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

[Cynthia12]

Well, I the hatch is over. My last chick I thought was stuck, because she was pipped but had not moved in 12 hours and all the books say 8 is when they should start zipping. I tried to help her out and she had just pipped because she was situated where she could not internally pip in the air cell so she had pipped outside but was not done absorbing the yolk sac. I thought she would surely die, and though I was doing my best to think positive and believe in her I was just certain she was gone. I got up at 2:00 a.m. and she was still alive, with her foot stuck in the now dried hatching gunk. I left her alone, afraid to touch her because her abdomen was still very distended. This morning her umbilical cord had dried up so I figured I could snip it and get it and the shell it was attached to out of the way without making a blood bath. She still barely opens her eyes, but she is scooting around the incubator without lifting her head and barely fluffing up, so I am starting to have hopes for her. Does anybody have any advice on other things I can do? And yes, I read Sally's help out article, man I wish I had found that 2 months ago.
Last night right after I ''helped'' her.

You might need to click on the picture, but see how distended her abdomen is?

This morning


A few minutes ago

Was out a bit too early..that's yolk to be absorbed. Looking good though. I would put the baby in a cup..I do a paper towel so it won't slip. That leg that is sticking out back wards, needs to be tucked in under the body. Being in a cup should help with that, it shouldn't be stretching it out. Small cup. Give it some electrolytes. Tiny tiny drop at first..only one. Then another later in the day..then another at night..tiny!

Don't cut anything..not sure what is left..just let it dry up now. It will eventually drop off..hopefully it will just be a small bit left. Just ..don't..cut anything!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote: I've pretty much set everything when I've done it...and I have never taken notice whether it made a difference. I just read or heard about the rounder eggs vs the long pointier egg (maybe on here?) I'm guessing...but I'm sure the rounder egg would be better for breach (backwards) chicks. Of course, what's even better is not to have breach chicks in the first place..lol.

As for males...there's much thought and speculation on that whole idea. I ended up with a female majority last year by quite a bit. I hatched more female chicks hands down and I ended up keeping them all because they were females. I thought I was lucky at first...but I don't think I could have been that lucky with all those hatches. I had one hatch in February that was even and the last hatch was more cockerels (which I now see if not very fun at all) My broodies hatched 1/2 1/2. So it was only the incubated eggs that were female heavy.

Only thing is though, I don't know what I did to get the high percentage of females and I haven't gotten a clue what variables changed to get all those cockerels. I don't want to emulate THAT again. I like the heavy female numbers. The only thing I did notice is one cockerel that seems to throw mostly roosters. I had a high percentage of his progeny in that last hatch. Maybe he's the variable?

I don't know. I'm wondering if the setting of the old eggs was the factor. I'll be setting fresh eggs for this HAL...so maybe I'll have more answers once I'm done that...lol.

 

[Glaseria]

I SO need me some turkeys!   Must. Find. Hatching. Eggs.


X 2

  I would also wait to wash the chick. Just watch it doesn't get stuck in place in the meantime, which is unlikely.


I won't be either.  Same here.
 I'm still selecting the chickens...lol.

You did really well to get the chick out.

I started with 3 thermometers and got a fourth. They were very close in temps but not accurate. I believe it's why I lost my December 2015 hatch. I'd been incubating that fall but I had just been very lucky. I calibrate all of my thermometers every time before I begin a period of hatching. It makes a difference having accurate temps. And humidity.My one hygrometer is 18 out...  

It could be a possibility why the chick may not have fully absorbed the yolk sac.

I concur with Ron on calibrating our measuring instruments.  It's the one thing we can control and it can make the difference between a great hatch and a dead hatch. I speak from experience on that one.  

How do you calibrate your thermometers?
We have started up the old hovabator that we got with the quail and are trying to dial it in. We have the new IncuTherm in there and another one with the tail bit in the incubator and the screen outside.

Sincerely,
Your Fellow Homesteader,
Glaseria

...

 

[ronott1]

I'm going to give it a shot. I have a couple of hens that seem to always lay long eggs. This spring all the girls laying are laying huge eggs. Way bigger than last year. One hen always lays a large round egg. She's a standard size hen and lays the largest eggs.

I did some research on this by reading some studies. None of the studies found this to be true.

This seems to be a joke that a country farmer would tell to a City cousin.

It is also very Freudian.

The odds of getting a male or female from any given egg is the same as flipping a coin to see if you get heads or tails. Over thousands of flips, you will get close to 50/50. You can also get straight runs of heads and then tails. They will still even out over time though.

 

[dawnmt70]

I've pretty much set everything when I've done it...and I have never taken notice whether it made a difference. I just read or heard about the rounder eggs vs the long pointier egg (maybe on here?) I'm guessing...but I'm sure the rounder egg would be better for breach (backwards) chicks. Of course, what's even better is not to have breach chicks in the first place..lol.

As for males...there's much thought and speculation on that whole idea. I ended up with a female majority last year by quite a bit. I hatched more female chicks hands down and I ended up keeping them all because they were females. I thought I was lucky at first...but I don't think I could have been that lucky with all those hatches. I had one hatch in February that was even and the last hatch was more cockerels (which I now see if not very fun at all) My broodies hatched 1/2 1/2. So it was only the incubated eggs that were female heavy.

