55-65% and I think that was a bit too high. They seemed weaker and wetter. Before it was running closer to 40-45%, so for the next back I'm going to try and keep it right around 50% during lockdown.

Next batch will hatch on Sunday. I'm supposed to get my new hovobator tomorrow, so I'll be able to move those eggs directly to the hatching incubator. Now I will be able to keep the humidity in the first incubator lower and still raise it for the chicks that are hatching - and I'll have more room for larger hatches. WooHooo! So excited! Now, if my Lavender silkie would just start laying (she's just 8 months now) and my white silkie (who's been brooding chicks) would go back to laying - I'd have twice as many eggs and chicks!

Happy dance.