11th Annual Easter Hatch a Long 2020

[BantyChooks]

Had to share this..... I noticed one of my pigeons' eggs was not up under the hen, I suppose one of the other birds kicked it away. When I picked it up, I noticed it had been pecked and was broken! So I covered the break with a piece of paper/medical tape and popped it in the incubator with my other eggs. Candled it this morning and its alive!! I didn't notice this nest until a few days in, so I'm not exactly sure when its due to hatch. I'll wait for an internal pip, then take the egg back out to the mother, and hope for the best. I estimate it has another 4-6 days to go.
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And I cracked up at the difference in egg size.... the tiny pigeon egg, Call duck eggs (overflow from the other incubator) and Sebastopol geese eggs.
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Whoa. Now that's a size difference!
I've been hankering after geese for a while.

 

[FortCluck]

Had to share this..... I noticed one of my pigeons' eggs was not up under the hen, I suppose one of the other birds kicked it away. When I picked it up, I noticed it had been pecked and was broken! So I covered the break with a piece of paper/medical tape and popped it in the incubator with my other eggs. Candled it this morning and its alive!! I didn't notice this nest until a few days in, so I'm not exactly sure when its due to hatch. I'll wait for an internal pip, then take the egg back out to the mother, and hope for the best. I estimate it has another 4-6 days to go.
View attachment 2054185


And I cracked up at the difference in egg size.... the tiny pigeon egg, Call duck eggs (overflow from the other incubator) and Sebastopol geese eggs.
View attachment 2054184

Hahaha the geese eggs look hilarious next to it

 

[WVduckchick]

How cute that little egg is next to the others! I hope it hatches! What kind of pigeons do you have?

I have Satinettes, Classic Old Frills. I have 22 now, with 4 more in the works, including the one now in the incubator.

Whoa. Now that's a size difference!
I've been hankering after geese for a while.

I've always wanted to hatch geese, but never had any desire to own any!
So these eggs belong to a friend, I'm just hatching them for her. Works for me!

 

[hysop]

I guess each olive egger is laying eggs every other day. I have 3 total and I collected 2 yesterday and 1 today. I’ll check later today in case one is a late layer.

Quick question for those who weigh eggs and track percentages of the egg weight loss. Do you weigh the egg when it’s laid or can you weigh them all the same day the day you actually set them in the incubator? Wondering if I should go ahead and weigh the three I have now or if I can wait til Saturday.

Here’s an updated picture of my stash. Today’s olive egg was a bit dirty, can I leave it as is and not wipe it down? I wiped down my last batch and had around 70% hatch, but they had poop not stickiness like this egg.

 

[FortCluck]

I have Satinettes, Classic Old Frills. I have 22 now, with 4 more in the works, including the one now in the incubator.

View attachment 2054203View attachment 2054204


I've always wanted to hatch geese, but never had any desire to own any!
So these eggs belong to a friend, I'm just hatching them for her. Works for me!

Are the pigeons just pets? How do they do in winter?

 

[AgnesGray]

I've got veins in at least one of my duck eggs already! A relief as I wasn't sure they'd be good.

 

[WVduckchick]

I guess each olive egger is laying eggs every other day. I have 3 total and I collected 2 yesterday and 1 today. I’ll check later today in case one is a late layer.

Quick question for those who weigh eggs and track percentages of the egg weight loss. Do you weigh the egg when it’s laid or can you weigh them all the same day the day you actually set them in the incubator? Wondering if I should go ahead and weigh the three I have now or if I can wait til Saturday.

Here’s an updated picture of my stash. Today’s olive egg was a bit dirty, can I leave it as is and not wipe it down? I wiped down my last batch and had around 70% hatch, but they had poop not stickiness like this egg.

View attachment 2054235

very pretty olives!!

Are the pigeons just pets? How do they do in winter?

Just pets, but I’ll sell some too. I Haven’t yet, but I’ve gone from 2 to 22 in about 16 months! I did buy 5 after my original pair, but the other 15 have been hatched within my flock. Pigeons are really much more interesting birds than they get credit for. They choose a mate, and usually mate for life. They will move to another mate if theirs dies. And the fathers do half the incubating and raising of the babies!!
And they are great in winter! I have open-air coops and they sleep up on their perches unless they are raising little ones. They mainly just need shield from bad wind.

 

[Pensmaster]

Fair point! Lucky for me I had a half gallon of the stuff already.

I have 1/2 gallon left in barn as long as wife doesn’t find it it’s good for the chickens.

 

[hysop]

I checked again today and found more eggs! I wonder if this whole time they’ve been laying in the evening and since I never check I assume they were morning eggs. Gonna start checking twice a day now. Or it could be that I’ve been feeding them extra protein treats (their eggs because I have too many).
Either way, I now have 5 eggs to be placed in the incubator on Saturday and 3* to 4* days left of collecting more.
Edited because I thought today was Monday

 

[Pyxis]

I'm gonna be setting some Aztec eggs on Saturday. A little late to count for the HAL, since they should be hatching on the 16th. If my one quail hen gets back to laying though I will set some quail for the HAL. And some chicken eggs if my ko shamos want to start up again, but they seem to be on break.