We discarded the final 3 eggs today. The air cells got pretty big on 2 of them, and became mobile on another, they were going bad. So! Final hatch 7/26, with 1 cull, so 6 chicks total. The rest are all doing amazingly well, which I am very grateful for 🥰
We culled the last little one. She was very poorly, and would have had a tough life with no eyes. I was syringe-feeding her mash and Nutridrench, but this evening couldn’t stand and I didn’t want to subject her to more suffering. There are still 3 eggs in the incubator that look dark with good...
The good news is that the other 6 are doing really well, running around, eating, drinking, popcorning, and napping. I’m just trying to be grateful for that, and hope to high heavens I have some hens 😩
Thank you. I do feel guilt, like my inexperience may be at fault for the one who’s doing poorly, or all the ones that failed to hatch. I tried to do as much research & testing as possible beforehand, but nothing teaches like the real thing… I always knew the first time would be rough. But I...
Well, the little one has not perked up this morning and I’m afraid we may have to cull her… she looks just as crusty as yesterday, and upon closer inspection I’m not 100% convinced she has eyes. So sad! And no more pips on the 3 eggs left in the incubator… so I guess that’s 7 out of 26 hatched...
The chick that hatched today isn’t drying out properly… I finally went ahead and moved her to the brooder a few hours ago, since she still looks wet but isn’t. She’s almost crispy? I wonder if it’s dried yolk… do you guys think I should give her a warm soak tomorrow? I’m worried that will freeze...
Of the 12 that made it into lockdown, 7 have hatched. I candled the remaining eggs and finally removed the 3 that seemed suspicious. 2 had no development whatsoever, and 1 had a very underdeveloped embryo (definitely not ready to hatch in the next 1-3 days). I’m feeling a bit disappointed at...
Latecomer (not that late, it’s day 19) has what I suspect to be some unabsorbed yolk 🙁 Hopefully the rest dries up, I haven’t had a good look at the belly yet and have to run to an appointment… I’ll see how it looks when I get home
I just helped the celadon egg hatch. It had been nearly 48 hours since external pip, so I figured something was up. And I’m glad I did, his air cell was saddled but I didn’t realize how far away from it he had pipped 😓 Followed the instructions for malposition and got him out pretty quickly! He...