Yep, we now have 24 and possibly 1 more if it does hatch. It is having trouble and I wish there was something I could do to help. But I am afraid to try. So, hopefully it will make it's way out of the shell.
eggs chirping
Wow! That's totally awesome as my kids would say! Everything I've read says 60% hatch rate is great and you've got about 90% so far!!!!
Congratulations Granny!!
MollyD
Way to go, Granny and chicks! That's a super hatch rate!
I am impressed. I bet they are all doing great, and you don't
have to worry about any sickness from any unknown source.
I am very happy with my home hatched chicks. They are
really robust. 7 out of 8 eggs were fertile, and 6 of the 7
hatched out. I am definately a fan of homegrown.
any RIR crosses? maybe it would look like a golden comet.... does anyone know the cross in a black and a red?
our cross was partridge [brown] and red. she came out with the stripe on her back, but is mostly red with brown lacing on her wings...
so, black x red could have a stripe?
granny, you should be so proud! everyone take notes and warm up your bators. it is time for another round of baby chicks!
HIP HIP HOORAY!
Taking notes and warming up the bator now! My mountain
quail eggs will be coming in the next couple of weeks.
You have to remember, I started with 40 eggs. Had to take out 13 of the 40 because of infertile and blood rings. That left me with 27. Right now it looks like I may be getting 24 out of the 27, so if you figure 24 x 2 = 48 + 12 = yep...60%.
I want to help that little one who hasn't broken out of its shell yet so bad, I keep having to tell myself "NO!!!". The other one is doing pretty well, but we had to go somewhere and were gone about 2 hrs, and neither one has hatched as yet. So, still waiting and praying. And I can't say never yet on the one that doesn't look as if it has any pipping, as that is the one that hatched when my back was turned. LOL
And thanks for all the accolades. Hope we can have as good a hatch the next time.
BTW, has anyone used hydrogen peroxide to sterilize their incubator? That is what I used to clean out mine because it had been left in the garage since last year and was dusty and full of bugs.
We will have to wait to tell if there are any crosses. One or two look a little different from the others, but mostly they all look the same. BAs. No stripes on the backs. One or two don't have green legs, tho, and the BAs have dark legs. So maybe. (hoping)
do hens lay eggs fertilized by different males at the same time? Like cats can have kittens from different males in the same batch.
MollyD
Yes. The hens have the ability to store sperm for up to three weeks, from one or several roos. That is why you need to keep your breeders separated for that long to ensure pure breeding from select individuals, if the hen has been exposed to other roos.
Thanks Scott! I wasn't aware of that.
MollyD
GG, you are doing good. Do you think if you were a hen but had people hands, that you would want to help your little one out of the shell? Especially if it was talking to you and you could understadn it? I asked myself that and ended up helping some of mine out. Had i thought of it sooner i would have five more Buckeyes.
tf
Yes, TF, it is so tempting. I helped one out, and it's belly
button wasn't closed all the way yet. All are doing fine now, but
I worry about the future hatches if I do any eggs from that
one. I don't want to need to lend a hand with the progeny, and
have that little bit of worry with every successive hatch.
I know exactly how you feel though. they are right there- so
close to being fine, with just a little help from me. It's hard.
I would say, if it were going to be a meat bird, help it.
When I helped tiels I took a cotton swab dipped in water and just ran it all around the chick till it was loose in the shell. Then I let it finish hatching by itself.
MollyD
Okay, the only thing I decided to do was to pick some of the hard shell off and let it break the membrane by itself because I don't want to cut any veins. It is still trying and talking to me, so it is on it's own now. That's its problem, it hasn't cut through the membrane. But maybe it will be able to now. We are still going to keep on with it as long as it is alive.
Granny the only place there should be any veins is where the yolk attaches to the baby.
MollyD
But I can't see where it is. All that is showing is it's beak. And just the tip of that.
take a wrung out wet wash cloth (warm water) and gently rub it's head (the beak shows where that is). That should help the membrane begin to break without doing any harm to the chick. Baby should be able to take it from there.
MollyD
Okay, Molly, I will do that right now. Will let you know what happens.
