We have 12 Silkie eggs in the bator. My mother n laws neighbor has beautiful Silkies and gave us some eggs. They are due to hatch today and this morning I hear some peeping, no holes yet. I think we may only get 5 out of the dozen because when we candled them it appeared only 5 were good, we left the others in the bator just in case, but it didn't look like they had anything.
I hope at least the 5 make it out okay....such stress waiting on babies.
There is peeping in the bator.....
Yes it is, but five out of a dozen is not bad to me. I love the silkies, they are the best moms in chickendom I think, of course there are many breeds I have never had, and I know Catsy loves her nankings. So anyhow congrats: and have fun. Hay
How exciting! To hear them while they are still in the egg still amazes me. :) Hope to see your babiez soon!
There is a small peck in one shell, the shell is partially broken in a V shape but it hasn't pushed the shell piece off yet. Still peeping or chirping, I hear a chip chip every now and then.
^_^
You have a PIP my friend!! Congrats!
Well baby #1 has hatched! But, there was blood in the shell and it has splotches in the bator where it sits. It has been all over the bator too so it can get around. Some eggs have a spot or two on them, the temperature gauge was smeared with it. It peeps a lot and seems to be strong. I picked it up to check it and its little behind had some blood on it, mostly dried up now. Not sure if it just didn't suck enough up before it pushed out of the shell or what happened but it seems to be doing well so far. It is dark, looks gray and has a little plume on its head. Can't wait to see it when it dries all the way, and gets fluffy. It hatched around 2.
Congrats Smedge! How cute it sounds! Can't wait to see pics..
:)
Congratulations!!!
Yay!! Congrats!!
It appears as though Baby #1 may be a Splash Silkie. There is another one pipping so by morning we should have another one. Baby #1 was a mystery egg, we had no idea what it would be color wise. Baby #2 is suppose to be a white Silkie. I hope it makes it okay, there is a small hole and it has been that way for a while.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Congrats on your new babies! I love my silkies.I just got my first silkie babies this year. Cant wait till i get eggs from them to hatch. I have 1 white,1 black that may end up being a dark blue, 1 medium blue, 1 light blue and 2 buffs they just get fluffier and fluffier as they grow. My youngest thinks she's(?) a parrot and sits on my arm or shoulder while im workin in the barn.We also raise parrots and shes still in the house so i belive she thinks shes a parrot.
Congrats to you...Isnt it fun...LOL
Too funny SHE_WOLFIE, wonder if the Silkie will talk too. I love the Buff colored ones, but I think we only got one Buff egg and it didn't develop.
So far the other baby hasn't hatched. It is peeping so we know it is still alive. I'm worrying it might get stuck in the egg. My son says he hears it pecking though. Baby #1 we took out of the bator last night. The little thing was panting and always going way to the corner, so we put it in a box under a light and it seemed better. Temp in the bator has been 97-100 so I guess the little thing is just a hot box. There is another egg, my son saw last night, with a spot of shell pushed up a little, but so far nothing else on that one either.
it took 26 hrs for one of mine to start zipping after it piped. That was the longest 26 hrs! then i had one that took 20 mins from pip to fully hatched.
So funny grey, cause yes thats the way it goes, however I usually take a sharp object and open up the pip hole and break the albumen so I know at least there getting air. That is after about 16 hours after pip.
I have had to rescue them too.. The main thing is to keep the humidity up. I hope your baby is okay. It is so hard to wait.. I know that all too well.
Baby #2 is still trying. We hear it peep and see the entire egg move or wobble, but so far it isn't out. My son is getting worried because the hole it has looks dry. Strange thing is, it is pipping on the narrow end of the egg. We have 3 more with areas that are pushed up a little but not a hole broke through yet.
Okay, pictures!
This is yesterday in the bator. Poor lonely baby, no others hatched yet. It sure made its rounds around the bator, probably telling the others to hurry up and get out.
This is today. Poor thing got so tired it fell asleep in its food. Too funny how it is laying on its side. Too cute to pass up taking a picture, had to grab the camera.
The first time it did this it was laying close to the waterer and had one leg stretched out, scared the life out of me, I thought it was a goner. I touched it and it jumped up, whew
A Silkie Wut Wut Baby! How cute! I love chick toes.. look at that! Sooo cute!
They do encourage the others to hatch.. such a miracle.. Love the pics!
baby #3 has hatched. Once it got to working it popped out in a few minutes. It is a white Silkie.
Baby #2 is still trying, we hear it peep and the egg was rocking back and forth like it has been pecking. We finally put it on a damp paper towel to help with humidity and to keep the egg from rocking. I'm thinking it pecks and the egg rocks it won't make much progress.
Baby #4 and 5 are working at holes. Baby #4 has a good little hole now and baby #5 has a crack in the shell and a piece popped off but the membrane is still over it so it hasn't opened an air hole in the shell yet.
