After my last update, 3 more birdies hatched naturally. Sunday night I was up every hour to check on the birds. I want to add a quick note about one of the birds that hatched normally, in the middle of the night. He made it out of his shell, but his naval seemed to be abnormally large, like it was swelled. The umbilical cord came off fine, but this thing was still there. I got into a panic - because youre more prone to do that at 3AM when youre significantly sleep deprived. I tried researching it, but I didn't have much luck. I took him out and put him in the cage but the other birds were trying to pick at the naval. So I put him back in the incubator for several more hours. When I put him in the cage again he didn't get picked on. And a day later he was actually hard to identify from the other birds, because he looks just as healthy. There were two that I was watching on Day 21, they had made cracks in their shells but didn't continue to hatch. Monday morning Day 22 those were the first that I picked out at 7AM. It seemed like the lining inside the egg stuck and dried to them, preventing them from hatching without a lot of pain. I had to bathe the lining off with warm water. The last chick #33 was a survivor from the end of the line pick out. There were 10 eggs left in the incubator, and I knew if I was going to save any I had to lend them a helping hand. I picked them all, and somewhere in the middle, when I grabbed one egg, it peeped at me! I started peeling it out, starting at the air hole in the wide end of the egg. The chick was moving in there, but when I was peeling it out, it started bleeding some. Upon previous recommendation (from my farmer friends), I returned that egg to the incubator for about 2 more hours until I hatched it out the rest of the way. In that egg there was a lot of the yolk sack that was not absorbed, Im not sure how or why that happens. That chick is alive though, and seems to be fine now. As for the others, 4 weren't fertilized - they had a yellow yolk and a white, but the egg was dry. Three eggs appeared to be fertilized, but must have died early in development, the egg was a messy grey, with bits in it. And a sad two were fully developed, but musnt have had the gumption to hatch out, because when I got to them, they were dead. So all said and done I had a very successful hatch rate of 76.5%!
Today the birds are getting along well. They are eating and drinking, AND pooping. I had to change their bedding already because it was starting to stink. I moved the birds into a box to clean the cages, and when I was returning the birds I checked each of their bums, and five had caked on poop that I had to try and wipe off. What a horrible job. The birds practically hated me, whistling to them didn't even calm them down much. Then they were all cold from being damp and one was shivering. I hope they are all ok, but really I cant leave the poop caked on. Ill give those 5 a wipedown tomorrow again, I couldn't get it all this time - they were practically flying away on me. Speaking of flying, they are developing their wing feathers already - a neat line of feathers at the tips of their wings. They will grow fast and Ill definitely be ready for when they move out of the house and into the coop.
Cage #1 occupants
Cage #2 occupants
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