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

[Aprildeesunshin]

Does anyone here have any creative ideas to ID chicks after they hatch? Like, to keep the different breeds seperated yet keep them all together. Something I've found that works pretty good for me is as they hatch, I grab them and use a dab of nail polish on their toes. Different colors for different breeds (heck I hover over the bator on hatch day lol). Then, before the nail polish wears off (usually a couple days) I take some of those little colored bands that all the kids are making bracelets out of, double them over once and slip them on a chicks ankle. They're plentiful in our house. My daughter has a ton of them and they work wonderfully! Nowhere near tight but not lose enough to fall off. I have pure Marans hatching and babies that are 1/4 brahma and 3/4 Marans. They really look alike and this works great. Anyone else have quick ID methods?

You know those bracelet little rubber bands. Wrap twice around one leg. At first, it might be a little big, but I have a 6 week old it is still on. It grows with the little guy and I am not afraid of breaking its leg. When they are older the zip tie method works great! Their legs are stronger. Works great! Different colors rubber bands for different breeds...also separates boys from girls.

 

[draye]

That's how I do it. I use more than a dash of salt though...lol  Once it boils turn off and let sit 10 minutes then give them an ice bath...I use cold tap water though, and I peel after they've been in the cold water for 1/2 hour or so.

I use a little bit of vinegar in the water while I boil the eggs. Most all peel with no problems, out of a batch of 18 or so eggs I get one maybe two that gets ruined.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

You know those bracelet little rubber bands. Wrap twice around one leg. At first, it might be a little big, but I have a 6 week old it is still on. It grows with the little guy and I am not afraid of breaking its leg. When they are older the zip tie method works great! Their legs are stronger. Works great! Different colors rubber bands for different breeds...also separates boys from girls.

that's exactly what I was talking about, those little bracelet bands! I'm glad I'm not the only one using them. So convenient and easy

 

[chicken pickin]

Ok, did my candling again for Day 10.
Out of the 10 questionable I had on Day 7, 5 were definitely not growing so they were tossed. So down to 56 now.
Out of the remaining 5, 3 are still questionable but 2 had good wiggly embryos.
So at Day 10 I am left with 53 wiggly embryos and 3 questionable eggs.

@HappyChooks
@ronott1
@KYTinpusher

@chicken pickin

I have couple of other issues hoping someone can help me with. I am especially mentioning few names to make sure they get to read this post (its kinda late and could be easily overlooked), however anyone with suggestions is welcome.

A) 4 of the good wiggly embryo eggs have very large air sacs. These were shipped eggs and have saddle-shaped sacs almost as big as at lockdown. They also have lost 10-15% of their weight already. So I am thinking they may have some minor cracks which may not be visible to the naked eye and, its causing them to lose weight rapidly. What should I do with these eggs, I am almost certain I will run into trouble with them. Shall I separate them somehow and create a more humid environment for them? Maybe putting in a sealed box with a damp paper towel and then taking out for oxygenation during the cool down time? I am clueless!

B) 2 of the good eggs seems to have only developed on one side of the egg. The embryos are moving but half the egg is completely clear. No blood vessels, nothing, nada. What could have caused it? Will they survive? I have checked the auto-turner and its working fine and all the other eggs in the same incubator are fine. I have moved them to the Brinsea in an upright position instead of flat just in case.
Anything else I can do?

Again, everyone/anyone's input is welcome!

Im not sure I can be of much help since I don't really have the experience but here are my thoughts.

Last night during candling I noticed that one of my Marans eggs had lits of hair line cracks. I can only imagine I bumped it or something and caused the damage before set day or maybe while hand turning, not really certain. Upon candling that egg I also noticed that the air cell was very large like lockdown large also. My decision was because I could not see if it was developing due to the dark egg shell I pulled the egg so I possibly didn't end up with a horrid mess later.

If you decide not to pull them and if you want to give it a go because you can see development and you want these shipped egg to hatch you should definitely move them to a different incubator just incase. In the new incubator you should probably keep the humidity quite high to help the air cell not get much bigger. I dont think I would box the egg, Im not sure they will get enough oxygen. Keep an eye on them daily to be sure they are growing proper and that they don't start to smell.

As for the egg that is only developing in half the egg, I have had this happen before, one time. But honestly I cant remember if it hatched or not. I want to say it did not but I cant really remember. Im not sure what causes that.

