Has anyone noticed that not only do some breeds (eg. some Marans, Buckeyes) seem to dry down slowly, but some eggs from the same breed in the same clutch dry very differently. They have all been incubated together under the same conditions. All of the eggs are still alive and developing. I just put them in the hatcher. One of the Nankin batam's air cells looks way too big, the other four perfect. I have one of one breed that looks way too small, the rest are perfect. All of the Barnevelders put in a day later look like they have small air cells. My next hatch is due Wednesday/Thursday. Is there anything I should have done? Or can do now? I guess I'll find out soon if it affects the hatch. At least one of these is a TAC egg and it is still going strong!
Eggs cells drying down.
catscan the i have never heard of the aircell affecting the eggs some times my aircells take up nearly half the egg so i am sure they will be fine
i have had a crossbreed egg in the bator and it is going down slowly. it looks like the shell is pretty thick. little guy was due today and started pipping last night, but although he is moving around a lot, the aircell is still small, and his pipping was not progressing. so i took a fork and CAREFULLY opened the pip so that i could see his beak, and that membrane seemed REALLY thick. we will see if he makes it out. looks like a big chick for the egg too.
perhaps it just APPEARs that the aircell is up there, because the chick is dark, and the shell is dark... when i opened it, it looked like where the pip is was well below the air cell, yet, there was no fliud aorund his beak...
how are you handling the TAC egg? in a carton?
crossing fingers for your hatch!
Yup, upright in a carton. I put the bantam eggs in strawberry boxes (the little green plastic pint baskets) lined with cheesecloth, because there is not really enough room for carton spaces for all. in the hatcher. The bantam eggs are upright side by side. They look like the brooding baskets for keeping bloodlines separate, except no top. I guess you could just attach a top.....:0)
mine poked out, FINALLY!. BUT HE IS STILL CLOSING UP IN THE BOTTOM [oops], and isn't peeping much, or trying to move out of his carton hole. i moved him to a hole without his shell to help him dry out, it is still way too humid in there, so i open it everytime i walk by...
are your cells moving down yet?
btw, POKEY is the spitting image of Emu... except without the elongated neck...
Once I put them in the hatcher--they are on their own. I don't candle them again. I just try to keep the temp between 95-98 and the RH 70% or higher. I am going to try this time to give them enough time to do it on their own. Last two times I "helped" some out and then two I had given up on suddenly and spectacularly hatched the next day. The ones I helped out all did well--so far I have only lost one chick that pipped and then stopped and one that I thought was drowning but actually had malformed legs and had to be euthanized.
What worries me is that the one Nankin egg looks extremely dry compared to the others--so I want to keep the RH up, but the Barnevelder eggs look too wet........I did notice the last two times that everytime an egg hatched the RH shot way way up (~90%) from all the fluid with the hatch, but I think that must be natural. So far no crooked toes.
Maybe two separate hatchers for eggs with different needs? All I still have in the incubator are the 3rd sent Barnevelders--then I promised DH I would stop (fingers crossed) so he can sleep without listening to the click, click, click of the egg turner. I am afraid I wake up several time a night and check the bator temp. Is this obsessive? Nah!
Of course it is...what do you think an addict does, anyway? We all check our bators several times a night and again during the day.
when you get b usy and DON'T check them, you cook your peeps. i got one who is so retarded that he never shuts up!
i did the deal with separate hatchers for separate needs. did the lower rH on those Buckeye eggs, still nothing.
the one that just hatched was in the hatcher where i temporarily put the duck eggs. and although i took all the shells out, the rH stayed close to 80.
he is tired, but he made it out. i really think that, from what i could see when i poened the pip a bit, the air cell is lower than it seems, but their body is so high up there, that it looks like the air cell isn't going down, but it WAS down lower than it appeared.
i got to where i candled a lot during his hatch. he was the only one in there, and by opening it often i kept the humidity going down as much as possible. i was really concerned this guy wouldn't make it out.
he has had his first drink on his own, and is sleeping comfortably. didn't unplug the bator becasue it looks like those 12 OEG eggs need me...
