AppleJacks
Contributing Member
So I got an incubator since I haven't had a broody hen in years. The expected hatch was tomorrow but surprise...one is eager and hatching NOW. soooo exciting
Hey, you know your stuff!! I can tell you have had the experience. I keep a dish or pan of water in my incubator, which is made of plywood (painted). If you do not keep humidity up, the skin inside the shell does get tuff and brittle. I have spent a fair amount of time helping the little ones out or getting them untagged from the sticky-then-dried skin & shell.It's best to not try to hatch eggs of different ages/stages ,because they need much higher humidity in the last few days to hatch successfully.
I'm not sure where the "5 hours" came from... it's usually more like 12 from first pipping to completed hatch, under proper conditions. They *need* that struggle to get out of the egg for proper development.
Now, if they get the egg fully cracked, and then quit. You can try helping. If they stay in the shell too long after it's fully opened, they will harden up in that position and be crippled. I've gently removed the shell several times successfully, but usually only uad to if I goofed and didn't have the humidity high enough.
Good luck!
Summerthyme
a few with crumpled feet that I hat to make tiny little tape boots for. THAT was fun.
Within a day she was walking fine. That sounds terrible.So cute, and congrats!! Being a hatching mama can be stressful. You said one was having a hard time walking, is it splay leg? Sometimes they grow out of it, sometimes they need encouragement. And it is DAMN hard to get bands on their feet! I hatched some quail where we struggled with humidity in the incubator, and ended up with several splay leg, being shrink wrapped, and a few with crumpled feet that I hat to make tiny little tape boots for. THAT was fun.
About the instamorph...it sounds like something we need around here. DH is always fabricating parts from whatever his imagination can conjure up. He is truly Mr. Fix-it. It says if you make a mistake you can just warm it up. Does it ever become stable so that heat would not turn it back to putty? Thanks for sharing!InstaMorph - Reusable Moldable Plastic
InstaMorph is a reusable lightweight polyester thermoplastic that acts like clay when warm, but when it cools, becomes a strong plastic. Our moldable plastic can be sculpted with your hands, tools, or pressed around an object to make a mold. It can be painted, machined, carved or attached to...instamorph.com
I made little flats out of instamorph and taped over the floppy foot.
Instamorph is cool stuff.
I had a duck that got caught by two drakes and they worked her over pretty good almost broke her leg. Walking in a disabled manor rubbed a spot on the bottom of her foot, so of course she got bumble-foot. I made a splint and a flat stable "foot" out of instamorph and she managed quite well.
I was a wreck! I had 5 ducks, 3 geese one with severe splayed legs ), and about 10 chickens. I had never had any animal that didn't live in the house at night.
Anyways instamorph is a great product for a lot of things.