February 2017 Hatch-a-long

[supersymmetry]

10 eggs of my meat birds just went to lockdown.

Good Luck!

 

[supersymmetry]

Candled today (Day 15) and found 193/205 viable. Should be an epic hatch. Brooders are all prepared!

Here's a picture (17 days old) of the last hatch from 02/02/17:

 

[orrpeople]

First candleing done I'm surprised as far as I could tell and my wife was also inspecting I have out of 60+ eggs that I scavenged up after my flock demise 41 are looking like they are good. I know I need a brighter candler for the brown eggs. But saw life in them and that I thank God for. Best news is the onl egg I had from my only EE is alive!! And have 2 of my Dutch game hen (EE was killed my dutchie lives) so I'm blessed there for sure now the long wait again till 8 days from now for last candle and lockdown. I'm excited like a kid at Christmas time!!

I know, right?! I get very excited about hatching too!! Congratulations and best of luck for a smooth hatch!

 

[orrpeople]

Candled today (Day 15) and found 193/205 viable. Should be an epic hatch. Brooders are all prepared! Here's a picture (17 days old) of the last hatch from 02/02/17:

Wow! Lots and lots of little birds!! What breed(s)?

 

[supersymmetry]

Wow! Lots and lots of little birds!! What breed(s)?

Mixed flock of F2's.... Delaware, New Hampshire, Maran X's and (of course) Naked Necks!

 

[jbenson]

Second candling done. Tossed 9 early quitters. The 'bator is still nearly full because we overfilled it to start with. 2 polish and 44 bantam white faced black spanish still in there.

 

[jbenson]

Candled today (Day 15) and found 193/205 viable. Should be an epic hatch. Brooders are all prepared!

Here's a picture (17 days old) of the last hatch from 02/02/17:

Wow. And to think I was starting to feel overwhelmed by the thought of more than 40 chicks hatching next weekend! I got the brooder all washed and will set it up tomorrow so it's ready when the babies hatch. DH is such an enabler. I wasn't gonna hatch and here I am with a full 'bator and a whole set of eggs on deck.

 

[jbenson]

My incuview, which I was using as a hatching bator, had a catastrophic failure. 3 hatched late on day 19, 2 hatched day 20, and last night the temps dropped to 76. I was away. My folks were watching the bator. My dad pulled out the miserable chicks and rebooted the bator. He went to work. I stopped at the house to check, and found a VERY cold, just hatched chick. The incuview said it was 98, my egg o meter said it was 73. The egg o meter was correct.

Thankfully I had 2 other bators running. I consolidated those eggs, and moved the cold chick and the rest of the eggs to the warm bator... and I had to leave again. I just heard that the cold chick survived and 4 more have hatched.

So I'm amazed how horribly you can treat the eggs, and they still hatch!!!

For the cold chick, it's shell is coated with blood. Is it possible it hatched before absorbing all its blood vessels?

It's possible the cold chick pipped through a vein in the membrane, but managed to not bleed out before getting hatched. It will probably live. I've had that happen before. Normally if they loose too much blood, they don't get all the way hatched because they literally bleed out.

 

[orrpeople]

Mixed flock of F2's....  Delaware, New Hampshire, Maran X's and (of course) Naked Necks!

What are your plans for them? Actually I'm curious about that for everyone who hatches. To sell? To add to the flock? For meat? To breed/make a project of, etc?

 

[jbenson]

What are your plans for them? Actually I'm curious about that for everyone who hatches. To sell? To add to the flock? For meat? To breed/make a project of, etc?

I hatch often for the fun of it. I tend to keep a few of the best from the last couple hatches to deepen my own breeding flock, but I don't have a ton of space. We sell most of them.