April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!

[rrrmamma]

Well it is day 10 for me and I can't seem to get the hang of candling. My DH says he can see veining in the brown eggs but we can't see through the blue and olive eggs.Today we moved the juveniles to the grow out pen, put the babies in a larger brooder pen outside in anticipation of the incubator hatch. What a rodeo that was. Little chickies everywhere. They are all settled in now. I went in to gather eggs and got a real whacking from my big barred rock. She was having none of me taking this egg. She has been acting like this for a few days so I am going to let her have today's egg and 2 others to see if she will stick. Never had a broody hen before. You might know as soon as I bought an incubator I would have one decide to become a chicken mommy. The more the merrier I guess, but we are going to have to get busy expanding and moving the coop. The float test is interesting, but wouldn't the water remove the bloom and leave the egg more susceptible to bacteria? Just wondering. I think I will weigh them tomorrow and see if they are loosing weight.

 

[lawatt]

happy to report that my second broody, Frances the SPPR, has now traded in the three fake eggs she's been sitting on for several days for 13 real ones! a dozen araucana eggs, plus one from my CL Lucy i just couldn't resist adding. several of the araucana eggs are quite small, and Frances is large, so she's had no trouble tucking them all in under her. and I labeled all the incubating eggs with pencil, so will know which to remove if the other girls keep laying in the broodies' nests -- in the meantime, the fake eggs (also now labeled FAKE with a sharpie) have been distributed into the "empty" nests.

so one broody is on 10 eggs (4 birchen marans, 4 SFH, and two CL/SFH crosses) and the other is on 13 (12 araucana + one more CL/SFH cross) -- and these will be my first hatches EVER! so exciting!!!

 

[oesdog]

Thanks for the help! I found a little box and cut a bunch of air holes in it for her, I think she is looking a little better and likes being near her sisters.
So she hatched yesterday at 9am, was pretty dull last night, I put her back in the bator overnight with some feed and water with a little bit of electrolytes. I dipped her beak in the electrolyte solution and she acted like she drank a little bit. Today she will sit up for longer, and is peeping occasionally, but mostly just slumps to her right and lays flat out breathing hard...heart condition maybe? But she is peeping to her sisters while she lays there and doesn't look completely hopeless! I dipped her beak twice more to day a few hours apart in some water and then in some electrolyte water, she has no interest in the feed I wet some and tried to get her to taste a little but she wasn't having it so I let it be. I guess I am hopeful since she will sit up for about 30 seconds now and is more vocal...all the other chicks are curious (hilarious) little peepers who are thriving!

When my little Maran roo was hatched he didn;t move at all for over 12 hrs. The only reason we knew he was alive was because we could see his chest moving. Sometimes it is just complete exhaustion. I do hope it gets stronger. He didn't eat or drink for nearly three days. I drip fed him water from a syringe and eventually got him to eat by feeding him of all things the inside of sweet custard tart! - Everything your not supposed to feed your chick! lol

Oes

 

[SJ]

Annabell you can also candle eggs during lockdown which is safer than opening it up. Just look at the bottom of the air cell and tap the egg with your fingernail. I had two eggs left in the incubator and candled them to look for movement. I saw slight breathing movement but no internal pip. This morning I checked them again and could hear one in the air cell, and the other had died (it's air cell was off center so he positioned incorrectly). All of that was done without float testing or opening the eggs. Float testing is more of a last resort and I have always been able to tell they died before internal pipping with candling...never have needed to float test. No veins(critical), movement, or sound=dead. With dark eggs it might be necessary though.

Did Frodo make it?!?!?!

 

[hokankai]

Frodo is still working on breathing air. Last night around midnight he was not internally pipped, and this morning he was, so it'll be a little while longer before he pips externally. I did give him a tiny safety pin sized air hole just in case, because his egg is so large and I worry about him not reaching the shell. I'll continue to monitor his progress

 

[MissBroodyHen]

Tell me about it!!!!! this is ... of course my 1st hatch and my 1st shipped eggs so I was not expecting alot.... but I did expect my eggs to hatch!!! the one I opened is either from a reg egg layer I got at tractor supply or a Maren... both lay these huge eggs and are about the same color... but the rest of the eggs are silkies, orpingtons, wyndottes, one hamburg and one EE....
can I do the water test without harming a live chick???
just candled a silkie egg and it is all black... so chick... I will just die if they are all fully formed and cannot pip.... as once they pip I know I CAN save them if necessary!

just a thought but silkies usually pip earlier than most birds as they are a bantam! So maybe worth checking one of them a little. ? It's the only think I can think

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I realized over the weekend that i determind the wrong hatch date for my eggs. I counted wrong, thought they would hatch the 21st but they are really supposed to hatch the 18th. O well at leastI realized and that means i will have chicks sooner!

 

[mjanderson437]

17 pages since I went out of town for a few days! Wowza! Good hatching vibes to all. I've got a friends OEGB hatching right now. So far 6 out and 2 big pips.about 15 more with no activity that I can see yet. And my sons bantam went broody while we were gone so today I got more OEGB eggs from my friend for the broody to set. Maybe she will have better luck with them that I have.

Mallards from March are so big- 3 weeks today. Second batch from april are 1 week and doing good too. Trying to make up for the 2 OEGB that died on me after 10 days...they just didn't grow big like their flock mates.

Best of luck to everyone else!

 

[Arkansas81]

Thanks for the help! I found a little box and cut a bunch of air holes in it for her, I think she is looking a little better and likes being near her sisters. 
So she hatched yesterday at 9am, was pretty dull last night, I put her back in the bator overnight with some feed and water with a little bit of electrolytes. I dipped her beak in the electrolyte solution and she acted like she drank a little bit. Today she will sit up for longer, and is peeping occasionally, but mostly just slumps to her right and lays flat out breathing hard...heart condition maybe? But she is peeping to her sisters while she lays there and doesn't look completely hopeless! I dipped her beak twice more to day a few hours apart in some water and then in some electrolyte water, she has no interest in the feed I wet some and tried to get her to taste a little but she wasn't having it so I let it be. I guess I am hopeful since she will sit up for about 30 seconds now and is more vocal...all the other chicks are curious (hilarious) little peepers who are thriving! 

Keep trying the wet food. Sometimes they dnt take to it right off. I also give all my birds fermented feed -at first they wasn't having it and now -BAM. ive seen leaps and bounds improvment with all my birds since I put them on ff. Most importantly she needs water to keep hydrated. Sounds like you are offering her food /water correctly. Since she just hatched she may not be hungry yet...keep trying. I would check on her every hour...they can decline quickly. Good luck!!

 

[ceocka]

Ok let me explain

Woke up to
1duck 3 bannies. 1 polish 1 black chick

Noon
3 ducks 1 polish 3 bannies

Went into chicken trailer at 5
Incubator that has over 40 dozen eggs and brooder and found
4 baby chicks they are not due to hatch till Friday

Bed time
2 copper marans and 1 just un zipped.

Oh yeah 20 new babies today.