Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[mallory2013]

So I think my hatch is done. I have 7 chicks so far, 2 died before they were out of the shell and there are 5 eggies left in the bator. I have little hope for them, however one of the eggs has an internal pip and when I picked it up to candle it (this was before I knew it had an internal pip) it peeped at me and I could feel it moving! I hurriedly put it back in the incubator. Should I make a little air hole for it in the air cell? It's been internally pipped for 30 hours now, and I know its alive because i tapped the glass and it peeped very softly. What should I do? I'm fairly certain the others are dead, but I think I may just leave them in there until day 25 just in case. I feel like this:

 

[Spangled]

Unfortunately, despite MONTHS of adjustments to try and quelch this, someone in my coop - or several someones - is feather-picking. They have a huge amount of space, free range 4+ hours a day, and eat a ton of high-protein and fiber stuff, but the habit remains. So, 4 girls are missing beards and my rooster is missing neck feathers. They look terrible and it is very embarrassing. I trimmed the very tip of one guilty hen's beak, tried separations, and so on. I don't want to use pinless peepers. Has anyone made a foul-tasting goo to smear on the picked parts? Any other ideas?

I tried everything as you have. They just ate any goo I put on like it was frosting. What finally worked was feeder of free choice oats with the hulls still on plus one or two other grains all together in an additional feeder. They will self regulate how much they eat and egg production went back to normal after a week or two. PLUS I put aprons on them. For us aprons are a must at first sign of trouble.

 

[brijay2]

I had the worst hatch rate ever. I did not hatch any!! I think it is the incubator I used for the first two weeks of the hatch. They almost all developed but did not hatch!! Any ideas? 12 made it to lockdown but no internal pips were even noted. hmmmmmmm. Advice?

 

[hennypenny99]

So sorry to Wisher and java girl about this hatch. My first hatch, I got one out of 30, and then the chick died, so my advice is to try, try again.
Thank you all for your advice and well-wishes for my semi-comatose chick. I was afraid to look this morning, but DH says he is fluffed up and moving around! I'm planning to check and see if I can move him into the brooder before work, as long as he can move around adequately. Perhaps he can hang around with my hummingbird Marans!
I will report my final hatch this afternoon, which is looking like 20 out of 49. It would have been an abysmal hatch rate if I hadn't thrown a bunch of my own eggs in there.
Off to work....

Your story sounds alot like mine. I set 42 eggs, only 8 made it to lockdown and of the 8 only 2 pipped. The first one pipped then nothing for 36 hours so I helped it. It had some kind of a hernia and never was able to stand or walk just layed there chirping every once in awhile. I couldnt watch it slowly die so I had to put it down (a first for me and I cried like a baby). The other one pipped and halfway zipped but then nothing. I opened it up when I cleaned out the incubator and it was dead. The sad part was that it looked perfectly healthy to me. The one I helped I probably shouldnt have and the one I didnt I probably should have helped.

I'm not giving up. I couldn't even if I wanted to because I still have Muscovies and guineas in the incubator that won't hatch for another 2 weeks. I just pray that I have my kinks worked out now.

Maybe someone can tell me what causes a sticky chick? The one with the hernia never dried out even after nearly 2 days it was still wet looking and crispy/sticky. I know it had to be my humidity? Too low? Too High?

 

[annabananaandfamily]

So I think my hatch is done. I have 7 chicks so far, 2 died before they were out of the shell and there are 5 eggies left in the bator. I have little hope for them, however one of the eggs has an internal pip and when I picked it up to candle it (this was before I knew it had an internal pip) it peeped at me and I could feel it moving! I hurriedly put it back in the incubator. Should I make a little air hole for it in the air cell? It's been internally pipped for 30 hours now, and I know its alive because i tapped the glass and it peeped very softly. What should I do? I'm fairly certain the others are dead, but I think I may just leave them in there until day 25 just in case. I feel like this:

I am anxiously awaiting the advice on this one too. I have several eggs in the bator that pipped internally on saturday and I keep hearing faint noises coming from them, so I am not sure how long to let them go or if there even is anything I can do for them.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Have you looked them over for external parasites, like mites and lice??

I had the worst hatch rate ever. I did not hatch any!! I think it is the incubator I used for the first two weeks of the hatch. They almost all developed but did not hatch!! Any ideas? 12 made it to lockdown but no internal pips were even noted. hmmmmmmm. Advice?

There can be many reasons for a hatch to fail. Sorry none pipped. I keep a journnal and write time, temps, RH, turning info, weather info, or other misc notes that might effect hatching. This relly helps me SEE where problems might be. Hope you will try again.

 

[kathyinmo]

I have hatched thousands of chicks, and I learned alot by opening up the unhatched eggs after the hatch. I also learned alot by reading this: Hatchability Problem Analysis. I am also still learning.

 

[karimw]

My final report for hatch:
From my own eggs: 35 out of 43 locked down (50 set)
Icelandics picked up from NotAFarm: 22 out of 23 locked down (24 set)
Shipped eggs from Kathyinmo: 7 out of 9 locked down (22 set)
Shipped eggs from LuckyPickens and Ruth: 0 out of 7 locked down (40 set)

All had been late quitters - none even pipped internally.

So dismal hatch for shipped eggs but I still have 64 fuzzies to keep me entertained!

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:

What color chicks did you get? The F2s can be: [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif][FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Barred;Black;Delaware;Split gold/silver males;Buff Columbian; Barred Buff Columbian & Silver Columbian (the last will be pullets). Note: ALL the buff colored chicks are female.[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Sueg4332]

stated a batch of shipped 14 HRIRs eggs. Plus 8 BCMs 2. Cuckoo Hope to get a trio out of shipped eggs. Packaging was great on the shipped eggs but 3 eggs were cracked. _Put a patch of candle on them to see what would happen. Never heard of trying that before..
Unoffical hatch final unplugged bator 60 out of 85. Killed 6 got them too hot when I went to store (darn it) temperature was hanging at 95 degree in box bounced to 107 by the time I got home. They were weak or freshly hatched chicks that would dry in the bator. Humidity went crazy toward end of hatch....they would dry in there....
Have to do egg topsie to see if egg are fertile that didn't hatch Later today. Have to get some work done been comsumed by this hatch LOL good luck with chicks.