14th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-Along

[janiedoe]

I grabbed the four fluffers. The the trouble egg. Looked a little dry…slathered some coconut oil on the membrane but didn’t pull it apart. It was chirping when I touched it. Put it back in. I can see it breathing. Advice? (Or PM me as to not clog the happy thread!)

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I would be inclined to carefully tear the membrane a small amount.

 

[Jester57]

I am happy to announce I am the chicken daddy of these two little guys. The dark one came 1st and the light one about 6 hours later. These are my 1st ever; hope some or all of the 3 eggs left do something as well.

 

[Iluveggers]

I would be inclined to carefully tear the membrane a small amount.

Thanks. I did see the beak trying to poke through again. Poor thing is probably exhausted from all that work!

 

[bantamsrmyfav]

How is the humidity? I was surprised when on the morning of April 5th I heard peeping and saw that a chick hatched. My humidity was at 40%. This would be day 18 if March 18th was day 0. I set the eggs at that time around noon. I heard seramas hatch early so I thought maybe at day 20. Another one pipped later that day then 3 hatched yesterday. Today 2 more hatched and I took them out of the incubator because the 1st chick was chirping loudly from being hungry. I put them in an aquarium with a cozy coop heater. The cozy coop itself is 155 degrees F from what I read online. But the ambient temperature of the aquarium is at 76 F so they seem happy being next to the heater.

The 14 serama eggs from March 18th. The ones with an x came from a grey rooster- I will contact the seller to see if she has a picture of him. I had 3 of his eggs at lockdown and 2 hatched. The others are from a black mottled rooster. The seller has pictures on their page on facebook under the name Les Poules a Lily, I think.

Molly my mottled cochin hen on 7 eggs later that day but I ended up putting the eggs in the incubator as 4 of them went bad probably due to a combination of the weather and other hens laying in the nest. I removed those eggs daily but also was afraid she would abandon the nest if I moved her and the eggs.

Used my 20 year old forced air hovabator and my son's broken butterfly net to separate the eggs. A fish tank divider under them and a bbq thing can't remember how I got it.

The first chick is black with yellow markings. April 5th in the AM. Frankie is the dad.

2nd chick is black mottled and 3rd yellow with stripes, hatched April 6th during the AM.

Chicks #1, #2 and #6. In the brooder.

All chicks in brooder.
Frankie's chicks: #1 the black with a bit of yellow under, #2 black mottled "penguin" looking chick, #3 yellow chick with black stripes. #6 dark blue chick. The 4th chick that hatched was from the grey/blue rooster and is all yellow, 5th chick that hatched was blue or lighter grey penguin marking chick. The two smallest eggs hatched, then a regular serama egg, then the biggest egg then another smallest egg from the other rooster and the last one came from a regular sized serama egg. The other 4 eggs in the incubator (3 from black mottled rooster, one from blue rooster) still haven't pipped and I don't know if they will hatch but considering I was hoping for at least three chicks I am happy to have six. The 1st and only chick that hatched on the 5th is happily munching at half of a boiled egg with the other chicks. They pecked at the food a bit but aren't as interested in it. It doesn't seem too big for them. I love that they are each a different colour and easily identifiable without having to worry about removing leg bands before they get too tight. I probably won't name them until I know which ones are pullets as I can't keep cockerels for long.

 

[Iluveggers]

The struggling baby is out! Just pulled the membrane slightly by its beak…and it burst out like “Thank Goodness”.

After looking at the membrane, it looked really thick compared to the normal ones. Poor little one!

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Here are the two babies more dried out, I am amazed at the goldens color pattern

 

[Rabbitking]

I've got 5 a pipping

 

[SheaLoner]

Number 3. 2nd Gen EE

FYI: Not a good time to realize your chick waterers have disappeared. . .

 

[Bkaye]

We had 15 hatch. I have one egg left that hasn’t pipped. I have my doubts it will at this point but I am going to give it until the morning before I pull it out to candle it.

 

[bantamsrmyfav]

I forgot to mention the 40% humidity did make me a little nervous until I read online that seramas can hatch at 40-50% humidity. But I also read of others using the dry hatch method until lockdown then increasing to 65% which is what I always did when hatching other bantams. I had put a sponge in there I think a day or two before the first chick hatched but didn't pay attention to the humidity.

I read that to increase the humidity without opening the incubator someone suggested to take pieces of wet sponge and put it in the incubator through the vent hole. My son and I did that and I also used a dropper from the pharmacy until my son dropped it in the hole. The highest we could get the humidity was about 60% before it went down to about 40% again and I would keep adding water and bits of sponge wet with warm water through the vent hole before going to work. When I got home from work today around 4 PM chick #6 was hatching at around 45%. So I guess seramas can hatch at a lower humidity which baffles me since they originally came from a tropical area.

I'll probably check back on Tuesday for updates from this thread...good luck on your hatches and Happy Easter!