Baby #1 is already spoiled ROTTEN
That's good that the others are hatching.. it will help raise the humidity. Might be a bit late for #2.. could already be dried out.. and pipping from the bottom worries me too. I hope it's okay.
Just shut up Hay...LOL
I was thinking just shut up ZZ !!
Baby # 4 and 5 are making more progress, 4 has a good inch or more around the shell peeked, 5 just has the shell knocked off in a small area a a tiny slit in the membrane, baby #2 is still alive but no progress as of yet.
Should we pull a little shell away from baby 2 and see if it can push itself out?
I don't dare tell you to open the bator.. or intervene... that is up to you.
(That's why I said Shut Up ZZ)
Someone else needs to chime in here.. :)
Baby #4 and Baby #5 has hatched. First #4 and then within a minute or two #5 hatched with #4 right there next to it. These are both Naked neck Silkies. Funny looking little things.
#2 is still alive but no progress. I think we will wait a bit and then maybe chip away just a tiny bit of egg and see if it can get itself out.
I am laughing so hard, ZZ's cause thats why I said shut up also. I would certainly do exactly what you suggested. So would you ZZ's...LOL. forgive me smedge but ZZ's and I are getting into to much trouble. Yes we are a bad pair to draw to...LOL. Hay.
This message was edited Mar 25, 2010 4:24 PM
i saved 4 of the overly long ones... i know everyone said not to.. but they are healthy & happy still.
I picked some shell around but it popped off and the membrane under it stayed and is dry. Does that mean the baby is too dry? It is still peeping and moving its beak and pushed a little when I was holding the egg.
It does sound like it has dried out. I would, personally, try to help it out...there is a good chance that it has some problem that makes it unable to hatch. But that is not always the case and sometimes you can save a nice healthy chick.
Is the Silkie site describing how to help a chick hatch in the reference thread?
Okay.. someone else said it..
Yes, I would intervene by now. Never unless it's at least been 24 hours..
Some people get lucky, even I have saved several chicks.. but when you peel off eggshell and it comes to life in your hand only to bleed out in seconds and die.. You won't be so quick to do it again. It is a real fine line there.. I hesitate to tell someone to do it.. it's so sad when that happens!
Haystack! I knew we were on the same page there! LOL
I hope all is well Smedge.. Really, it's tricky... and remember, there might be a reason it didn't hatch..
Good Luck!
when it bleeds out.. it won't be a little bit of blood either.. its everywhere. IF I hadn't of had a second set of hands with lots of paper towels idk that I"d do it again.
{{i lost one bc i helped & it wasn't suppose to hatch... it bled out, BUT i held to the fact that instead of struggling for several more minutes or hours.. it died quickly.}}
It took me 3 hours to make the final decision to help. Very hard decision to make.
This is the best site I have found on explaining how to help a chick hatch. You really can't go wrong if you follow her advice....as long as you understand the risks.
http://www.silkiechickens.com/helping_chicks_hatch.htm
I've lost and saved them. My best luck has been with dampening around the egg and helping the CRACK along. If that inner membrane is damp and there are enough cracks in the egg, chickie-doodles will generally finish the job for me. I wet my (clean) hands, wipe them all over the egg and try to crack a bit here and there.
Definite learning curve. And every single hatching I bemoan, for a time, the fact that I am NO hen. I get over it. And I'm glad to be human, ultimately. But it's hard being the wrong species when a baby needs you...
That is a great site Catsy.. Thank you for posting that.
edited to add
You got that right Grow! It is really hard to just listen to them scream.. when you know you can get them out. I've left them too long, and gotten em out too early.. I think we all have.
This message was edited Mar 25, 2010 7:24 PM
We need a basic's of hatching & what to do in an emergency thread.....
everyone was offline pretty much when i needed help. A thread with basics.. would have been great to just flip to the reference thread & hunt for what to possibly do, not to do & when to just throw it all to the wind & do what you feel is best. Its scary as hell otherwise when you've never hatched before.
{unless there is one & I didn't find it...}
I think the hardest part is waiting until the veins clamp off. Once that happens, you really can't do much harm.
In my limited experience the most common reason for a chick not to complete its hatch, aside from not providing it the correct hatching environment, was that here was something congenitally wrong with its legs. I think that prevents the chick from pushing against the top of the egg, and maybe also from moving around the perimeter of the egg.when it is zipping.
But I have had chicks that were "shrink wrapped" by a dry membrane and otherwise fine. So I always try to help them out if I can see they are struggling over a long period of time.
Baby #2 is out!!!! I loosened and popped off the shell around the egg about 3/4 of the way around and let the membrane which looked dry and put it back in the bator. It started working and pushing and pushing and as it did it looked like the membrane was getting damp, it probably was working up a sweat. I let it work and work and it finally popped out peeping and seems strong. I haven't noticed any blood other than a small spot on its rear and none in the shell. This little booger came out of the small end of the egg. I hope it continues to get stronger.
Whew, I'm glad that is over.