# First time hatching and have A LOT of Questions!



## ChickenandPitBullMama (Jun 6, 2018)

As I'm sure 1st time hatchers are I am freaked out nervous impatient and going crazy. I started with 7 eggs. Four came from my larger ladies and 3 from my frizzle bantams. I have 2 roosters 1 is a Polish crested and the other is a Brahma Bantam. It is now day 24 and my last remaining egg is making me nervous. I have float tested and shown the light on him and he is moving like crazy inside. From what I can tell there's no internal pip but I did the float test this morning and again he was moving like crazy. I know I need to be patient, not one of the things that I was blessed with, but I have read so many different things and everybody says something different. I have my temperature said at 1:00.5 in a still air and my humidity is between 65 and 70. The temp fluctuated a lot in the beginning and was low quite a bit. Could he just really be behind? The eggs were put in the day they were laid.

Other ?. I just went out and found a hidden broody mama hiding in the corner of my barn. She had eggs under her and after lighting all of them I found one that was viable. It looks like it's pretty far along not a lot of light shines through the air cell is pretty decent sized and I can see him wiggle in and going crazy in there. I would love to leave the eggs with mama as she has done so well but my dog watched me find her and she eats eggs like crazy. We get eggs twice A-day because of this. Mine are free ranged and I have tried locking them up but they fight. I have put it in the incubator with my other lonely egg. The question I have is when I did a float test on it he sank to the bottom big end up. But while he was at the bottom he was wiggling around. Does that mean anything? I read that if they sink theyre bad but this is obviously not the case. 

Any info would be greatly appreciated. This is my third forum and have either been ignored or had rude comments so fingers are crossed. I am home staring at the incubator so if you need more info please just ask.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

If the chick is still alive, I hope it hatches. I don't know if you should help or not, or if the chick is in the right position. The egg should not sink to the bottom. He may be running out of air. I just don't know what to say . I think a chick peeping in with the egg may get the unborn one excited.


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## ChickenandPitBullMama (Jun 6, 2018)

seminolewind said:


> If the chick is still alive, I hope it hatches. I don't know if you should help or not, or if the chick is in the right position. The egg should not sink to the bottom. He may be running out of air. I just don't know what to say . I think a chick peeping in with the egg may get the unborn one excited.


I hqvw no idea how far along that one is. The 24 day one floats and bobs well. The other though sank but wiggled. I candles him and he wiggled when I tapped. There is an air pocket that I can see. If he has internally pipped would it sink? There are no cracks or blemishes. It is.a bit dirty as she was hiding in a not great part of the barn and I had no idea. I did not wash it.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

ChickenandPitBullMama said:


> I hqvw no idea how far along that one is. The 24 day one floats and bobs well. The other though sank but wiggled. I candles him and he wiggled when I tapped. There is an air pocket that I can see. If he has internally pipped would it sink? There are no cracks or blemishes. It is.a bit dirty as she was hiding in a not great part of the barn and I had no idea. I did not wash it.


I have never incubated eggs so I have no real advice, I just wanted to wish you and the little sweety luck, I hope everything is okay. Someone with more experience at incubating will be along at some point during the day to help you. Maryellen has some eggs in an incubator right now, maybe she'll have an idea.

@Maryellen


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## ChickenandPitBullMama (Jun 6, 2018)

So, I have most of my hair still, but my nerves are shot and frayed. I keep staring at the lone little egg waiting for ANYTHING to happen. I shone the light on him earlier and he was in there dancing his jig. Still no internal pip, that I can tell. Again, the temp was cooler than it should have been due to bad info and fluctuating temps here. I knew hed be late but I am wondering how much of an effect low temps can have and how long he can bake to make up for it.

Not sure if it matters, but this egg is from a frizzled bantam. The dad is a Brahma bantam, I think. My Polish Crested roo pays little or no attention to the frizzled ladies. In fact, hes rather mean to my gimpy one. So my low man roo took them and a couple others under his wing so I am fairly certain hes the daddy. I have seen people say things about bantam eggs and hatching them in negative tones although I have never figured out why. Are they different somehow?

