Hatching

[Eggzactly]

Anybody doing any hatching soon? Im on my 18th day with some Rhode Island white eggs :D

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

yes, we hatch every weekend....

Starting off this year with Bearded Belgian d'Uccles (Mille fleur)
and Black Rose Combs....

It never gets old.... enjoy your Rhode Island Whites....

Fred
www.FredsFineFowl.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/HTCSWEOD

[Eggzactly]

Thanks Fred.Fingers cross only 3 out of 12 have made it to day 20. shipped eggs

[Eggzactly]

Have you ever had to help a chick hatching?

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

Ok... this question comes to me quite a bit...

Some will think me insensitive on this subject, but you must be pragmatic.

Yes, I have in the past, assisted the odd chick out of it's egg when it appeared "stalled" and making no further progress.

It has almost always been the wrong thing to do in the end...

Nature has provided this final test for the viable chick to pass. If the chick is unable to crack, part and escape the confines of the egg, then it is too weak or improperly developed. Unless you have allowed the humidity to drop too far during the hatch, this chick should not be hatched and not kept as a member of your flock. Allow chicks that don't hatch on their own to become breeders and you will weaken the line you are working on.

Now someone is bound to say... well, I helped a chick and it turned out to be my top bird ever!... this would be the exception, not the rule. I speak in general terms regarding assisting unhatched birds.

Now, if you are not going to help them hatch, then what do you do with the tiny chick that still peeps from inside it's shell? This is where I fail... and I am so glad that in my case, I rarely face this situation... I personally can't stand to hear that tiny bird chirping away as if calling for help. I stand there, cracked egg in hand, still living chick inside, staring at the garbage disposal, watching the water swirl down... Just chuck it in and all will be finished in a blink, but I can't do it... off goes the disposal... and before you know it, I'm carefully peeling open the egg shell with warm running water to assist the stuck chick in becoming free of the membrane and stubborn shell parts. Into the brooder he goes, with the other recovering chicks.

I raised the most obnoxious rooster ever, by saving a hatchling in this way! Often the rescued bird will have odd legs, or an irregular stance, but I normally end up giving them away as a pet to someone.

So, I guess what I'm saying is... if you can act like a true mother hen, then off you go with those that hatched on their own and dispose of the remaining unhatched eggs/chicks, orrrrr wimp out like Fred and do everything you can to save them, often with very poor results.

I have a friend who just tosses them in the trash with the unhatched or undeveloped eggs.... in one case, many hours later, he found a live chick standing on top of the cast offs "IN" the trash. So that chick simply refused to GO!

Real breeders will not deal with those which can't hatch on their own... but chicken enthusiasts like myself, well, I have to save them if I can... you must make your own decision on this one.

Thanks for the question,
Fred
www.FredsFineFowl.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/HTCSWEOD?feature=mhw4

[Aspen]

You are a softie, Fred, like me. I haven't hatched any chicks, but we have saved some seriously wounded birds when others would have simply put them down. We did have one, out of a bunch we got at auction (won't do THAT again), that was misshapen in the extreme. We let her live, nurtured her, but in the end she could not walk properly and had goodness knows what other issues. She seemed to me to be suffering, so my dear Hubby did the deed. Bless him, I don't think I could actually have done it.

I might let one of my hens brood and hatch a clutch in the future, just for the experience, but I'm too busy right now for such. We are just ordering from a hatchery this year.

[gardengirl72]

Thanks so much for sharing Fred.