The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[chickenlisa]

Good morning!! Today is Day 21 for me! I started with 27 eggs. Went into lockdown with 20. 6 chicks out and 7 pips so far. All shipped eggs! My Marans that hatched last night was out of a deep saddle shaped air cell and it was the best hatcher yet! I was shocked!

That gives me hope- I have 7 deep saddled eggs that I was starting to give up on. They had a rough trip from Tx to NJ. Anyways, a white Maran hatched all unbeknownst to me overnight. There was no pip when I went up at midnight, and when I came down at 8, there she was! It blew me away cause I thought WM on the 3 eggs meant Wheaten Maran, and it means White Maran I guess! Sweet! Now another WM egg is pipped too!!! So I have more hope for those deep saddled aircell eggs...1 BLRW, 1 OE, and 2 more White Marans. Keep the Faith- Do Not Give up!!!!

 

[Whoops]

Trying to hold on to patience and hope. Nothing further in the two pipped eggs. No movement, nada. I keep telling myself that they need to absorb the yolk and stuff, but it's been 12 hours.

At least one egg is chirping. Can't tell if it's one of the pipped ones or not.

The humidity in the incubator has started falling. It was 67, now down to 61. I am going to spritz with hot water.

 

[BirdNerd101]

Today is the start of day 28 and i have five mixed breeds in the incubator temp at 99.5 and humidity at 73% and not 1 egg has pipped. Is this normal? When will they pip?

 

[chickenlisa]

Today is the start of day 28 and i have five mixed breeds in the incubator temp at 99.5 and humidity at 73% and not 1 egg has pipped. Is this normal? When will they pip?

Are they ducks or geese in there? or Chickens?

 

[PAchickenlover]

So, I have 6 hatched and three more pips in the chickens. Only three of the ducklings have piped so far. I don't know what I did different this hatch other than paying more, maybe to much more attention to the eggs. This has been fun but if I do it next year I will have to put my incubator under lock and key unless it is candeling time.. Ugh. Happy I have had at least a few hatch at least.

 

[rubyredder]

I have 6 lavender orpingtons that hatched yesterday. But I'm waiting on my other incubator. No sign of movement. And last night the temperature randomly spiked to over 102 and I haven't touched it. Stupid LG!

 

[Gardeningmama]

I had to jump to the end. Congrats everyone on their hatches, and pips, and zips! This is what it's all about, right??? I was sad that none of my Call eggs pipped, but 1, to even give me a chance at getting them out...BUT my one little baby is sooo cute, and I'm grateful to have her. Meet Piper!!


Better pics later!! My official hatch results: 1 Call Duckling

 

[Happy Chooks]

 


Use a bandaid to create a hobble. It will keep his legs centered under his body. Be sure he is not on slick surfaces.

i tried this but it didnt work. he just lay there and didnt even try to move. he is so small. i dont think he is going to make it. all the others are fine, including the other chick with crooked toes. he gets around just as well as the chicks with good feet. i think he will heal fine, but im worried about the little guy. 

Do what you can. It does take a while for hobbled chicks to get used to it. You can try medical tape too. I read in a later post that this chick is super weak. Try giving it a little sugar water.

Well, my pipped eggs aren't doing anything and I am fighting the urge to mess with them.  I have run out of materials to make dog collars to distract myself.  I think I will go to bed, lie there, frozen, holding my breath in anticipation of any cheeping or noise from the eggs. 

Leave them be! Hatching can take a long time and today is hatch day. There is still plenty of time.

I processed for the first time tonite with dh and our neighbor!!!

Our NYE hatch-a-long roos are getting big and there are 7 roos to 7 pullets in the run and it is just too much for the poor pullets. So I pulled the biggest two that I wasn't planning on breeding anyways. The hardest part of it was sitting there in the coop talking to them and making the decision of who and how many to process.

It was easy after watching the neighbor do his...and I am so proud of myself because I really didn't think I could do it! But I did the biggest one myself. Dh was surprised that I did, but like I said...it wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated! Not traumatized, but it will be strange going out in the a.m. and not seeing them there. *sigh*

Easter dinner will be delish!

Good job! The strangest thing you will notice is how quiet it is out there. Enjoy your dinner.

Thank you. I'm so soft hearted, I can't give up on him. This winter was absolutely brutal and claimed about 7 of my chickens and my two mallards. I had a roo that was seeming very lethargic and so I checked him over and found his ankles swollen and his feet black. They were frost bitten. We nursed him back to health, gave him baby Tylenol for any pain he may have and now we have a rooster with no feet. His name is frosty. He gets around well but I'm sure anyone else would have just put him down but I didn't have the heart to do that. Maybe half the chicks from this hatch are his.

Anyways, the little guy is in a cup near the water now, I also put a different hobble on in case he hops out of that. I'll check on him again in the morning. Crossing my fingers he makes it

Here is the other guy with the splints. He runs around like there is nothing wrong with him at all

Good luck!

