Hey Guys, We got Babies! Thankyou chicken fairy! They starting peeping last last night. We have 12 eggs in the bator. 8 of 12 were started with the little holes started. One chick had a hole in the egg about the size of a quarter. Lots of shell off that spot, still had a fair amount of membrane that it was trying to work through. This morning when I woke up that little one was dead. Didnt get any further in the shell. I was kicking myself. Thought last night about pulling that membrane back, it seemed pretty strong. Good news is we had 7 hatched and fumbling around. They all appear healthy, but we will see with time. They were all pretty freshly hatched, very wet still. I hope and assume they will be all set in there? I didnt take anything out or put anything in. Shells are all still lying around. There are 3 eggs left that had peck marks started (indentatation only) that havent hatched yet. One of those eggs was rocking quite abit last night, so I am hoping a few more babies will still hatch. Should I be putting any food in for these guys or are they ok until they dry more and have been in the bator for the 24 hours needed?
I got an incubator this weekend!
Congrats to you we have 1 week to go before ours get here
yippee....babies! Congrats! They will be fine in the incubator.....they don't have to have food for a couple days, I think 3 for sure but I try and not push it that far. No need to put food or water in the incubator. They are still consuming their egg sack so don't need food right off. Can't wait to see pics and try not to lift the lid at all if possible......humidity and temp are very important for the one's that still have to hatch.
Christy
Oh Jana, you lucky chick you. That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! PICS PICS when they get a few days older.
if the rH is going too high for htose others to hatch, you might try what catscan suggests and take out the eggshells... and for peaceo f mind you can toss in some boiled egg yolks. sometimes there will be one or two chicks that consumed their yolk early and hatched late, they will be hungry sooner...
big congrats! no extra peeping?
No extra peeping that it seems like. I was a little suprised they were not noisier, but I only had short time to watch them before I went off to work. I just finished work and have to go out to dinner for my Moms birthday dinner. I just want to go home and see the babies!!! RH was at 85% this morning. Didnt even think about the effects of that with the unhatched eggs. I'll check that as soon as I get home. Hoping the other eggs will have hatched by the time I get home. I did not dispose of the dead baby in the egg yet either. I picked up up this morning to see if it was alive, and I thought I could feel slight movement within the shell, so I didnt have the heart to throw it away. One of the chicks looked like its head was a little big, but again, didnt get to watch them long. Is there anything that can make chicks heads bigger that I should be on the look out for?
surely your MOM would understand you just stopping in for a quick peek...
big heads, well it can be genetic, as in the type/breed...
could also be a swelling, i had one [with the low/high tmep problem] that i helped out and it had an edema on the neck, the same could happen with the head...
you really need to remove the shells... 85 makes it difficult hatching for the others, unless you have a forced air vent...
yay congratulations , mine mostly are hungry and like the dry quaker oats the first day or so i put them and water in the incubator , the rest will prob hatch soon sorry to hear one died , but it may just not have hatched yet sometimes they take a while , slow hatchers ive even dipped my finger in water and gave chics a drink with just their beak sticking out of the shell when i was worried they might die it seemed to work
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This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 9:03 PM
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So far so good, everyone is doing great. One egg left to hatch and it is working on it! I opened the rest of the egg that had the partially hatched dead chick. It had alot of "?entrails coming out of its bottom/lower stomach. It was a fairly thick cluster of the stuff with lots of blood vessels. Not sure if that is supposed to be there, like an imbilical cord, or if it was misdeveloped. I was going to post a picture, but didnt want to gross anyone out. I put the cooked yolks in. Some were interested, some not. Alot of them are still freshly hatched and drying and resting. I took some very quick pics so as not to let too much heat and humidity out for the remaining egg.
It didn't absorb the yolk--I had two do that it the last hatch--it was hard because in my case also one of them was the first to pip and died overnight. There is nothing you can do to help them when that happens--so don't feel bad.
Okay--I'm not blowing up your picture 'cause I can already see how adorable they are and the CF has been peering in my windows and haunting my dreams.