The other egg, the one I found under the broody Mama, is still wigging too. Even though the eggs is bigger, he looks like hes taking up about as much of the egg as the other one so I think hes pretty far along. This is the one that I did the float test on and he sank. I thought he was gone then he started dancing and spinning on the bottom of the bowl. He has a very nice air sac so I have no idea why hes sinking. Hopefully he comes out soon so this little guy can have a friend, if he ever decides to come out of the egg!!

I know all I can do at this point is wait, but I dont really have anyone and my husband, although he is great, isnt really good at this stuff lol. Id love to hear some stories about late hatching eggs to make me feel better!!!!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Chickenqueen!!!!!

Can you contact chickenadmin by pm and let him know that several of us can't post messages? It seems I can post on this thread but none others. And 2 others are having the same problems.
thx


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

ChickenandPitBullMama said:


> So, I have most of my hair still, but my nerves are shot and frayed. I keep staring at the lone little egg waiting for ANYTHING to happen. I shone the light on him earlier and he was in there dancing his jig. Still no internal pip, that I can tell. Again, the temp was cooler than it should have been due to bad info and fluctuating temps here. I knew hed be late but I am wondering how much of an effect low temps can have and how long he can bake to make up for it.
> 
> Not sure if it matters, but this egg is from a frizzled bantam. The dad is a Brahma bantam, I think. My Polish Crested roo pays little or no attention to the frizzled ladies. In fact, hes rather mean to my gimpy one. So my low man roo took them and a couple others under his wing so I am fairly certain hes the daddy. I have seen people say things about bantam eggs and hatching them in negative tones although I have never figured out why. Are they different somehow?
> 
> ...


If he's still alive , maybe the cooler temp did not kill him. I guess he has time. If he still has veins in the egg, just leave him be. You don't want to move the egg and him not know what direction to pip in. Just keep it warm.

In all incubators including ones with fans, there are microclimates. So aside from turning the eggs , once a day I change their position in the incubator. Usually moving the outer ones toward the center and the center ones to the outer edge. So everyone gets equal time in different places. And I get hatches all in a matter of 12 hours. So try that next time.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Fluctuating temps affect hatch dates, same with humidity. Ive never used the float test as sometimes it can be wrong. 
Fluctuating temps and humidity will affect the day they should hatch.
If both chicks are moving that is a good sign. 

Wait it out, if the temps were funky it will take longer to hatch, so they might hatch at day 30.
A friend of mine hatches silkies and for some reason his all hatch at day 30

Also, nature is nature. If the chick is supposed to hatch it will. Ive helped when they are zipping out if the membrane starts to die, sometimes the chicks make it sometimes they dont 
I have 5 eggs right now where today is day 21. No pips yet. I candled them and there are chicks inside but i dont see movement, but that doesnt mean anything yet.
Wait them out, and see what happens, or pull the broody and put her in a cage wuth bedding and the eggs and wait.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Hi there are some of us who can't post on here anymore. They don't show up. CQ and I cant send posts, pm's, "like" , or reply to anything. We will attempt moving to xxxxxx. 
You can email me at xxxxxx with questions or just join the other site. There are still actually 1 or 2 threads that let me post for now.
I just feel bad because there are so many posts I'd like to answer here and I can't. It just kills me to not be able to be a part of this. And CQ feels the same way.​


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> Hi there are some of us who can't post on here anymore. They don't show up. CQ and I cant send posts, pm's, "like" , or reply to anything. We will attempt moving to xxxxxx.
> You can email me at xxxxxxx with questions or just join the other site. There are still actually 1 or 2 threads that let me post for now.
> I just feel bad because there are so many posts I'd like to answer here and I can't. It just kills me to not be able to be a part of this. And CQ feels the same way.​


I can read your posts karen and cq


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