The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Happy Chooks]

My final count of hatched chicks was 27. Although im happy with the chicks I am not happy that I lost so many babies. I know what I did wrong and I Wil not be incubating that way again. Everyone that hatched is health and growing, even the three I had to help. So to show off a few of these cuties, here's my grandaughter showing off her Easter duds.

Beautiful chicks and grand daughter.

believe it or not after tapping on the incubator for almost 30 minutes, the chick broke free on its own. Almost 28 hrs after pipping, one would think its weak and tired but its running around everywhere and jumping from one tray to another. And in the process, it created such a ruckus that two more zipped and came out within a few minutes.

Thanks again everyone and good night for now!

Good job waiting! White membrane is good!

does anyone know what this is? I thought it was a pip last night because there was only a little dot of liquid but over the night it foamed and got all sticky. I wiped some off with a tissue. Is it a dud or can I do anything? Or is it actually hatching?!

Looks like it's seeping.

 

[ronott1]

Well, I think I can safely say that my final total for this HAL is 30 live chicks hatched!

Out of 31 eggs that made it to Lockdown, I think that is pretty good! The last chick is zipping and popping out as I type. My overall hatch was a bit later than last year, maybe the incubator was running cooler overall with the new digital thermostat, I don't know.

Last year I remember having pips on Thursday afternoon, and several chicks hatching on Friday, but this year there were no pips until Friday morning, which was technically the start of day 21 for me (I set them on Saturday morning around 8:00AM), and the first chicks made it out late in the evening on Friday. 8 chicks were out by Saturday morning, and then there was a big break, and then a bunch more hatched Saturday afternoon. Two more came out Saturday night, and two more Sunday morning (starting day 23).

The best thing though, is that FOUR of my shipped Wheaten Ameraucanas hatched on their own and are very healthy!!!

Here is a picture of one of them...


A Fifth Wheaten has hatched, but it had pipped the wrong end of the egg, and I may have helped it a bit too soon

, because I thought it was stuck like another chick who I helped a little bit who was Obviously stuck and very ready to hatch. The Wheaten though, took forever to push out of its shell after I helped it, and when it finally started to move around, I noticed that it had a large pea-sized yolk sack still unabsorbed. I put it back in the half of shell which it was still kind-of attached to, and set it upright in a cup, cushioned by papertowels around it and put it back in the incubator overnight. It protested a bit and tried to climb out of the cup, but finally went to sleep. This morning I checked it again, and was able to carefully detach the shell and extra membrane that was no longer connected to it, but the yolk bulge is not looking smaller, it actually looks bigger!

The chick has a good set of lungs and seems to be formed fine otherwise - is there any hope for it?

I have it back in a cup in the incubator for now. I took a picture of it this morning so you can see the size of the yolk bulge. Any advice or suggestions appreciated!

Put some anti biotic ointment on the umbilical cord and keep it in the coffee cup. It should absorb and be fine. Yellow is a good color. Green would be bad.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Quote:
Yeah, the curiosity of cats can be troublesome at times. I am glad that they didn't make a snack out of the peeping chicks.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Joyful promise - leave the chick in the cup until the yolk sac dries up. If you have some vetericyn, I'd spray some on it. Otherwise you can use some neosporin (no pain reliever) on it, but be careful, you don't want to rupture the sac.

 

[bekkanblue]

Final count: 7 hatched out of 9 locked down.

My two EE quit after lockdown, I'm assuming. May candle tonight but I don't know why they'd be this late.

My NJ chick took forever to hatch and then died yesterday. Not sure if he just wasn't strong, or got too weak from the hatching. Usually my Jaers hatch first and are bouncing off the walls. Bummer.

Will post pics when I get home. Have some cuties!!! Congrats to all with fuzzies, and condolences to those with trying hatches.

 

[LPeaslee]

To those of you that sell your chicks... What would you charge for barnyard mixes? I had a Facebook friend comment that she had lost several chicks from the batch she bought at the local fleet store. I commented to her that if she didn't mind barnyard mixes, I had 30 chicks in the brooder and 31 more eggs in the incubator. She and another person commented back to me that they are interested and inquired about price. They would be straight run since I'm not sure I can accurately sex them...

