5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[Gardeningmama]

I candled the my egg that has the comparatively large air cell. Now it looks like the chick is pushing up against the membrane by the air cell when it moves, but has not internally pipped. I'm not supposed to lock down until the morning - should I do it now? I tried to upload a video, but can't figure out how.

Definitely watch it, and listen for it! Almost every hatch I know they are pipped internally before I ever see the first pip. With the aircell so big, they can be malpositioned, they have a hard time getting into the right position..I hope that isn't the case, even though I have had plenty pip on the wrong end too, and zip themselves just fine. Hatching is such a funny business!

 

[Wisher1000]

I'm done. I had 17 of 18 hatch (tossed one clear at lock down,) I helped the last two, they are weak but may catch up with the others. Time will tell. I have tried and tried to get a pic were you can see each chick but haven't gotten a good one so far. I will try again tonight.

Did I already say that I really love my Sportsman?

 

[chickee]

I gotta tell you, I am thankful I now live in the middle of the woods where no neighbors can see me! Love love LOVE our new home!

Last year at this time, I was in a house that sat on the corner of two cul-de-sacs. I could literally spit and hit a neighbor on my left, and a neighbor on my right. Talk about no privacy! I was pretty much the laughing stock of the neighborhood (not that I cared), because of my strange hobbies. One of them was having pet praying mantids. I raised one every year, from hatchling to death. When a mantis is in the early stages, they are tiny. I had to catch their food, which was no easy task...fruit flies, or any bug that size, was all they could eat at those stages. So, my neighbors got a good view of me walking across the back yard, net in hand, swinging it from side to side, trying to catch mini bugs LOL.

I also brain tan deer hides. That was another site no one ever got used to...me standing at my fleshing beam, deer hide dripping as I scrape and scrape. Then stretching it, putting it on a frame, and smoking it over a pit I dug in the ground, with blue jeans sewn together as the enclosure.

Now I can do whatever I want and not be the laughing stock of the neighborhood!!

Just for fun, this was my first, and favorite, praying mantis I ever raised. Her name was Alice. When she died (in my hand), I made her a little coffin out of an empty checkbook box, decorated it, and put it in the freezer. Kept her their for five years. When we moved in here to our first home, I buried her.

Don't laugh, I'm sure all of us have some strange hobbies that do not seem normal to most.

I LOVE Praying Mantis's!

 

[Avlana]

My experiance with the cat is when you shut a door that isn't normallyshut, or all of a sudden they aren't allowed in a room they use to be allowed into they become obsessed. LOL

Lol so true!

 

[ronott1]

I'm done. I had 17 of 18 hatch (tossed one clear at lock down,) I helped the last two, they are weak but may catch up with the others. Time will tell. I have tried and tried to get a pic were you can see each chick but haven't gotten a good one so far. I will try again tonight.

Did I already say that I really love my Sportsman?

That is great news!

 

[sandman221]

got my first pip finally lol.

 

[chickee]

My 8 W/BW Ameraucana and possible BW Ameraucana x golden cuckoo Marans (OE) eggs are in lock down. I usually have a couple hatch early on day 20, so I'm getting excited!

 

[bantambury]

So far so good! Been on lockdown for 4 hours now...weve got ourselves a few rockers! Rockin round in their eggs! Does this mean they will probably hatch earlier that the rest? I hope so!

 

[ronott1]

So far so good! Been on lockdown for 4 hours now...weve got ourselves a few rockers! Rockin round in their eggs! Does this mean they will probably hatch earlier that the rest? I hope so!

The chicks are getting into position and will be working on pipping. Hatching happens within about 24 hours of the first pip. Start your clock at the first pip.

I like to see the first pip. It is a relief and means that I will have chicks soon.

 

[msladyhawke]

I gotta tell you, I am thankful I now live in the middle of the woods where no neighbors can see me! Love love LOVE our new home! Last year at this time, I was in a house that sat on the corner of two cul-de-sacs. I could literally spit and hit a neighbor on my left, and a neighbor on my right. Talk about no privacy! I was pretty much the laughing stock of the neighborhood (not that I cared), because of my strange hobbies. One of them was having pet praying mantids. I raised one every year, from hatchling to death. When a mantis is in the early stages, they are tiny. I had to catch their food, which was no easy task...fruit flies, or any bug that size, was all they could eat at those stages. So, my neighbors got a good view of me walking across the back yard, net in hand, swinging it from side to side, trying to catch mini bugs LOL. I also brain tan deer hides. That was another site no one ever got used to...me standing at my fleshing beam, deer hide dripping as I scrape and scrape. Then stretching it, putting it on a frame, and smoking it over a pit I dug in the ground, with blue jeans sewn together as the enclosure. Now I can do whatever I want and not be the laughing stock of the neighborhood!! Just for fun, this was my first, and favorite, praying mantis I ever raised. Her name was Alice. When she died (in my hand), I made her a little coffin out of an empty checkbook box, decorated it, and put it in the freezer. Kept her their for five years. When we moved in here to our first home, I buried her. Don't laugh, I'm sure all of us have some strange hobbies that do not seem normal to most.

You sound like a neat person with cool hobbies! I'd be wanting to come check out your hobbies if I was a neighbor!