Manna Pro Hatch-A-Long! - First Sponsor Participated Hatch-A-Long – Set on 4/22

[kian]

Update! 7 out of 8 hatched so far!

 

[StudioBellaRose]

Yay!

 

[AinaWGSD]

As of right now out of 21 eggs, we have 10 fully hatched live chicks, one mostly zipped, and at least 4 more pipped! We did have one that started to zip this morning and then just died sometime today, one that pipped externally and then seems to have died (we'll leave it in until everyone else is done just in case but I'm 99.9% sure it's dead), and one that hatched with intestines outside of the abdominal wall and then lost part of the intestines stuck to the floor of the incubator. There's also one that pipped and I can still see breathing, but sounds pretty weak so I'm not sure that one will make it either. But all in all we have lots of cute happy fuzz butts! And we set the same number of eggs as last time and already have 3 more, so I'm still pretty happy.

 

[kian]

Final count: 7 of 8

 

[Bikerschick]

Hi! I hope you guys would accept a late joiner?
I only made my account here yesterday, and only found your thread just now... but I would love to get in with some people talking about their eggs hatching right around now.

(I'm not certain of the rules for cross-posting here, but the thread I've been sharing on so far is here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-and-informational-thread/17580#post_11176006 )

This is our 3rd time as chicken parents, but the others were day-olds from the mail, or 6 week olds from a friend... This is our very first attempt at a broody hen hatching eggs.

We decided to let her sit (and keep her eggs) on 4/22... that's how I found you guys.
She had 4 or 5 under her from all the girls that day, and was sitting in the "favorite" box.
By 4/26 we realized that they had still been adding eggs to her nursery every day somehow... uh-oh.
We thinned it to a dozen, and marked them.

So...
Yesterday, Mother's Day, our first 2 babies were hatched! I was soooo excited! By last night we had one more.
This morning, we have another and one egg that's got a pip and peeping loudly!

I read pages and pages here on candling... and I gave that a shot...
It must take some experience to be good at?
I could see very clearly the line for the air pocket... but...
If all you see is that line, and its very distinct... is that a dud?
The others, and the one with the pip, seem to have places where the line is much harder to make out.
It's like something is there, but not quite against the side of the shell to make a clear shadow.
Any laymen explanations would be great!

Here's a picture or two... and thanks for letting me share.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

We had 21 chicks hatch..... most heritage exhibition Orpingtons and Australorps. We also hatched a few Blue Australorps.

A Buff Wyandotte Bantam hen was hatching yesterday Blue Orpington large fowl. Have not checked her yet.

Next clutch hatches this weekend.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I read pages and pages here on candling... and I gave that a shot...
It must take some experience to be good at?
I could see very clearly the line for the air pocket... but...
If all you see is that line, and its very distinct... is that a dud?
The others, and the one with the pip, seem to have places where the line is much harder to make out.
It's like something is there, but not quite against the side of the shell to make a clear shadow.
Any laymen explanations would be great!

If you only just tried to candle yesterday, then there shouldn't be much to see. Right before hatching, the chick pretty much fills the entire egg, so usually all you will see is the air cell (which will glow when you shine the light through the shell. The rest of the egg should be black because the light can't pass through the chick. Most of the time the chick is so cramped in the shell that you can't even see movements. If the egg is a dud, you will see some glow throughout the entire shell, though it will be brightest through the air cell since the fluid will absorb more light than air.

 

[ajneal30]

Culled more eggs today. I m down to 19 in the bator and I only really have any hope for four of them. The others look like to me, they quit on or around day 12. The ones I opened were either completely clear or had quit withing a day or so of putting them in. I had a temp drop right around day two, so I am thinking that is what happened to those four. I sure hope I get at least the four. I am going to invest in a better thermometer and hydrometer before I try this again.

 

[Bikerschick]

Quote: This makes sense! Thanks a lot!
I guess with 1 rooster, and 7 hens... we were thinking we should check if they were even "good". I'd hate for her to be done and not know it, still sitting on a couple duds or something.
Without my Superman Xray glasses, I'm just guessing whats in there... but it sure does look (seem) like about 2/3 of the things are completely solid...and 1/3 is just empty. So those are sounding right?

 

[AinaWGSD]

1/3 empty and 2/3 full sounds about right! With one rooster to 7 hens I would expect most of them to be fertile, unless he plays heavy favorites with one or two girls in particular. A broody won't sit on duds forever, she'll eventually leave the nest once most of the chicks have hatched to feed them. This is why it's important if you let your hen brood in the coop to mark the eggs she's sitting on so you can remove any eggs that the other hens add to the nest. Otherwise the eggs that were laid later will start developing but be several days to weeks behind the ones that she started with and will die when she leaves the nest to care for the chicks.

This hatch is finally, officially, over. As of right now, we have 18 little buckeyes! I'm not sure if one of them is going to make it, he just doesn't look quite fully developed. His abdomen is very round and kind of bloaty, there's a little bit of an umbilical hernia, and right now he has splayed legs. Also his eyes look "puffy" like they're swollen or something. But he's hanging in there so we'll see if he makes it or not. And one of them I had to help out of the egg because the membrane dried on him after he got about half zipped. He's all dry now, but all the goo has sort of dried onto him. My husband says he's "shellacked." I've dubbed him "Slick" for now until he gets enough new feathers that I can't tell which one it is anymore. He looks pretty sad right now. I can't tell if he's really smaller than the others or if he just looks that way since they're all fluffy and he isn't.