[COLOR=800080]Please do not throw virtual rocks my way but I caved! After seeing nothing at all, no moving egg even I opened the bator to add water and candles the eggs. I finally chucked the yucky 5th egg. I did see movement in all 4 other eggs and an internal pip in one, though not hearing any peeping. I have hope now! Can't wait till the kids gets up to tell them about there being hope!  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080] [/COLOR]

Bad book! Though with that incubator, I understand your worry. Now leave them to hatching!

I have about 12 eggs under a broody and she hasnt come off the nest for just over 2 days now, when i checked on her today she had defecated in the nest. today/tomorrow is supposed to be hatch day so i took her off the nest and quickly scooped away the worst of the bedding. most of the eggs have got the poo on them  that has now dried on. 

just before i put her back in i saw that one of the eggs had pipped! a small piece of shell was missing and the chick was cheeping loudly inside, it hadnt managed to pierce through the white membrane where the shell has fallen off. 

[COLOR=0000CD]Im not too sure what to do. i have space in my incubator so could pop him in and see how the hatch goes or i could leave it under mum and hope that i havnt done too much damage by lifting her off to clear some of the nest. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000CD]Any ideas on whats best?? [/COLOR]

Leave it under the hen. Once all of the eggs have hatched and she brings the chicks out, you can thoroughly clean the nest.

So far just the 2 chicks. I have 15 shipped eggs with no signs yet...can they take longer??

My other 2 are non stop chirping! !! When they see me peeking in they come over and really get loud lol!!! They hatched at 5pm & 7:30ish last night. ..so 12 hrs+ not so cute and fluffy yet...but wonder if they were just yucky and dried...which is possible as they came out pretty slimy lol!!! Should I wait longer before removing them? They look like they could use a bath!!! Hahaha..plus I feel soooo bad as I forgot to place the shelf liner in there before lockdown. Too anxious to get them hatching! So if I can remove them, no others show any signs of pipping yet can I quickly put down the liner under the eggs that are still in there? Its day 22 now...

Leave them in there if they hatched recently. They will encourage the other to get out.

QUESTION...Not screaming, just need to make sure it's seen in all this wonderful avalanche of pip, zip, and chick reports.

I have chicks that hatched Monday in the brooder. My one HAL chick hatched Thursday, and is with broody mama. I moved them to a larger pen this morning, and she still has golf balls she's sitting on. My question is - if I give her the nine chicks I have in the brooder tonight, will she accept them, or are they too old at this point? Thanks!!

It really depends on the broody. Some hens will take them and others will kill them to protect their chick. Has this hen been broody before?

Well, my pipped eggs aren't doing anything and I am fighting the urge to mess with them.  I have run out of materials to make dog collars to distract myself.  I think I will go to bed, lie there, frozen, holding my breath in anticipation of any cheeping or noise from the eggs. 

I heard peeping yesterday hoped to wake with piped eggs and nothing no peeps no pips driving me crazzzzzzzyyyy

It can take quite some time for them to start hatching.

Whats the earliest someone has had a chick hatch or at least external pip? I have 2 eggs that I candled on Day 14 that almost looked like day 17-18 eggs to me with no more room left except for the airsac. I don't want to candle again till day 18 (Day 16 today) but am afraid they might pip sooner.

So given the situation, is it ok to increase humidity on Day 17 or will it drown them or the others that are not gone that far.

I have small spare incubator I can move those 2 into, but wondering if change of conditions will affect them.

I know everyone is busy counting their chicks right now   but would appreciate some help.

Thanks!

Either way is fine. You can also lockdown early if you hear cheeping.

After a billion hatching (okay, 18, but it looks like a billion in the bator) yesterday, there are still several eggs with tiny pips, and three with bigger holes that were there last night and now look yellow. I've had trouble with the temp being too low (90 ish) and even have my flashlight sitting on the window generating a little heat. What do you think of these yellow membranes? Is this still normal?

It looks stuck in the shell.

This morning I moved my SS and Polish chicks to the brooder. So fluffy! I have 2 OE eggs pipped, and no signs of life so far in the game fowl eggs.

Does anyone else have experience with late hatches in a Brinsea? Mine seem to primarily hatch on days 22 and 23. I'm not using the auto cool feature, which I know delays the hatch a bit. I know I should calibrate it. I'm considering raising the temp half a degree on my next hatch. I also have an extraordinarily high rooster ratio...80% overall since I started using this incubator. I know it could be a statistical fluke on small hatches, but still. I know roosters are more likely to hatch on the cooler side of incubation, and frankly, I'm up to my eyeballs in roosters.

I'd up the temperature a bit next time. My brinsea they hatch right on time.

 

[tommysgirl]

Started to help my distressed chick (internal pipped for over 12 hours and starting to sound weak). I could not find its beak, so I was chipping off shell around in a line. Hit a little blood so I stopped. In the meantime, I was letting the incubator heat up (this egg had been under a broody). When I went to put it in the bator to wait....

The incubator was COLD.

I had plugged in the fan instead of the heater. Yikes! So now I have an egg wrapped in warm wet paper towel, stuck in my bra waiting for the incubator to heat up. Thankfully it will do that fast!

Lesson learned...warm up the incubator THEN start the assist.

hope it worked for you!

 

[BirdNerd101]

Are they ducks or geese in there? or Chickens?

They are duck eggs