If nothing else, I figure its a good way to enable my hatching addiction!!

I usually sell barnyard mixes for $2-3, Olive Egger for $5, and BCM for $10, all straight run. Although sometimes I have just give away my barnyard mixes.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

A Fifth Wheaten has hatched, but it had pipped the wrong end of the egg, and I may have helped it a bit too soon

, because I thought it was stuck like another chick who I helped a little bit who was Obviously stuck and very ready to hatch. The Wheaten though, took forever to push out of its shell after I helped it, and when it finally started to move around, I noticed that it had a large pea-sized yolk sack still unabsorbed. I put it back in the half of shell which it was still kind-of attached to, and set it upright in a cup, cushioned by papertowels around it and put it back in the incubator overnight. It protested a bit and tried to climb out of the cup, but finally went to sleep. This morning I checked it again, and was able to carefully detach the shell and extra membrane that was no longer connected to it, but the yolk bulge is not looking smaller, it actually looks bigger!

The chick has a good set of lungs and seems to be formed fine otherwise - is there any hope for it?

I have it back in a cup in the incubator for now. I took a picture of it this morning so you can see the size of the yolk bulge. Any advice or suggestions appreciated!

I had one like this in this hatch that hatched out itself before I was up. When I went to move her to the brooder I noticead it. I did pretty much what ron is suggesting, (antibiotic ointment and in a coffee cup) and now you can't tell which one it was. Good luck!

Good morning!
Easter was full of excitement at Aster Retirement. Our first chick hatched at 7:00am just as the residents were gathering for breakfast. and by 1:00pm we had 9 chicks. our total was 18 of 22 set. and we even had a special visitor watching the hatch...So many smiles and stories. Is it a wonder that I personally am addicted to hatching chicks!
Best Wishes. Phil

Oh!! Awesome!! I'm glad they had a decent hatch!!

It would also depend on where you live. I live in a poor county. Sold a neighbor a bunch at $1 a chick. Since I could never sell eggs for more than $1.50 a dozen it was about all I could expect.

Yup. Agree. I don't think you could get more than $1/$1.50 for a mix here. You might be able to get $3/$4 for a pure, depending on what it was, but not a mix, and especially not straight run.

Put some anti biotic ointment on the umbilical cord and keep it in the coffee cup. It should absorb and be fine. Yellow is a good color. Green would be bad.

That's what I did and worked perfectly!!

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Joyful promise - leave the chick in the cup until the yolk sac dries up. If you have some vetericyn, I'd spray some on it. Otherwise you can use some neosporin (no pain reliever) on it, but be careful, you don't want to rupture the sac.

Thank you! I don't have any vetericyn, but I did find some antibiotic ointment and carefully smeared a bit around the edges of the yolk sac. The problem is that the chick is quite feisty and wants to get out of the cup inbetween naps, and I am afraid it will break the sac with its feet.

I will try my best for it, but if it doesn't make it, at least I got the other 4 healthy Wheaten Ameraucana chicks! Now just to hope for 3 pullets & 1 rooster...

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Put some anti biotic ointment on the umbilical cord and keep it in the coffee cup. It should absorb and be fine. Yellow is a good color. Green would be bad.

Thanks Ron! That is what I did, and I am just praying that the chick doesn't poke the yolk sac with its feet when it is trying to get out of the cup!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you! I don't have any vetericyn, but I did find some antibiotic ointment and carefully smeared a bit around the edges of the yolk sac. The problem is that the chick is quite feisty and wants to get out of the cup inbetween naps, and I am afraid it will break the sac with its feet.

I will try my best for it, but if it doesn't make it, at least I got the other 4 healthy Wheaten Ameraucana chicks! Now just to hope for 3 pullets & 1 rooster...

Mine did too, I actually thought that she/he was going to make it out of the coffee mug!! They are pretty good jumpers!! lol But eventually it absorbed w/o breaking. I was told to put a damp paper towel in the bottom of the coffee mug so I did. Don't know if that helped any, but I'm assuming it was too keep the sac moist so it would absorb.