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

[venymae]

venymay, I am not an expert, and I have not incubated many hatches, but I can tell you that 5 of the 10 that ended up hatching for me this HAL, hatched late on day 22, and they didn't pip before this day. Another 4 pipped and hatched today, day 23, and the tenth chick is just now hatching, never saw a pip (and I HAVE been looking, believe me). I am NOT a meddler, but if I thought I could improve the chicks' chances of hatching, I might check them (are any chirping?) and then follow advice. Oddly enough, I can NEVER hear chirping because I am deaf, but if I think about it at lockdown, I can put the amplifier section of my PocketTalker into the bator and listen for chirps through the earphones dangling outside. That's pretty fun, and it takes some of the mystery out of whether I got any wannabe hatchers in there or not. I wish this could be more helpful. You will get help from this forum.

Thanks for your input! The only reason I'm worried, is that I cannot see the air cell anymore, which makes me think the chick is in it and breathing, but unable to get new external air because it has not pipped. I put a tiny hole in the air cell section and am leaving it to do the rest on it's own. I did hear tiny peck sounds when I tried listening to it while hiding in the closet (only quiet place in our home!) so I know it's still alive - Hooray!

 

[venymae]

Okay Saturday was day 21 and I have waited a few extra days patiently. I guess the damage was done.

I set 14 but got 0 chicks. Disappointing for sure!

I guess I will buy a few of the Wheaten Blue Wheaten chicks I was trying to hatch from the breeder that I got the eggs from and leave the incubating to the experts for now. I really thought incubating might be fun and less expensive but that can only be true if the eggs hatch. Is $12 per chick a good price for these chicks 2 to 3 weeks old?

Maybe I will try again sometime? It was exciting to hear the peeps before they quit so I'm quite sure I will do it again.

Try again, this was our first hatch and it is going pretty well even though we were using a ugly jerryrigged coolerbator. LOL. And we are total newbies. We read all the different articles on this website and did several "mock trials" of our incubator the few weeks before the HAL, but other than that we had ZERO prior knowledge about hatching. (aka n00bs) Our eggs were not shipped which probably helped a lot. Maybe you just had some bad luck this time. I feel for you. I would have cried if none of my eggs hatched. Probably pouted and gotten angry too (though not in front of my kids). Hope your next hatch goes better, don't give up!

 

[ronott1]

Well, we assisted our two zippers who decided to stop zipping half way. It had been 12+ hours since they attempted to zip. We finished zipping the shell for them (but left the membrane), wrapped them in wet paper towels and set them back in the incubator. We are going to let them go overnight and check back with them in the morning. Both are peeping.
What should we do if they still are not out in the morning? (that would be about 30 hours since pip)

They are already loose so they need to come out in the morning if they are not out on their own. The veins should be dry but watch for blood. You need to make sure their vent is clear so remove any membrane that is stuck there but make sure you do not pull any innards out.

most of the rest of the junk on them will dry off so you do not need to give them a complete bath. If you do, chicks like hot air dryers--make sure you do not get them too hot though....

 

[Ravynscroft]

Okay Saturday was day 21 and I have waited a few extra days patiently.  I guess the damage was done.

I set 14 but got 0 chicks.  Disappointing for sure! 

I guess I will buy a few of the Wheaten Blue Wheaten chicks I was trying to hatch from the breeder that I got the eggs from and leave the incubating to the experts for now.  I really thought incubating might be fun and less expensive but that can only be true if the eggs hatch.  Is $12 per chick a good price for these chicks 2 to 3 weeks old?

Maybe I will try again sometime?  It was exciting to hear the peeps before they quit so I'm quite sure I will do it again.

For 2 to 3 week old purebreds? No, not a bad price, I've seen worse... are the Ameraucanas or???

 

[traceyj]

Four marans day old chicks healing my heartbreak.
#chickenmath

 

[RangeChicks]

Our final total is 8 out of 9. Total of 12 set, but 3 were not fertile. Opened the last one tonight and it had died full term (saw definite movement 2 days ago). Weird how losing one seems so sad!

We do have 3 adorable Ameraucanas (one definite blue, & the other 2 may be black....not sure yet), and 5 Swedish Flower Hens. Each of them is so unique right now. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

[Sueg4332]

My hatch over!!!!!! there afew in the bator but not doing anything.
I set 130 right off the bat 31 og the wheaten Ameraucana were unfertile. Rooster gone and replaced
I got 80 chicks, n the brooder I am leaving the rest of the eggs in there until morning than toss them if no good
Sold 7 wyandottes this afternoon.
Daughter picking up some of the cochin bantam tomorrow
there is nakenecks
will a good count of each breed tomorrow I am tired
Offical number 80 chicks, out130


n/n

 

[jbkirk]

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but the Washington state site I looked at says $85 an hour, and $1-2 a bird, + $10 administration fee...

Washington state makes everything hard...it's $30 a year if you want to sell your eggs offsite away from your home...if you want to sellbaked goods/home made food/preserves at a farmers market you have to have a food handlers permit and rent space from a commercial kitchen, if you can tomato products to sell you have to do that and take like an 8 hour class that they only offer once a year in one city.... Bleh...the less I have to jump through their hoops the better...

That is the wonderfulness of one party control for 30 years.(And their demand for money for their worthless programs.)

 

[jessicaagross]

Well so far out of 38 eggs I have 26 chicks! I started with 46 eggs, 6 were infertile, 2 quitters and 2 dead pips (not sure what happened?). I've got two more trying to hatch, they are super slow and taking their time about it. Hopefully they make it out, it's crazy, some of those babies went from pip to hatched in under an hour, and others took a good 18-30+ hours! LOL Then I have until tomorrow afternoon for the other 8 to decide if they want to come out. I might let them go until Wednesday, that would be day 25 or 26, is that too long to just let them sit?

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

Ugh still no pips =/ I am just going to give them more time I guess because they look fine just way underdeveloped for 22 days like day 18 eggs in the ones I can see anything in =/ my temp must be dropping at night the last week has been pretty chilly at night after the warm spell =/ phooey. Does this disqualify any that do hatch.. like next week ? I just want more fluffy butts. At least the runner ducklings hatched, but one didn't make it. So two for me and one for my friend that did all the work hopefully get to set some more soon if she keeps laying.