Only thing is though, I don't know what I did to get the high percentage of females and I haven't gotten a clue what variables changed to get all those cockerels. I don't want to emulate THAT again. I like the heavy female numbers. The only thing I did notice is one cockerel that seems to throw mostly roosters. I had a high percentage of his progeny in that last hatch. Maybe he's the variable?

I don't know. I'm wondering if the setting of the old eggs was the factor. I'll be setting fresh eggs for this HAL...so maybe I'll have more answers once I'm done that...lol.

The males are the variable in humans so you might be on to something with that.

 

[chickendreams24]

I've pretty much set everything when I've done it...and I have never taken notice whether it made a difference. I just read or heard about the rounder eggs vs the long pointier egg (maybe on here?) I'm guessing...but I'm sure the rounder egg would be better for breach (backwards) chicks. Of course, what's even better is not to have breach chicks in the first place..lol.

As for males...there's much thought and speculation on that whole idea. I ended up with a female majority last year by quite a bit. I hatched more female chicks hands down and I ended up keeping them all because they were females. I thought I was lucky at first...but I don't think I could have been that lucky with all those hatches. I had one hatch in February that was even and the last hatch was more cockerels (which I now see if not very fun at all)  My broodies hatched 1/2  1/2. So it was only the incubated eggs that were female heavy.

Only thing is though, I don't know what I did to get the high percentage of females and I haven't gotten a clue what variables changed to get all those cockerels. I don't want to emulate THAT again. I like the heavy female numbers. The only thing I did notice is one cockerel that seems to throw mostly roosters. I had a high percentage of his progeny in that last hatch. Maybe he's the variable?  I don't know.  I'm wondering if the setting of the old eggs was the factor. I'll be setting fresh eggs for this HAL...so maybe I'll have more answers once I'm done that...lol.

The males are the variable in humans so you might be on to something with that.

The hens decide the sex in chickens unlike in people in which it is the father that either gives the y chromosome or doesn't give it(in which case the baby is xx or female).

It is because of this trait that we can create sex linked chicks. Now I'm not an expert by any means. I'm always still learning but I believe some hens do produce more female offspring than others and vice versa. That being said I do agree that it's all 50/50

We've had some really great hatches with high female numbers and really high male number hatches. We've also had perfect splits.

Some people think that temps during incubation change the sex of the embryo like reptiles this is not true. Some people have however speculated that different genders are more tolerant temps during incubation. I forget the exact but something along the lines of females survive high temps better. I don't remember the study you could probably find it if you looked. I'm not sure they found anything conclusive or not.

I know I was taught in humans that the female semen is supposed to live longer but the male swim faster. This doesn't have any relevance of course directly to chickens BC an egg has the genetic material already in place from the hen, even if it's infertile it still has that material from the hen that would create a gender.

This in turn makes me wonder if perhaps indirectly the theory with human semen and one gender being viable longer has a correlation of some kind. Such as perhaps older eggs hatch more female chicks BC they're viable longer or the opposite?

Does anyone have any data specifically about chicks that hatched from older eggs?

Perhaps older chicken eggs produce more of one gender than another based on which ones are still viable.

Just a thought

 

[dawnmt70]

The hens decide the sex in chickens unlike in people in which it is the father that either gives the y chromosome or doesn't give it(in which case the baby is xx or female).

It is because of this trait that we can create sex linked chicks. Now I'm not an expert by any means. I'm always still learning but I believe some hens do produce more female offspring than others and vice versa. That being said I do agree that it's all 50/50

We've had some really great hatches with high female numbers and really high male number hatches. We've also had perfect splits.

Some people think that temps during incubation change the sex of the embryo like reptiles this is not true. Some people have however speculated that different genders are more tolerant temps during incubation. I forget the exact but something along the lines of females survive high temps better. I don't remember the study you could probably find it if you looked. I'm not sure they found anything conclusive or not.

I know I was taught in humans that the female semen is supposed to live longer but the male swim faster. This doesn't have any relevance of course directly to chickens BC an egg has the genetic material already in place from the hen, even if it's infertile it still has that material from the hen that would create a gender.

This in turn makes me wonder if perhaps indirectly the theory with human semen and one gender being viable longer has a correlation of some kind. Such as perhaps older eggs hatch more female chicks BC they're viable longer or the opposite?

Does anyone have any data specifically about chicks that hatched from older eggs?

Perhaps older chicken eggs produce more of one gender than another based on which ones are still viable.

Just a thought

Very interesting! I'm just getting into the whole avian world. I love learning more! Thanks for the info!!!

 

[brucifer]

Below is a clip of the informal study I read the other day regarding the roundness of a chicken egg correlated to the sex of a chicken:

 

[Lozuufy]

there's the parents on top, and two poults

 

[JarrodnJojo2016]

im having incubator issues. set my eggs in my little giant 9300 still incubator,on the 3 of February and hatch day was supposed to be the 24th, i took automatic turner out 3 days b4 hatch day just like the directions said, my temp stayed at 98 an my humidity wouldn't stay past 60. I'm using a still air, and it has holes in the bottom but do i need to plug them up? all my water runs out when i add water, i left the eggs till today cause they were stinking. so i opened them an one was rotten, and the other two had chicks in them but i think they had died on the 21st day. should i plug the holes? should i place a hand held little fan inside? please some one help me