Still time to save the other 8....help!

[millielynn]

They were all given to me and I have really enjoyed them. I live in country so I can free range and I love watching them.

 

[millielynn]

Oops I meant so they can free range. Lol, not me.

 

[millielynn]

Sydmurph, how many did you get? How are they doing?

 

[Sterkfarm]

Hi Millie. I got 2.
But the brinsea I ordered arrived in excellent condition; so I will never have this problem again I hope. In hindsight I never should have interfered. As long as they can breathe through the pip hole, that's good enough for me. The last day can be the difference between life or death, and if they haven't pipped out there is probably good reason. Just an over zealous panicky first time hatcher. Next time they can stay in and bake as long as they need to. Thanks for asking. The experience was bittersweet. Bonus, the old brower makes a heck of a brooder!!

 

[LTygress]

Helping chicks is always risky business. When they say you can help them "at the very end" it pretty much means their zipping stage. If they have made several cracks around the shell - in a straight line - then they are hatching out right then, and it is usually okay to help them then IF THEY NEED IT.

The picture you first posted shows exactly what someone else said. That chick pipped at the wrong place, and essentially drowned. You most likely found it after the "goo" had dried out a little bit, so it didn't SEEM like there was any liquid near it.

I've been posting quite a bit lately as "experiments" are being done on my own hatches. Some things I came across by mistake, others I read have a slight possibility here, and I'm trying it myself.

ONE of these experiments has proven that eggs DO NOT need to stop being turned during the last three days. I did that one by mistake after "rescuing" the extra eggs from a broody hen (other hens laid in her nest while she was sitting, and I didn't know which was which until the broody left the nest with the babies). I didn't know when any of them had to be taken out of the turner, and suddenly I had a hatch. As a matter of fact, it was probably the first time I had a 100% hatch rate on fertile eggs! I have noticed that when I leave eggs in the turner, they have NEVER pipped on the wrong end! Prior to learning through this "mistake" I had several pip on the wrong end.

I've also seen people say that the temperature should be lowered a degree or two, and the humidity raised when it's time to hatch. That one didn't even make sense to me, because when a hen is sitting on eggs, she can't exactly make her body temp drop, and start sweating more for humidity at the same time. I've kept my humidity right about 50% the entire time I have eggs in the incubator, and it works just fine. I also don't lock down during the last three days. As a matter of fact, I don't set all of my eggs at once, either. I put eggs into the incubator as they are laid, and take them out as they hatch. Between September 27th, and October 17th, I have over 30 eggs due, almost every day. It's a constant rotation, so the incubator is never "locked down".

But right now I have seven chicks out of seven that were due since September 27th. Only three eggs didn't make it, and none of them developed AT ALL (meaning they probably weren't even fertile).

So in summary, all I'm saying is be ready to break the rules, but also be ready to LEAVE THEM ALONE. Chicks have been hatching by themselves for many centuries. They somehow know what to do, and it's best to let nature just do it's thing.

 

[Sterkfarm]

That's really interesting stuff. You're so right...much of the advice is counterintuitive! What kind of incubator do you use?

 

[LTygress]

Just a plain old Little Giant Styrofoam thing.