April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[CtyGrlwantsaFrm]

Welp, it's time to start up a thread for those of us that have babies hatching in April! All hatchers and all birds are welcome .

Easter babies: please enter your hatches in the 11th annual Easter Hatch A Long 2020! Participants here have eggs that are not hatching close enough to Easter to count for that event, but ALL April babies are welcome so feel free to chat about your Easter babies with us as well!
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I set 8 cayuga duck eggs on 3/13, due 4/10-4/11 (entered in EHAL). They are too early to really candle yet, so . They are shipped eggs from Fat Hen Farms and they were packed very nicely, but the air cells are definitely wonky. I will be trying to handle them as little as possible.

There will definitely be more eggs set to hatch from me in April! But at present my bators are full to the gills. There are 8 chicken eggs (barnyard mix, my own flock) due on 3/31, so they might make an appearance here as well.

Happy hatching!

I have 34 eggs in the incubator... They are a mix of Crested Cream Legbar, Isbar, Crested Cream Legbar X Isbar, and Crested Cream Legbar X Black Copper Marans.

They should hatch the last day of April!!!

 

[CindyinSD]

It's really difficult to get to the water with how the incubator is designed. I ended up making a makeshift "dry-off" chamber out of a small plastic bin, a spare brooder heatplate, and a heating pad set to Low underneath it all. Seems to be working ok. The chicks are finally fluffing up.

Unfortunately, the third chick that hatched ended up having a malformed abdomen. From what I can tell it hatched too early, before the yolk fully absorbed. It died a few hours after.

So right now there are two; an active little runt and a very sleepy big fella who was first to hatch. No movement from the rest of the eggs so unfortunately this may be all I have out of this hatch.

I started with 14 eggs. 2 cracked during shipping, a few duds, one lost after first pipping, one lost after hatch. This has definitely been a learning experience. I probably should've chose a less expensive breed to start with.

My first try I bought the cheapest barnyard mix I could find on ebay. I paid for a dozen, received more than twice that, ended up with seven chicks, two of them pullets (very nice--still have them). The roos eventually hit the soup pot. I was afraid to try a pricey breed and had no rooster at the time, soooo. You really learn a LOT by doing. Unfortunately unless you have an experienced person looking over your shoulder, you just have to manage on your own. Online advice is super helpful, but not like an onsite flesh & blood mentor. You did well and you'll do better next time.

 

[FortCluck]

My first try I bought the cheapest barnyard mix I could find on ebay. I paid for a dozen, received more than twice that, ended up with seven chicks, two of them pullets (very nice--still have them). The roos eventually hit the soup pot. I was afraid to try a pricey breed and had no rooster at the time, soooo. You really learn a LOT by doing. Unfortunately unless you have an experienced person looking over your shoulder, you just have to manage on your own. Online advice is super helpful, but not like an onsite flesh & blood mentor. You did well and you'll do better next time.

I'm a better visual learner so I watched a lot of videos on YouTube.

I don't know anyone in my area that use a bator. Most just buy from others.

 

[CindyinSD]

I'm a better visual learner so I watched a lot of videos on YouTube.

I don't know anyone in my area that use a bator. Most just buy from others.

Now you're the expert!

 

[FortCluck]

Now you're the expert!

I'm not sure if I should be ashamed or proud that I've done about 15+ hatches in 7 months.

I've assisted hatches, I've culled chicks, I've done egg-topsies, I've helped malpositioned chicks... I think I should put all that on my resume

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I got a second pip!

This will be my last hatch for the year so I'm soaking in every second.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I'm not sure if I should be ashamed or proud that I've done about 15+ hatches in 7 months.

I've assisted hatches, I've culled chicks, I've done egg-topsies, I've helped malpositioned chicks... I think I should put all that on my resume

Absolutely!

 

[eastereggerlady]

Today is day 20 for my half dozen barnyard mix eggs. I’ve got one darker speckled brown egg that has pipped externally already! I have two blue eggs, one green egg, and two lighter tan eggs. Can’t wait to see what the babies will look like! I also have another half dozen coming in the mail tomorrow! Over the moon happy right now

 

[jolenesdad]

Today is day 20 for my half dozen barnyard mix eggs. I’ve got one darker speckled brown egg that has pipped externally already! I have two blue eggs, one green egg, and two lighter tan eggs. Can’t wait to see what the babies will look like! I also have another half dozen coming in the mail tomorrow! Over the moon happy right now

Pics!!!

 

[eastereggerlady]

Pics!!!

The only photo I have at the moment. I never thought to take one of just the eggs whoops