# Fashionably late peeping but no pipping...



## WeeLittleChicken

I have the worst luck with incubators! The last one I had loved to spike to 102 at random whenever it felt like it. So I got a different one... which has exactly the opposite problem! I ran it for a month with no issues, but the minute I put those eggs in there it started being flaky as all get-out. UGH. 

Long story short I bought a dozen+ Bielefelder eggs and popped them in. 8 showed development on day 10. Five looked ready to go on day 18 (really not sure about the other 3, they're iffy.) Day 21 comes by... nothing. Not a peep, not a crack, no signs of life... but I left them in there because the incubator is always swinging between 36 and the 37.5 (Celsius) it's supposed to be, so maybe they developed slower. At 3PM on day 22 I hear one solitary lonely peep. Been hearing it peep once every hour or two... it's 9PM now. The incubator is clear so I can see in there... there's no cracks forming on any of the eggs. 

So how long is this waiting game going to go on? Is it normal to hatch on day 22, going on day 23? Or should I really not get my hopes up on this one?


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## robin416

What type of incubator are you using? For the styro types it is not unusual to see the low and high temp. If you add the high and low numbers, then divide by half you'll have your internal egg temp. If they are this late your thermo is reading low. Be patient, if peep isn't screaming to get out then all is probably fine at this point.


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## WeeLittleChicken

It's plastic.... some Chinese model.... It was given to me so I honestly have no idea what it is. I thought it'd be better than my hot Hova-Bator... really not so sure now. 

I guess I'll just sit back for a while and wait then.


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## robin416

Change the wafer on the Hova, see if that doesn't fix your spike problems.


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## WeeLittleChicken

Oh oh! We've got two little beaks making two little holes! Guess I just needed to be patient. I wonder how many we'll get... 

I have not tried replacing anything in the Hova-Bator. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see if I could get it to behave itself.


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## robin416

This late hatch confirms that your temps were running too low. Glad to hear you've got two possibles working on entering the world.


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## TheLazyL

Temps will fluctuate if the door is being opened a lot...


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## WeeLittleChicken

I wasn't opening the door... The incubator just sucked. I've retired it. I don't want to go through this again

We had 4 try to hatch. 3 died in the shell, a fourth lived for about 12 hours screaming at the top of her lungs. I tried everything with her but to no avail. She died. 

I don't really feel like trying this again right now but I do want chickens so we resorted to getting chicks which will be arriving the week after next. Hopefully that will go better! (I am still annoyed though - I mean I had such good luck with incubators for a while! Now it's like no matter what I do they find some way to flake out on me. I wanted to only bring in eggs on this new farm for disease reasons but you know, can't hatch them they're useless... )


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## robin416

We all go through phases like that. The one thing I learned early on is that whatever I used for measuring temp had to be spot on accurate. I have a couple of units that I fully trust but to find those two I went through a lot of others.


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## WeeLittleChicken

SIGH. The bad luck streak continues. Apparently ordering chicks was no better a bet. Got a box of them this morning, a day early, so I figured "Great! That means they'll do better!" I got there and I swear to God it looked like the box had been chewed into.... 11 chicks were outright missing, the rest on that side of the box were dead. 23 fatalities and the three that are still alive I'm giving a 50/50 shot. They're not terribly peppy. The poor woman at the post office seemed rather horrified as a dead chick fell out onto the counter. 

The good news is the Welsummers and mystery chick on the other side of the box are doing just fine. Guess I wasn't meant to have any Cornish! Oh well.


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## robin416

That's awful. I'm even surprised they shipped chicks now considering how messed up the temps are. This is on the post office and how poorly the live shipment was handled.

Hope the three you do have make it. They will be the ones you will always remember for their rough start.


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## WeeLittleChicken

Yes, this is definitely the post office's handling... None of the Cornish survived. I had one that came really close but he didn't want to learn how to eat, though he drank tons. That apparently wasn't enough, nor was separating these weaklings from the rest and hoping it'd help.  That being said all the Welsummers are doing great. Holy moly are they active little buggars! We're happy to have them and look forward to watching them grow up and maybe produce some nice speckled eggs in the months to come.


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## robin416

Your experience is why I could never bring myself to order chicks. The PO has gotten so bad when it comes to so many things it breaks my heart to think about how the peeps suffered.

I'm glad to hear the others are doing well.


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## robin416

Your experience is why I could never bring myself to order chicks. The PO has gotten so bad when it comes to so many things it breaks my heart to think about how the peeps suffered.

I'm glad to hear the others are doing well.

Found another glitch, wants me to wait before posting in between posts. Except there is no other post.


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## Fiere

I hope you took pictures of the box and the chicks and sent it to the hatchery and lodged a complaint with the post office.


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## vanlash

*Advice please on duckling*

I have late ducklings (day 31. I was going to give up on them yesterday, then I heard peeps, actually more like little whistles.  Then I began to see a hole in one egg and dark blotches on another egg. After 16 hours and the hole did not get any bigger, I helped and opened the egg. The hatchling still had the egg sack attached and there is fresh blood still going into the little umbilical cord.

I've put the little ducklings on a heating pad and under a heat lamp with the little sac up next to the belly. What do I do? Wait for it to dry up by itself? Will it fall off?

I am assuming I "helped" too soon. And I am leaving the second one who is peeping alone.

Any advice??
Thanks! Sheli


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## robin416

Those hatched like that rarely make it. The membrane is so delicate it usually ruptures. Yes, leave the other. If it becomes distressed you will hear it in the sounds its making.

Whatever you were using for monitoring temp needs to be replaced if you are going to continue hatching. 

I realize that the late hatch date caused concern but for future reference, hatchlings will rest a lot during the hatching process. Many times it can take 24 hrs from pip hole to hatch.


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## littlelimabean

Wow these are some very sad stories. I have never hatched any, I just know I would screw something up and could not bare watching babies die. I would faint if I picked up my chickens from the post office and saw what you did. I am so sorry. You better lodge a complaint. I would be relentless until someones head rolled. I have ordered chicks only 3x and all were from Meyer. Never had a single death or problem thankfully. I am glad you are at least getting to enjoy your Welsuummers are doing well.


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