Okay, did that. The membrane was kind of tuff, so maybe it needed to be done that way. Will see if the chick is strong enough to get out now. Thanks again for the info.
This is the last one.
Let's hope you just gave that baby the edge it needed. Probably exhausted right now.
MollyD
Well, Penny (my beagle) will probably tell me if it hatches. When they start hollering after they hatch, she wants to go see them. I don't let her anywhere them, tho, but she will run to the door and might even bark at it.
I agree, it is probably exhausted right now, so we will be monitoring it until such time as it either hatches or dies.
Saying a little prayer for the poor thing.
MollyD
I have already that. If it's God's will that it hatch, it will. If not, we tried.
True. You gave it a chance to live and that's all you can ask.
MollyD
Well, it's still alive, but the RH got low last nite, so I don't know. One of the others that hatched died, we thought it would as it had what looked like pasty butt and when I wiped it with a damp towel, too much yolk came out, so we thought it might be too weak to make it. But, all in all, I am pleased with the hatch.
Now if I can get the toxicity back out of the incubator, I will be happy. That one that isn't hatched is still there, so I can't clean it. Yet.
This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 5:37 AM
well i hope all goes well
Thank you, lucky. I don't know how or why this chick is hanging on. It has been over 24 hours since it pipped. In fact, I think is has been almost two days, and it's still alive, but not out of the shell. Don't know what else I can do to help it.
Well, I finally took the last one out of his shell and we will see if it is strong enough to survive. The shell was loose and so was the membrane. It slipped off easily so I figured at least we had to try. Will see if that works.
Sounds like it was ready to come out of the shell but too weak to try. Have you tried giving it a little sugar water? Just dip the beak in it. That might give it the extra boost it needs to keep going. It probably exhausted it's energy reserves trying to hatch out.
MollyD
Anything yet Granny? I'm pacing the floor here thinking of that little critter.
MollyD
Ditto! We are all pulling for him/her!
We got it out this morning at 7:50. It was too weak to survive, and died sometime between 9:00 and 11:30 this morning. So, I guess it wasn't meant to be, and that makes 2 we lost after hatching.
But we did get a good hatch. Hopefully it will bet similar the next time.
Now, got to go clean up the incubator and sterilize it for the next time.
Will post pictures soon.
This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 4:01 PM
Poor baby. You're right though it just wasn't meant to be. Loosing 2 isn't a bad rate though.
Next batch you'll do even better with all this experience.
MollyD
Thanks, Molly. I expect I will.
Here is the picture of all the babies in their brooder box. We will open it up in a few more days as it is showing that it is starting to get crowded already.
Yeah I see what you mean. No room to run around bothering all 25 of your sisters and brothers -LOL
MollyD
Molly, there are only 23 there. We lost 2. The one that took over 36 hours to hatch didn't make it and another that hadn't absorbed all the yolk also died. Still, it is crowded. When we open it up, they will have about 10 times the room. The pen they are in is 3ft x 6ft. Since I am going to be getting some Buff Orpingtons and they won't be in until the 14th, I may have to divide the pen into two parts to let the buffs get acquainted with these before we put them together.
Sounds like a good strategy. You'll have your BO's before I do :-) Let me know how you like their personalities . I'm thinking that as mine grow I will need to have separate coops for them if I hope to keep them from crossing breeds on me. Not a problem this year but I'm thinking next spring I may want to hatch eggs out from some of them. I'd like them to be purebreeds when I do that.
I'm keeping my eyes open for a pair of Chinese White geese too. Paul reminded me that there is a auction for farm animals in Canandaigua each Wednesday so I may look there but I'm just a little leery of getting some that have a big problem because my inexperience didn't let me see it.
MollyD
Molly, I have had Buffs before. The hens were fine, but the rooster we had went mean in his second year. He started attacking me, then he went after our RIR rooster, then finally he decided to attack DH, and the next day he went into the pot.
He was might tasty, but I had to cut him in half to cook him because he was so big.
Sounds yummy! There will be 5 Delaware roosters in my batch (they had sold out of pullets). I'm on the waiting list for pullets. If I don't get them all those roosters will end up as dinners, otherwise only 4 of them will be eaten.
Molly