[UPDATED] CHICK PEEPING AT DAY 13 (yes, really!)

[CajunFeatherz]

Updating: Chick #4 (Lily) has hatched and appears healthy, but Lotus is pecking at her a lot, so I separated them and will be implementing some of these changes tomorrow morning:

http://forum.thepoultrysite.com/discussion/1960/redirect/p1

The 3 other eggs remain in the incubator, but I have no idea what age they are. Maybe they will hatch .But I'm not pinning my hopes on anything since it's impossible to say if they are duds that should have pipped or young eggs that still need more time. Happy I got two healthy chicks from this drama at least! Super hoping Lotus doesn't turn out to be some kind of vicious rooster with all this pecking at day one!

 

[JaeG]

Sorry about losing the two babies. That's rough and it's so hard when there's nothing you can do.

Glad Lotus has got a friend (or will do once she remembers her manners! Sometimes they do peck out of curiosity but she should stop once the other chick is up and about and acting more normally.

 

[CajunFeatherz]

Ugh just posted an update, it double posted, I deleted the duplicate and both are gone *eye roll*

Chick #4 (Lily) has hatched and appears healthy. But Lotus immediate took to pecking at her, so they were separated which is sad because I was so eager for Lotus to have a homie. I'm going to implement some of these changes in the morning and hope it helps:

http://forum.thepoultrysite.com/discussion/1960/redirect/p1

Three eggs remain in the inc, hopefully they will hatch but as I have no idea of their ages I'm avoiding getting my hopes up. They could be unhatched duds or pipped in the morning - or maybe even on Tuesday/Wednesday with the rest. Who knows! For now I'm just hoping Lotus isn't showing early signs of being a super aggressive roo or something LOL. Hopefully I just have the heat too high or something.

 

[CajunFeatherz]

Lol you can always tell those of us who have that good ol' rural Internet. Thanks JaeG! That gives me hope since Lily is much more sleepy since she's freshly hatched.

 

[Crazy_with_kidz_and_chicz]

My 2 that were 20 hours older pecked a lot at the new ones but they all made it. Funny to me how they think each other's feet are food.

 

[shanadienne]

At this point Lotus is mostly pecking because she's never seen another living creature her size before! They'll probably be fine, especially if you follow those tips you linked to.

Is Lotus eating/drinking/pooping regularly?

 

[CajunFeatherz]

I saw her peck a lot at the crumble I dropped on the floor of the "brooder" aka giant Rubbermaid bin but I haven't seen her drink, although I think she has. I put her beak into water several times but she hasn't seemed to drink a lot yet. I do fermented feed for all of my birds and offered it to her, but I have noticed younger chicks sometimes take a while to warm up to the good stuff even tho I see others say they can do it from day one. Poos look good, brown and normal urates. She dropped a foamy caecal too. I assume that's normal for chicks as day olds. I've had plenty of chicks and ducklings but having never hatched my own, these first few days are kinda foreign. Learning on my toes. Lily having been just born hasn't pecked much at the food, she did kinda do it a bit when she observed Lotus do it but I had to separate them rather quick. Just until she can at least run away / fight back lol. She dropped a just-born darkish green watery poo, which I assume is normal since Lotus dropped a few of those before eating too. You guys are definitely helping me feel better about the pecking, I've never observed that before so I was worried maybe it was because they were hatched under such abnormal circumstances!

 

[CajunFeatherz]

Query for anyone out there: I can't get my humidity down in the incubator. Was hoping to give the eggs some nice dry days to help correct for keeping the humidity high for the last few. I live in a very humid climate down south and it's pouring down rain, there's no water in any of the trays and yet I have 60% humidity. The air cells look ok when candled but what do I really know

Also: any tips to tell if these last two early bird orpington eggs are behind the others or just duds? I candled but they are solid darkness and air cell, it's impossible to tell what's up inside.

 

[lazy gardener]

As long as they don't stink, continue on continuing on. I've heard that folks can drop humidity by adding dry rice. I wonder if you can get some silica gel packets from your pharmacy? I once asked my pharmacy for some silica packets, and in a week's time, they saved a qt sized bag of packets!

 

[CajunFeatherz]

Oh snap I own a food company and am lousy with silica packets. Totally forgot this trick Lazy Gardener! Thanks for the reminder!!