FEBRUARY Hatch-A-Long 2015:Please Read First Post To Join H-A-L

[bekkanblue]

Sorry about the run on sentences! I do know what the '.' key is I swear!

 

[bekkanblue]

OMG!!! The first chick is already here!!! I just went down to check to see if any more had pipped and this little guy was chirping like mad and thrashing around. I started hollering for my husband to come look. Amazingly quick. I noticed the pip only about an hour ago and here he is!!!! Here SHE is!!!

Congrats!! Yep, sometimes they pop right out while you're not looking! What did you set again, I think I read it but...

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Olive eggers. Although, my f1 olive egger mama of five of these eggs is in with two roos and this little one might be part SFH instead of blue Marans. I see a little white that wouldn't be there if daddy was the dark blue marans. It is what it is. The other two light green eggs are EE hen with, hopefully the BM. Fun to soon find out.

 

[cedarcovefarm]

Oh great! I put the solo chick who hatched today into the brooder to see if she'd be okay while I was here to monitor (day off). One NJ male came up to peck her, she gave it right back in spades! She's mastered the hot plate, one of the waterers, and the homemade stick-your-head-in-the-hole chick feeder I made today as a warm up to a hopefully less messy fermented feed feeder. I'll keep monitoring but I hope it keeps going so well since I have a 10 hour sx shift tomorrow. I could take her with me, but would rather she be with the chicks learning the ropes! And look who is already wanting to do the base jumping! Yep, that's her trying to follow the biguns'!

That's great! I wondered if they were just a few days apart if the chicks would adjust ok. Looks like yours are doing great!

 

[cedarcovefarm]

Congrats on all the new chicks! Patiently waiting here!! Just a few more days

 

[bekkanblue]

That's great! I wondered if they were just a few days apart if the chicks would adjust ok. Looks like yours are doing great!

So far so good. They're exactly 7 days older than she is. It helps that she's full of attitude and has the biggest voice of the whole group to complain and tattle with! It was an overly enthusiastic newbie mistake to replace a clear egg at day 7 with her egg. Um, different hatch dates, only one incubator (at the time), what to do what to do. Of course I got a second incubator. : ) Won't do it again but hopefully it'll keep working out for her!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

So I knew my broody had an egg that had gone south. Her eggs are beginning to pip, so I figured I would be able to dispose of it when she hatched out her brood. I was hanging a shelf by her next box when I heard a loud pop..... Then the smell hit...

I had to open up the nest box and fish out the offending, now exploded and oozing egg while fending off a very angry mother duck. The exploded egg is gone, as is all the contaminated nesting material, but the house, which was closed up tight because of the subzero weather, has not yet recovered.... I love my broody, but the ability to candle once a week to remove ticking time bombs from my incubator is something I took for granted right up until this evening. My broody, of course, is happily sitting on the rest of her clutch as if nothing happened.....

 

[rainbowchick]

So I knew my broody had an egg that had gone south.  Her eggs are beginning to pip, so I figured I would be able to dispose of it when she hatched out her brood.  I was hanging a shelf by her next box when I heard a loud pop.....  Then the smell hit...  

I had to open up the nest box and fish out the offending, now exploded and oozing egg while fending off a very angry mother duck. The exploded egg is gone, as is all the contaminated nesting material, but the house, which was closed up tight because of the subzero weather, has not yet recovered....  I love my broody, but the ability to candle once a week to remove ticking time bombs from my incubator is something I took for granted right up until this evening.  My broody, of course, is happily sitting on the rest of her clutch as if nothing happened..... 

Yuck!! And here I was, thinking the whole "exploding egg" thing was a myth... Good to know!!

 

[bekkanblue]

So I knew my broody had an egg that had gone south. Her eggs are beginning to pip, so I figured I would be able to dispose of it when she hatched out her brood. I was hanging a shelf by her next box when I heard a loud pop..... Then the smell hit...

I had to open up the nest box and fish out the offending, now exploded and oozing egg while fending off a very angry mother duck. The exploded egg is gone, as is all the contaminated nesting material, but the house, which was closed up tight because of the subzero weather, has not yet recovered.... I love my broody, but the ability to candle once a week to remove ticking time bombs from my incubator is something I took for granted right up until this evening. My broody, of course, is happily sitting on the rest of her clutch as if nothing happened.....

OK, not really funny but.... ya it kind of is! Don't worry, karma will come back to me for laughing!

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I was watching my daughter play with our chicks about 6 feet away from her. She decided to put one up on her shoulder. Before I could get over there, it fell off and broke its neck...
A LOT of lessons learned in our house today....
P.S. This was the chick that had overcome crooked toes, splay leg, AND stargazing, and was doing great... Up until an hour ago.

Aww so sorry for you, but especially your daughter. What a hard lesson for a young child to have to learn