The 8th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!

[FreedomFarm13]

Well, the first baby, Number Four, got stuck. The egg was stuck to the bottom of the bator this morning when I decided to help because she was looking kinda shrink wrapped. Glad I did. She was really stuck. I've got her almost all the way out now, and she should be able to get herself the rest of the way out. She's taking a little nap right now, though, from trying to get out all night. Poor baby. I have pics!
Part of the way thru the assist:

Now:

Still no pips from the others. I'm a little worried about them now. And I have to be at work at noon, so I may not be here to help anyone who needs it. Please let them be ok!!!

ETA: As I was typing this, I heard pecking...looks like someone else is pipping!!

 

[Bantambird]

But seriously, we need turkey pics

there's the parents on top, and two poults

 

[brucifer]

there's the parents on top, and two poults

What a beautiful Bourbon Red. Gorgeous bird!

 

[ronott1]

Well, the first baby, Number Four, got stuck. The egg was stuck to the bottom of the bator this morning when I decided to help because she was looking kinda shrink wrapped. Glad I did. She was really stuck. I've got her almost all the way out now, and she should be able to get herself the rest of the way out. She's taking a little nap right now, though, from trying to get out all night. Poor baby. I have pics!
Part of the way thru the assist:

Now:


Still no pips from the others. I'm a little worried about them now. And I have to be at work at noon, so I may not be here to help anyone who needs it. Please let them be ok!!!

ETA: As I was typing this, I heard pecking...looks like someone else is pipping!!

Nice Job!

Along with turning issues, You may be a bit low in temps. It would be a very good idea to make sure you have a sensitive and accurate thermometer and verify the temps of the incubator.

Another thing that can happen if the room that the incubator is in is temperature swings; as the room goes from low to high temperatures over a day, some incubators cannot adjust fast enough and the average temperature can be off.

I hope the next ones hatch better for you!

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Nice Job!

Along with turning issues, You may be a bit low in temps. It would be a very good idea to make sure you have a sensitive and accurate thermometer and verify the temps of the incubator.

Another thing that can happen if the room that the incubator is in is temperature swings; as the room goes from low to high temperatures over a day, some incubators cannot adjust fast enough and the average temperature can be off.

I hope the next ones hatch better for you!

Thanks, Ron! She's all the way out now and flopping all over the bator. She seems very healthy. I was worried about the temp, but I have my best thermometer in there along with two back-ups, and they're all reading within .2 degrees of each other, so I think the temp is fine. Humidity is another issue. I had some fluctuations shortly after putting the eggs in the hatchet, and although they seem to have leveled out, that may be why she got stuck. She also hadn't absorbed all of the yolk yet...there was a little bit still stuck to her when she came out. I'm not sure if I should wash her off or not. She's still very sticky, and has bits of shell stuck to her. Should I just rinse her in warm water real quick? And should I dry her with a towel, or just wrap her in one and put her back in the bator to dry? I'm new to difficult hatches! Nerve racking!!

 

[ronott1]

Thanks, Ron! She's all the way out now and flopping all over the bator. She seems very healthy. I was worried about the temp, but I have my best thermometer in there along with two back-ups, and they're all reading within .2 degrees of each other, so I think the temp is fine. Humidity is another issue. I had some fluctuations shortly after putting the eggs in the hatchet, and although they seem to have leveled out, that may be why she got stuck. She also hadn't absorbed all of the yolk yet...there was a little bit still stuck to her when she came out. I'm not sure if I should wash her off or not. She's still very sticky, and has bits of shell stuck to her. Should I just rinse her in warm water real quick? And should I dry her with a towel, or just wrap her in one and put her back in the bator to dry? I'm new to difficult hatches! Nerve racking!!

I would wait to wash her. Often when they are sticky, I make sure that the vent is open and let them dry off. The sticky stuff usually flakes off of them after a couple of days. I do wash them if their wings are stuck together or if they look like they might stick to the bottom of the incubator. For the yolk not being absorbed, I will put them into a tea cup, mostly to keep the other chicks from pecking the sack.