I really hope someone else will jump in with better advice for you. I wasn't very helpful lol. Good Luck!

 

[RedIII]

for certain.  the 5 year old confessed.  and the DH has become a total enabler. he took me to the farm and garden and more than encouraged me to buy 15 chicks we don't even need

Sorry to hear about your hatch! If those were my kids, I would not be a happy momma! They'd at least get a stern talking to, for sure. *insert hug emoticon here*

 

[ronott1]

not sure if the kids have been given a thorough scolding (found the problem after they had long gone home), but their parents were alerted and have been very apologetic. They offered to pay us for the loss (these chicks were to be sold after the weekend's planned events centered around them).

It sounds like lots of lessons were learned. It is great when life is a Teacher.(except for your poor eggs!

).

 

[AmyLynn2374]

B) 2 of the good eggs seems to have only developed on one side of the egg. The embryos are moving but half the egg is completely clear. No blood vessels, nothing, nada. What could have caused it? Will they survive? I have checked the auto-turner and its working fine and all the other eggs in the same incubator are fine. I have moved them to the Brinsea in an upright position instead of flat just in case.
Anything else I can do?

Again, everyone/anyone's input is welcome!

That's weird with them being in a turner because that is what you see with hand turned eggs after they have been laying on one side. If you pick an egg up and candle it before you turn it, you'll see exactly what you are describing. Then as you turn you can see the discplacement of the embryo as it shifts. (The one side that it is on is the side that faces up.) Once you turn it it moves back to the side that is facing up. (After using an automatic turner for my all my hatches then handturning I was intrigued by this.)

I use a little bit of vinegar in the water while I boil the eggs. Most all peel with no problems, out of a batch of 18 or so eggs I get one maybe two that gets ruined.

You taste the vinegar at all?

 

[ronott1]

Ok, did my candling again for Day 10.
Out of the 10 questionable I had on Day 7, 5 were definitely not growing so they were tossed. So down to 56 now.
Out of the remaining 5, 3 are still questionable but 2 had good wiggly embryos.
So at Day 10 I am left with 53 wiggly embryos and 3 questionable eggs.

@HappyChooks
@ronott1
@KYTinpusher

@chicken pickin

I have couple of other issues hoping someone can help me with. I am especially mentioning few names to make sure they get to read this post (its kinda late and could be easily overlooked), however anyone with suggestions is welcome.

A) 4 of the good wiggly embryo eggs have very large air sacs. These were shipped eggs and have saddle-shaped sacs almost as big as at lockdown. They also have lost 10-15% of their weight already. So I am thinking they may have some minor cracks which may not be visible to the naked eye and, its causing them to lose weight rapidly. What should I do with these eggs, I am almost certain I will run into trouble with them. Shall I separate them somehow and create a more humid environment for them? Maybe putting in a sealed box with a damp paper towel and then taking out for oxygenation during the cool down time? I am clueless!

B) 2 of the good eggs seems to have only developed on one side of the egg. The embryos are moving but half the egg is completely clear. No blood vessels, nothing, nada. What could have caused it? Will they survive? I have checked the auto-turner and its working fine and all the other eggs in the same incubator are fine. I have moved them to the Brinsea in an upright position instead of flat just in case.
Anything else I can do?

Again, everyone/anyone's input is welcome!

What is the humidity in your incubator? I would leave the eggs where they are and raise the humidity up 5 to 10%.

Shipped eggs should always be set big end up. If the embryos are still going then they will likely be fine. Turning problems kill them from day 6 to 10.

 

[JekkaLynn]

Oh sweet Momma, my heart goes out with you. You
have a wonderful husband that is taking care of you. I, too, have gotten sick beyond reality during pregnancy. If feel your pain. For me, to add to the list of stories, I could ONLY eat watermelon. My first trimester was in winter...go figure. We have pictures of me having a half of watermelon laying on the couch eating out of it like a bowl. NOTHING ELSE stayed down. Sweet friend, this is only a season.

Cantelope is my melon of choice when pregers.

 

[Amywilliams]

I keep trying to catch up with this thread but I am dyslexic and after 2 pages it really started to go all haywire lol.
One of my twins died on day 2 then the other died sometime last night, smelt it this morning when going to turn the eggs. Two were also clear so out of 16 I'm down to 13 which is ok with me since I haven't even started building the second coop yet