The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[LFchixranch]

well I was concerned with my last chick egg that didnt hatch and candled it. no movement and very thin veins. Made a hole in the shell at the air pocket and gave it a nudge and nothing. Opened it up and looks like it was a few days shy the others sooo scratch the 100%

. Now if the other 2 would zip so The first has company.

 

[mommachick1]

As of right now I have 19 new chick babies out of 36! They started to hatch yesterday at 5:30pm, and there are eggs pipped that will probably hatch too. Looks like I'm going to have a much better hatch than my first one earlier this month! Oh, and broody's out there sitting on 6 eggs that are due to hatch tomm.! Theresa/Sunnydale Farm

 

[monkeywoman1953]

Oh, dear ! That is from the humidity being too high the last 3 days of your incubation period ! The chicks fail to absob their yolk sacs.
This is what was recommended to me, and has worked very well for me:
Keep the humidity around 50% for the first 18 days, and 70% the last 3 days.
If you aren't sure, get a Temp. / Humidity thing (actually called a Hygrometer) from Wal-Mart. I use the DIGITAL black square ones, about the size of a pack of smokes. Sells for $8.95, at Wal-Mart. They are in the lighting / light bulb / thermometer area of the stores.
I got ONE chick to survive when that happened, but it wasn't as severe as yours. Unfortunately, the ones that are as severe as yours usually do not survive.

I am so sorry !! I had 5 of them born like that in a single hatch, and lost every one, BEFORE I got one of those Hygrometer things I just told you about. WELL WORTH THE LITTLE MONEY THEY COST ! I have had NO problems with the "protruding belly-buttons," since ! Just put it somewhere in your incubator as level w/ your eggs as you can...I put mine on top of my eggs which are in turner racks. When I take the eggs out of the turners, I just set it in there (with the pipping eggs) to continue monitoring the humidity. Don't worry so much about the TEMPERATURE it tells you; that can vary a lot within diff. spots in the incubator. If you are getting a decent hatch rate, then your temp. is fine. But start watching the HUMIDITY very closly thru-out your entire incubation as well as the actual pipping and hatching.
Best of luck, God bless you and your little peepers, and I hope this will help !

 

[ThaiDye]

Yolk wasn't absorbed all the way.

So it should go down then, right? I was worried it might be a prolapse.

My hatch is finished. 16 out of 21. (including my friend's egg this afternoon)

 

[mommachick1]

Yolk wasn't absorbed all the way.

This happened to me in a hatch earlier this month. What I did was follow Sally Sunshine's guide she has posted under her profile and put her back in part of the eggshell like she's sitting up, and then put her in a cup kinda propped up so she doesn't fall over & put her back in the incubator to absorb the yolk sak. I was able to save my Chocolate Orpington chick and she's doing fine 4 weeks later! Good luck! Theresa/Sunnydale Farm

 

[ThaiDye]

This happened to me in a hatch earlier this month. What I did was follow Sally Sunshine's guide she has posted under her profile and put her back in part of the eggshell like she's sitting up, and then put her in a cup kinda propped up so she doesn't fall over & put her back in the incubator to absorb the yolk sak. I was able to save my Chocolate Orpington chick and she's doing fine 4 weeks later! Good luck! Theresa/Sunnydale Farm

She is still in the incubator. I could put her in a coffee cup in the brooder. Tat seemed to work well for my "Turtle" chick. I was just waiting for the chick to fluff up first.

 

[mlm Mike]

where do we report our hatch? bad rate this time

5/45

In this thread, just like you did, someone will record it. Sorry about your hatch rate.

 

[jksranch]

so far 3 turkens and 2 buff lace brahmas

 

[JoyfulPromise]

If it makes you feel any better the same thing is happening with me.

I was about to candle and I saw one of them wiggle. It wiggled twice and them stopped. It still has not pip yet though. It is only day 22 and they can hatch anywhere from 21 to day 25 right? I am just hoping for the best for both of us.

THANK YOU!!!! That helps a lot!

Not that I am happy that yours aren't hatching either, but it is nice to know that I am not the only one, and thank you for the reminder that there still may be hope! I was also thinking, I saved up eggs for a week before setting - I tried to use the freshest ones from the hens I wanted to set from, most were only 1-3 days old when setting, but I know there were several that were 5-7 days old and I think one was even 8 days old. I think I remember reading that it adds an hour or so of incubation for each day saved before setting? ALSO, though I put them in the incubator at about 12:30 PM on the 9th, it took AT LEAST 4 or more hours for the incubator to get up to temp and stabilize, so I don't think they really started until Saturday night. So they are not quite as late as I was originally thinking...

 

[Jucknath]

35 have hatched, 2 are still in the incubator but probably are quitters, waiting. Final count comming

Final count 35 hatched. 46 set, 5 not fertile, 6 quitters. I think that is great for a first timer. Anyone want to borrow an incubator in the southern california area, PM me. It is a home made cabinet type.