I, too, think it's variations in the eggs. Shell
thickness and porousity have to have an impact,
right? I have 7 MQ eggs going, and there is suttle
differences in each one, a larger air cell in a couple,
etc. I know that I have eggs from 4 different hens in
there (wish it were more! but 5 candled clear) and
they all can't lay the same egg.
Hey! It's wednesday- have you any pipping yet??
Hi truest. My Nankins have all hatched! And one of them was from the egg I was most worried about--The air cell looked like it was taking up 2/3 of the egg. I have one Golden Sebright and one Marans (pullet) and a Marans well pipped and a Barnevelder starting. I am totally exhausted. I need to sleep--but I also need to do about 30 other things only half of which invove chickens;0)
Hope you got some sleep, Cat. Yea! for
all your newly hatched chicks! I'm glad I don't
have 30 things today, if I did- only about 5 might
get done. All i'm going to worry about are feeding
those I have, collecting quail eggs from my girls,
and taking the turner out of the bator with the MQ.
Have to catch one of my Amer hens- she has an
injured leg. Don't know why- but the others are picking
on her. Maybe it can't be too bad if I can't catch her,
huh? But, I have a lot of cedar trees she is scooting
under, and it's hard to catch a cold under those.
They are amazingly agile! I am going to have to catch my Welsummer roo to get a blood test for shipping to Texas and I just realized I haven't picked him up since he turned into a roo--it will be a mad race. Good luck with yours.
Good luck with that roo- are you shipping him
to TF? Wow, that time is already here?
Yup. It has been a real struggle to find who does the blood testing for Pulloram/Typhoid and AI. Which is weird because they have signs all over warning about the dangers of AI and West Nile...so what's a girl to do?
Wonder why so difficult. Is it expensive? How
much was the shipping box? All factors I'm
interested in.
I still need to order the box--but they aren't very expensive....Also check into USPS cost. The problem with getting the blood test is that no one at any government office knew who did it and kept referring me to "large animal vets" who don't do it either. I did find my least favorite local vet whose receptionist told me he did work with chickens and that it would be $220.00 for a blood panel. When I said I didn't need a blood panel, she said she could schedule a $60 office consultation to discuss what I did need. I do not like that man!
I'll let you know as soon as I get all the details!
Good grief, I would cross that one off the list!
I have gone there before with vets I didn't like,
and and though this isn't a care issue, I still have
very cool memories leftover from one or two. Keep
digging, I bet you stumble on your perfect solution
soon.
OMG, reminds me of the vet who insisted on GROOMING my little pom vefore examinging him after he was kicked by a donkey! so obvious he had compound fractures to his leg, who cares that it was a rainy morning and so he got a little muddy and a few stickers in his undercoat!!! that was a HUGE bill, and then i took him elsewhere to get a second opinion. would have done that to begin with, but i was afraid he had other life threatening injuries, he was so limp and hurting. and to think he got a BATH before getting anything else GRRRRRRRR......
so. sound like pecky and rocky won't be here this week. i haven't told the birthday boy yet...
Vet sounds like a moron. I would have cleaned
the area after some anesthesia, but guess I'm
not a vet, and don't cha know they are all gods.
Nope, not all vets think they are gods. I have had the luck of finding two, over the years that were exceptionally good and didn't (our previous one) and don't (our present one) who have never been like that. We did, however, have one a long time ago that we actually called "God". Even to his face. He just laughed and yep, acted like one. Of course I had to take him down a peg or two over a beagle that had heartworm. He treated him and then charged me a fee to do a follow-up exam. I told him that should have been included in the original treatment price, because it was required. On that note, he raised the price for treatment to include the follow-up. So, some of them think they ARE God.
GG
We have 3 main vets here in our area, that I must
say are really good guys. They do remember that
they came from the earth, after all. I think my main
issue was with the 'in-town' vets that mostly took care
of cats and dogs. Not only did they act that way, they
also seemed to be really tired of their jobs. I say get
outta th bidness if you're jaded.