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

[OneMountainAcres]

We have our first baby! I named her Ebony hard to see but she's an all black (skin and all) silkie/marans mix

 

[Happy Chooks]

We have our first baby! I named her Ebony

hard to see but she's an all black (skin and all) silkie/marans mix

Congrats!

 

[Cynthia12]

We have our first baby! I named her Ebony

hard to see but she's an all black (skin and all) silkie/marans mix

What a neat mix. Post a photo when she is all fluffed up.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

We have our first baby! I named her Ebony hard to see but she's an all black (skin and all) silkie/marans mix

e I have one named Ebony. I call 'her' Ebonhe, thought he was a girl lol.

 

[blackgoat]

Well, I WAS going to set some of my very own BYM eggs for this HAL, but I had 4 hens go broody all at once. They have been cooped in the coop for 2 weeks because of snow, maybe that had something to do with it. But they all want to sit on the same nest! So far, they have been taking turns. Yesterday, I moved half of the eggs to another nest, because one hen was trying to sit on the nest, and another wasn't letting her, and one of hens immediately hopped on them, but, today, the eggs were gone! Could she have rolled them back to the original nest? Too funny!

 

[karenerwin]

One reason that it is not advancing might be that it has not fully absorbed the yolk yet.

Can you see the membrane? If so, what color is it?

Make sure the membrane hasn't dried, you can rub some distilled water on it if it dries out. You may want to wait a bit longer just in case the yolk hasn't been absorbed, just make sure the membrane is wet enough and isn't sticking the chick in the shell so it can't turn. If you do intervene, so it ever-so-slowly, peel a teeny bit of shell (tweezers work well for this) , wet the membrane with distilled water (or I've heard people have used bacitracin? Neosporin? I think) put it back in the incubator and wait. Do this in many stages. After a bit a help, the chick may be able to get out on it's own.

I helped a chick out on my first hatch, and that gave me too much confidence, so I helped another one out on my second hatch, which also went fine, but on the third one, which had started zipping, then stopped for about 24 hours, the yolk hadn't been absorbed. I tried putting it back in when I discovered this, but I'd taken off too much shell at that point, and it was scrambling to get out, and broke the yolk. I felt terrible. It's not always "yes do this" or "no, never do that" .

sidenote:This may not always be the case for malpositioned chicks, but the two I did help out ended up having problems (one had leg issues and the other was always about the half the size of it's hatchmates), and both died after a short time.

There is a great article about assisted hatching: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

I admit, I did not follow the instructions, and went too fast.

Well, I did intervene. It definitely had dried membrane shrink wrapping the head & a wing. However, it also still had some un-absorbed yolk. I don't know how much yolk there is in there to be absorbed, but it was an amount bigger than a pea but smaller than a grape (more like 2 or 3 peas together). One leg looks questionable, however it just hatched, so I'll see what it looks like after it has had time to dry off a bit.

 

[Nomibear]

Well, I WAS going to set some of my very own BYM eggs for this HAL, but I had 4 hens go broody all at once. They have been cooped in the coop for 2 weeks because of snow, maybe that had something to do with it. But they all want to sit on the same nest! So far, they have been taking turns. Yesterday, I moved half of the eggs to another nest, because one hen was trying to sit on the nest, and another wasn't letting her, and one of hens immediately hopped on them, but, today, the eggs were gone! Could she have rolled them back to the original nest?  Too funny!

Yes! She prob did. Last year I had two of my leghorns go broody at the same time. I had never had eggs get moved around like that before.

 

[K Epp]

I'm putting a couple dozen in tonight yo test hatch a new incubator. Getting my eggs lined up for the Hatchalong. Trying to find some Serama.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

I'm putting a couple dozen in tonight yo test hatch a new incubator. Getting my eggs lined up for the Hatchalong. Trying to find some Serama.

Serama: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/628298/12-serama-eggs-buy-it-now-price-includes-shipping

 

[drott3]

This sounds like fun I'm in. Just need to figure out what kind and were to get them in time.