If you wash the chick, use a hair dryer on low to dry her after. Chicks love hair dryers!

You do not need to worry about washing her quickly. Chicks will be fine in warm water. Use a bit of soap. I use the bathroom sink since I hatch them in the master bedroom.

 

[Razadia]

I decided not to do a test hatch. I'm just working on making sure I don't have any temp spikes so the EHAL goes well for me.

 

[Cynthia12]

Well, the first baby, Number Four, got stuck. The egg was stuck to the bottom of the bator this morning when I decided to help because she was looking kinda shrink wrapped. Glad I did. She was really stuck. I've got her almost all the way out now, and she should be able to get herself the rest of the way out. She's taking a little nap right now, though, from trying to get out all night. Poor baby. I have pics!
Part of the way thru the assist:

Now:


Still no pips from the others. I'm a little worried about them now. And I have to be at work at noon, so I may not be here to help anyone who needs it. Please let them be ok!!!

ETA: As I was typing this, I heard pecking...looks like someone else is pipping!!

I'm worried that some of my chicks from this bad shipment will end up like this..stuck! He also let me know when he wrote back, that the eggs take up to 23 days to hatch. There are some pretty large eggs in there. I threw out two more last night, one being that very pretty blue egg..floating air sacs. :/

 

[chickendreams24]

May I ask who Cupcake is?

Oh I just so love love love that blue egg too bad you can't find out the hen that layed it and her parentage. Hope you get some Hatchers.






Hi all I just wanted to tell you allow grateful I am for your kindnesses. Your sympathy and support without judgement mean the world to me.

I'm sure some people would say that we should have known and blame us. Truthfully it's hard for me not to. But we had no clue. I just have to keep telling myself that and thinking that those chicks must be with my OEGB roo Mickey that we lost and several others. May they nestle in the arms of God and never feel the cold again until the day I can snuggle them again and tell them I love them.

It's so hard them having such short lives and being so sweet and loved. Their deaths were senseless just a stupid thing that happened. I miss them and I love them gosh I loved those tiny little things!

Through my tears this morning I begged DH2B to bring them back to wake them up. I'm sure I was in a bit of shock of course I knew they were gone but I needed hope. Unfortunately the only hope to be had was in the 5 pips in the bator.

It's hard I think I'll hurt a long time over this one. We've always been so careful and DH2B calls me paranoid often. Today he didn't call me paranoid once as I obsessively checked the incubator and the flock.

It doesn't undo the loss and the hurt but today the bantam eggs hatched from the same set day as the group of quail.
4/7 alive and well, 1/7 DIS at lockdown but I left it just in case. 1 other died after pipping a vein it appears. Will eggtopsy tomorrow. It's way too late and I didn't have the heart.

Little number seven got stuck in the egg and required some help. We were out to dinner with my Mom who wanted to cheer me up. I love my Mom and I appreciate it so much. I'm just glad she understands especially as she was supposed to come over to see the baby quail this morning.

Back to little number 7. It had been 24 hours since it did anything and had made two pips vertically in the egg. Membrane dried to it's face and it couldn't turn or zip so I had to remove that carefully with a damp qtip. I wrapped it in warm wet paper towels and left it in the incubator for two hours. I thought I may have seen some tiny veins left.

Perhaps BC of the day I had I couldn't get it out of my mind and kept going back. Afraid I would lose it. Finally I decided to just look a bit more and pulled the chick from the egg as it seemed to be ready by that point. It was a little early and there were some itty bitty veins left in the bottom of the egg and it's navel was a little open.

The baby is now resting in the bator back in warm wet paper towels. Hopefully the navel closes well tonight while the chick sleeps.

Ugh I feel like a failure today. Still I know that chick would have died for sure if I hadn't intervened for no other reason than a bit of dried blood which turned the membrane to glue. Which I discovered was due to that chick pipping a small vein as I could clearly see it. Thankfully it was very minor. So minor we didn't see it at all earlier before the assist.

