Complete
Tentatively, I think the hatching is over. There are two eggs that never pipped, and I think they’re duds, but I’m going to leave them in the incubator for the rest of the day to make sure.
The final tally:
- Started with 30 eggs, and cut back to 27 after three were found to be clear or malformed at day 9 or 10
- Hatching took about 40 hours total, and we ended up with 22 chicks
- Three chicks died after pipping (lesson learned: pigs truly will eat anything)
- Two eggs are duds
I went against my own rules and helped two chicks hatch. They pipped, and started the zip process, where they break shell around the egg to get out, then seemed to give up. After hours and hours of no activity, I finally took them out and took after the shell with some tweezers. One of the two went on to hatch just fine, but the other still seemed too tired / weak to do much. Last night, I finally helped it all the way out. When we went to bed, the chick couldn’t stand up. It seemed to have no leg control at all, and flopped around whenever it tried to move.
I thought for sure it would be dead when I got up this morning — some things just aren’t meant to be — but it was up on its feet, and while it still seems a little less capable than all the others, it’s able to get around and walk, so I have hopes it’ll end up doing fine.
The humidity in the incubator stayed off the chart once the chicks started hatched, well above the 70% you’re aiming for. Yesterday afternoon, I broke another hatching rule and started taking chicks out of the incubator before they were dry. I used a small Rubbermaid container with paper towels in the bottom and a 250W heat lamp overhead as a “staging room”, where the chicks were placed to dry out. I left them in the incubator long enough to get some walking control, then moved them. Once they were dry, they got moved out to the brooder in the garage.
All in all, we’re pretty happy with the results.
When we have a chicken set I move her into another part of the coop that I have enclosed with Chicken wire. Maybe 3 ft by 3ft and also have enclosed a small yard 3 x 5 for them. That also gives her a place to raise her chicks with out the other chickens messing with them.
Yeah, I’ve half-heartedly thought about that, but I think I just want to let nature take its course and see what happens. Plus, I’m lazy. 
How long after the chicks hatch before they want food?
They’ll be okay without food for up to 72 hours, because they’re still absorbing the yolk sac, which is attached to their belly when they hatch. That’s how they can be shipped around the country with no food when they’re hatched. They’re all in the brooder with food now, and I’ve seen a few pecking up pieces I scattered around on the floor for them.
Are any of these from Frick or Flappy?
No. We had one blue egg when we started, but it ended up forming a blood ring instead of a chickie, so it got shitcanned on day 9 or 10. We’re not getting many blue eggs now, and haven’t ever since Flappy laid the monster egg. We get maybe two blue eggs a week.
McLovin and the girls made some fine-lookin’ babies.
