13th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-Along

[SpicyDisaster]

What breed/color is the chick at the bottom? Cute!!!

It came out of a bantam Cochin egg and has either a Golden Sebright roo or an Easter egger roo. Time will tell!! We weren't planning on keeping any of this test batch but kiddo feel in love with the mini chick so we kept three. It will be fun to see as it grows up if we can figure out the father.

 

[Sunny Woodlands Farm]

Four have already hatched! I started the chicks just before I went to bed on March 26th. The incubator went on the deck because DH says "No Livestock in the House!"

I'm in New Hampshire. That first night was COLD, as were many others since then. The cheap Chinese incubator got covered in towels, an old bath mat, and a torn-up felt-like blanket. I put a layer of bubble-wrap under the incubator. A couple of times, I had a layer of ice between the covers. I added a large plastic sled on top to keep the rain, snow and sleet off the insulated incubator. It did its job!

This picture is of the first two. View attachment 3064664
More updates to come...

I'm up to eleven hatched chicks this morning.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

2 more hatched overnight. I watched them.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Well mark mine as all dead or just take my entire thing off not worth adding them....its what i get for dry hatching so whoever saids it works...it dont wasted another month.

 

[pinewoodacres]

Well mark mine as all dead or just take my entire thing off not worth adding them....its what i get for dry hatching so whoever saids it works...it dont wasted another month.

So sorry. Did they start to hatch and get stuck or what? Are you comfortable with doing an eggtopsy in a couple days? I always wait until I’m positive they are dead so I don’t start opening the shell and kill them by accident. I’ve had a couple more hatch in that time frame.

I run it dry (it stays in the low to mid 20%) till lockdown and then keep humidity around 40-50% by putting a really wet baby washcloth in it. I only have problems if it drops down below 25-30% like it did overnight when someone was zipping.

 

[craxyjaxy424]

I have four chicks out total now. The first one that came out last night at 9:25 p.m. is pecking a bit at the newest one that just hatched. Should I try and remove it so it doesn't hurt the new baby? There is one egg left not picked and one egg is zipped pretty good already so I was scared to open it to remove any.

 

[pinewoodacres]

On that note, how do you handle one that appears to be shrink wrapped if you choose not to assist beyond the basics? What is the humane thing to do? How long will it take to die naturally? Not sure how much of the yolk is still getting absorbed and thus keeping it alive.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well mark mine as all dead or just take my entire thing off not worth adding them....its what i get for dry hatching so whoever saids it works...it dont wasted another month.

Have you tried candling yet? To see what's going on in there? What incubator are you using?

Dry hatching works well in some incubators but not well in others. That's why I like to ask what incubator people are using before I offer advice. I've used many different incubator brands in the same stable environment and each type has a different sweet spot for optimal hatch rate.

With all of that said, its unlikely that the whole hatch would fail even if it's too dry. Do you have a secondary calibrated thermometer and hygrometer inside the incubator other than the one on the incubator? It's common to have late hatches when temps are low.

 

[Josip]

I have 9 so far, 4 -Brahma MIX , 2 -EE, 3- BACKYARD MIX
I belive it Will be few more so its good, its bad hatch rate but this guys traveled 5 days to me and many eggs were broken so am happy

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Two pips now! Praise the Lord!