Who else was on lockdown 9/5-9/9? (Post your Hatch Round-ups!)

[mulia24]

i love it.

 

[Emilys3guppies]

YAY!!!! A pip party! I love it!

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Day 20!! Nothing pipped this morning before I left for work...at least that I could see.

This batch of babehs will be the death of me. Little BCM's won't you come out to play?

 

[cattbird]

I have one teeny tiny pip on my black miniature silkie egg! I'm so excited I can't keep away from the incubator!

 

[SuziQ]

Just watched two chicks hatch out, it was amazing how they scooted
around until they found each other! Now they are just huddled together
and resting. I'm hoping all their cheeping will encourage the Americauna
chick to work harder! So far only three of the eggs have sown any signs of
hatching. Tried to get some photos, but they are in a corner of the
incubator and can't reach that area with the camera and don't want
to open it as long as they are still wet.

How is everybody else doing?

 

[FenDruadin]

OMGoodness! I am so excited about all the pipping zipping popping action on this thread!

Super cool picture, Mimir! I love it. Keep your hands out of the bator, though!

I made the mistake of handling mine a lot on my first hatch and I think I killed one of them with the humidity swings.

I am locking down the bator today and swear I WILL NOT TOUCH the eggs or open the lid again until after the hatch... Help!

Chicky Tocks--I'm sending happy pippy vibes your way. Maybe they'll all be zipping when you get home from work! How's your humidity?

Irishboy--patience is key! If you had any issues during incubation they could hatch late, but still be just fine. A rocker is a GOOD thing. Hopefully, you'll be seeing little pips and zips before long. The ones that pipped, though--how long have they been pipped? They can easily go 24 or more hours without progress and be just fine. But if it's been 48 hours or if you simply don't see any movement or progress for a long time, it might be time to intervene if you want. More details--maybe someone here can help you. Good luck!

Mulia--I am so excited we'll be hatching together. I've been watching your story for so long now, I just really really really hope it comes out happy in the end. And I'm excited we get to watch our babies hatch together!!

SuziQ--ducks can take two or three days from pipping to zipping. Chicks tend to be faster, I think (the shells aren't as hard--at least, I think that's why it's different), but can still take a couple days. What I do for the brooder is a towel the first few days--they don't make too much mess those first few days (relatively speaking), so it's just a little extra laundry and it keeps them relatively clean and dry, and it's not slippery. Once they are a little bigger & stronger, I put the towel down over a bed of straw, and leave a corner with just the straw showing. After a couple days, they start spending all their time on the bare straw portion and that's when I know it's time to take the towel out and leave them just on straw. One other thing I heard recently and thought was an excellent idea was puppy piddle pads laid down *under* that rubbery shelf liner stuff with the holes in it--allows the moisture to pass through and be absorbed by the piddle pad but still provides good footing. However, chicks are not as wet as ducks, so you may not need the extra absorbency.

kyliekobe--a dark mass is a good sign--exactly what you should see when the egg is full of healthy chick. Sending you good vibes!!!

Andrew C--CUTE!!!!!!

maf2008--I can't wait to hear how those Walmart eggs do. Very cool!

EVERYONE--Thank you so much for coming to the party!!! Refreshments: Popcorn, Stuffed "Pip"pers, and Zipper peas!! Help yourselves! Feel free to bring an appropriately themed side dish...

 

[FenDruadin]

Yay SuziQ! Congratulations!!!

How many eggs are left? Maybe because they're a different breed they need a little longer? Good job keeping the bator closed! Personally, I like to take the babies out in batches as they dry and get mobile, but some folks leave it closed until every last egg is hatched, which may be the better choice. This is only my second time, so I'm no expert.

Anyway, that's great news! I can't wait to see the pictures when they become more cooperative!

 

[SuziQ]

Thanks Curiositycat. I appreciate all the help. I'm a newbie but loving
every minute of it. I couldn't stand it though. Those little naked babies
scooting over the hardware cloth just looked awful, so set up a brooder
box next to the incubator and moved the two chicks over. The Americauna
is still working at the shell, but not too much progress so far.

I did notice another one had 'pipped'? Is that the word for when they
push the first bit of shell off? It was rocking too, so guess that's four
so far. I have 24 eggs, but when I tried to candle them, some looked
clear so are probably not fertile, the blue and brown eggs are hard to tell.
Since I'm so new, just couldn't throw them away until I knew for sure.

I got a mix of several breeds and 24 eggs total. I didn't expect many to
hatch, but if they do, will share with my brother. It looks like the first two
will be Buff Orpingtons, The next will be Americauna, and hope to get some
silver laced wyandottes and black australorps. They weren't marked when
I got them, so have to wait until they hatch to see what we end up with.

I do have another question though. When the second chick hatched, it had a big
glob of the egg membrane stuck to the end it's umbilical cord. It kept catching on
the wire and pulling. I finally took some manicure scissors and carefully cut
the big glob off the end so it wouldn't stick on everything and pull. I hope
that I didn't make a mistake, but it was pulling so hard I figured I couldn't
do any more damage than the chick was doing. Have you ever had one do that?

I think it helped. As soon as I did that, the chick crawled into my palm and went to sleep. Sheesh, another spoiled rotten chicken in progress!!!

 

[FenDruadin]

Yup. I've had that happen and I think what you did was just fine. If it didn't bleed, then the chick was probably done absorbing and it just would have dried up and fallen off anyway. And it could have pulled out its intestines from pulling on the yolk. So you did good.

 

[FenDruadin]

For the record--in case you missed my panicked post--I just crushed one of the eggs. I was putting water on the towel, the fan hit my hand and knocked the pitcher into one of the eggs, which now has a big dent in it. The duckling appears to be alive--I just saw it moving a few minutes ago (with the shell dented in, the motion is easy to see through the membrane). The membrane appears to be intact, and a couple folks have told me there is a good chance it will still hatch.

Keeping my fingers crossed...