Well thats good to know. Very interested to take the little guy out of its shell and see how the membrane and shell are. My 8 year old daughter watched as I did it, she's such a brave girl! It was interesting for her to see too. I gave her the choice to watch or not, she chose to. I will get better pics tomorrow after the final baby is out. Hopefully it will make it, it is going pretty slow, so I'm having my doubts. It has not gotten very far in the last 24 hours, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have had more hatch out at this point than I ever expected. I had one egg I swore would never hatch. It was very light and didnt feel like it had anything in it. Low and behold!
How eggciting! Sure hope that last one makes it ok. WHEN I was hatching, always have one or two 'laggers' that really did do well once hatched. Think they just get tired -- that's a lot of work for such a tiny critter.
I'm with you Cat, shouldn't look at these pix's & need to find that chickenitis patch Lucky advised about......waiting for all chicks to be out of Farm store before I go back there -- want peachicks / ducks ONLY!!
I always pin a note to my shirt before I go in the feed store. It says: "Do not sell me chicks no matter how I plead and bargain. I am not competent to judge whether I have room for more chicks and am in need of serious spatial counseling. Thank you."
I am thinking of having it tattooed to my forehead.
You should patent that, Cat! Mind if I steal it? :-D
Fortunately, my local feed store DOESN'T sell chicks. You have to order them. I tried that this spring and the hatchery kept back-ordering them until I got disgusted and went to TSC and bought a dozen red sex-links. Should have bought more, but wasn't thinking. I am going to be ordering mine from Ideal in the spring and hopefully will be able to hatch what I want in the future.
GG
This little chick still hasnt made it out. I took the other chicks out of the incubator and put them into a brooder. They are doing great! The little chick still in the egg is making very very very slow progress. When I got home from work today I took it out of the incubator. The membrane was getting dried so I moistened it, gave the the little guy a drink, which it seemed pretty thirsty. I loosened the egg around near its head. For the most part over the last hour I have been able to work the bottome of the egg off. It is still stuck in the same position even the shell off its head. I'll check on it in a little bit, but something isnt right here, unless it is exhausted. It has been hatching for 48 hours now. Anyone else ever have a chick do this and survive?
Its out and looks ok, YEAH! Poor guys pretty tuckered out.
Yeh! He should be fine then--maybe give him a little sugar water or electrolyte fluid in 24 hours when he has dried off.
yeaaaaaaaaaaaa go lil chick gooooooooooooo
Little guy died. I tried giving some sugar water, which it drank, but it was so weak. Its stomach seemed very bloated and saggy too. At first I thought its rectom was sealed. I massaged the area with warm water which seemed to help and it did pass a small bowell movement, but obviously it had some other problems. Poor fella, it hard to hard 2 days : (
Awww, so sorry jana. That's what happened with one of my hatchlings back here in April. It just took so long to get out of the egg, I think they just die of exhaustion.
GG
sorry!
hugs
tf
dont worry there was probably somthin wrong with him but anyway u got other bays to look after
10 healthy babies out of 12 eggs is great! I will post pics tonight of the little fuzz balls. They have beautiful coloring! This deep rust red color. Cant wait to see how they feather in.
awwwwwwwww jana so sorry, waiting for pics. they are just so cute little.
how are the chicks going
Thanks so much for asking, they are doing great. Getting smelly already. I'm so proud!!! It has been so muggy here that I do not think they are going to last long in the house! I will be setting up a brooder in the chicken coop very quicky. Anyone know anything about sexing using the wing feathers? I have been looking at their feathers and cant remember what the general rule is. My husband keeps kidding me that we we will end up with 8 roosters out of ten babies! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I paid way too much for an incubator and bought 4 dz eggs from various breeders all over the USA. Ended up with some really nice Welsumer, Orpington (blu-bl), Ameraucana (blu-bl) and Marans (bbr) hatched. But now that I have a well established poultry flock (includes 25 Game Fowl hens) ... I let them fuss with all the turning of eggs, maintaining the temperature & humidity. The kiss philosophy in action.
Kelly in Moxee
lol! I love the KISS philosophy! once I get land and start raising my own, I think I'll use that Kelly!