Fingers crossed for the chick. For all of them. The brooder will be brought into the porch for them in the morning set up and prewarmed. They will be moved after I'm sure little number 7 (or 5 whatever you want to call it) is okay.

Hoping for some pure OEGB and a little Mickey chick. Regardless it will be fun to see what everyone turns out like.

Thank you all again for the kindness and support. Today has been a roller coaster of emotions and I'm still rather shocked. I feel joy for the new life agony over the loss and both fear and hope for the new babies.

Now I must try to turn off my mind and sleep. If I can.


Hope I didn't forget to say anything.
Oh hello Cupcake is she a cream legbar mix? She's beautiful.

She is an Icelandic hen that KYtinpusher hatched from shipped eggs. She decided to go with different breeds and pm'd me to see if I wanted the four pullets she had. I have two sons that live in KY and picked the girls up on a visit. Her daughter had handled Cupcake and she is the friendliest hen here   .....and the only one without an Icelandic name.
She has been broody each year and is a great momma.

Oh how wonderful! I love being able to give and receive updates on BYC about BYC friends and birds I've given to or got from them. Also now that you say so I see she's an Icelandic lol apparently I shouldn't try to identify breeds at three in the morning. Lol she's beautiful and sounds like an amazing hen. Icelandics are a landrace breed right? What are the rest of yours like? I like the landrace breeds as we free range. We don't currently have any but I want to get some. I particularly like the swedish hedamoras BC they can come woolie and BC they are so good with cold. I haven't done too much research on the icelandics though.

I would wait to wash her. Often when they are sticky, I make sure that the vent is open and let them dry off. The sticky stuff usually flakes off of them after a couple of days. I do wash them if their wings are stuck together or if they look like they might stick to the bottom of the incubator. For the yolk not being absorbed, I will put them into a tea cup, mostly to keep the other chicks from pecking the sack.

If you wash the chick, use a hair dryer on low to dry her after. Chicks love hair dryers!

You do not need to worry about washing her quickly. Chicks will be fine in warm water. Use a bit of soap. I use the bathroom sink since I hatch them in the master bedroom.

I would wait to wash her until her navel has sealed or scabbed over. Especially if she hasn't absorbed all of her yolk yet. I don't use soap in the water to wash them just warm running water has always worked fine for me or warm wet qtips particularly for the head. Are you sure it's yolk and not just the "afterbirth" that was connected? If it is her yolk sac wrap her in warm wet paper towels and place her in a small dish or coffee cup. Of course don't cut off the yolk. If the yolk or navel dry out they won't be absorbed or close up as nicely. The navel would scab over but idk what would happen to the yolk.

If I don't wash chicks that come out sticky they usually fluff up within 1-2 days.

Good luck I hope all is well.



Hello guys. I'm dragging today after being up until three. That's too late for me... I must be getting old lol.

Okay so I left all 5 chicks in the bator last night with the one being wrapped in wet paper towels.

My wonderful DH2B checked them this morning as I asked and BC the four were climbing all over the other one he brought in and set up the brooder in the porch as planned and moved the four lively chicks into it. I checked them a bit ago and they're all fine and sleeping peacefully. The little one in that bator still is doing well but had climbed out of its damp paper towels (I didn't have it in a restrictive dish like a coffee cup BC I didn't have the space for one as we are still in the middle of a quail hatch.) It's navel may have dried out but is almost completely closed at least it stayed in the paper towels all night. I rewrapped it and left it to sleep. I also find that wrapping them like that soothes them. I wonder if it's the equivalent to a water birth or being swaddled. Lol of course I leave the head out of the paper towels.

Will post another update later. We will be candling the set of quail eggs tonight.

 

[chickendreams24]

I'm worried that some of my chicks from this bad shipment will end up like this..stuck!  He also let me know when he wrote back, that the eggs take up to 23 days to hatch.  There are some pretty large eggs in there.  I threw out two more last night, one being that very pretty blue egg..floating air sacs.  :/ 

Out of curiosity why are you throwing them away? I've always heard and even told there is a small chance they'll hatch. Too bad about the pretty blue egg.