Day 19-my egg cheeped-now hatched!

[chickenmama22]

Congratulations! We just had chicks hatch 13 yesterday and it is so exciting! I love hearing those little cheeps and start getting nervous about their safe arrival!

Keep us posted!

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

Ugg. Long day. Just got home again. I'm glad my sister was here to keep an eye on things while I was gone. 2nd chick hatched this morning. 3rd one mid afternoon with some help. They're ugly little darlings at this point. can't wait til they fluff.

Anyone know if you can post pic urls from flickr?

-Maureen

 

[PeiTheCelt]

YEAH!!! Congrats on your hatches!! Can't imagine that you can't post from flickr...

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

OK, pictures at last!

Here is Mr. eyebrows at about 15 minutes old; middle of the night last night. He has white eyebrows and belly.

You can see that his neighbor has pipped externally. They are from a flock of mixed brown egg layers. So perhaps they are barred-rock-ish.

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

And here is the neighbor, who has black feet. This one was so big, he couldn't turn around to zip the shell, so after 24hrs of just one pipped place, we carefully, slowly helped him out.

 

[PeiTheCelt]

YEAH PICTURES!

They are so handsome!

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

Hmm. I think these three are all I'll get. 5 are duds of various kinds, and the other 3 I just can't tell. I'm leaving them in the incubator for another couple of days, but I think these 3 are my hatch. (just about the number i was hoping for, actually)

Here they are on their way to the brooder. Their names are Eyebrows, Puffin and Rachmaninoff at the moment:

edit: Thanks to everyone and all the posts/threads that helped me get to this point! What an amazing experience. I'm so happy with my new 'babies'.
-maureen

 

[redchicken]

They look like they just drank some milk

 

[Crunchie]

Congrats!! Isn't it so exciting?

Can you tell me, though, what you have on the floor of your 'bator? Looks from the pics like you have little divisions of some sort to keep the eggs/chicks separated...and something underneath of them....anyway, it looks a lot neater (and easier to clean) than my 'bator did after a few hatched and had a party with all of the loose unhatched eggs!!

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

Quote:
Well, I originally found BYC to learn about incubating. I read several things over and over again in the forum. 1. The chicks play football with the unhatched eggs 2. the unhatched eggs need to stay same-side-up the last few days 3. hatching makes a mess of the incubator. So I spent the 3 weeks of incubating trying to create various 'bator inserts to help with these things. Also, a manual egg turner that didn't need the lid to be opened.

To keep the eggs from being moved too far by the newly hatched, I made a cardboard grid. 1 inch tall strips of cardboard. The outside was actually a candy gift box. I cut the top out of the lid and the floor out of the bottom half, leaving me with rectangle 'frames'. Then I stapled a grid of cardboard strips together within the frames; each to hold an individual egg. It worked well. The hatchlings still flop all over the place, but it holds the eggs in place.

Underneath, I have a piece of fabric tulle(netting). Fine enough chick toes won't get caught, but pourous enough to let the air and humidity through from underneath. It did a good job of collecting the bits of egg shell and such. (some one has mentioned the kitchen shelf lining - rubbery, holey sheets- from Rubbermaid as a good option too)

I put these things in on Day 19, replacing the egg rolling frame they were in until that day.

-Maueen