September Hatch-A-Long

[ChickyChickens]

Just for all the September chickies...

I have a broody hen with 16 eggs due in September! Anyone out the to joing me...????

 

[onmelissa]

We have a baby!!

 

[Peep_Show]

Oh so my hideaway hen (nameless, any names??) has now got 6 chicks, 2 pipped and 15 eggs! I hope she has a 100% hatch! I would love to see a mother with 23 chicks!

Hideaway hen = Heidi

 

[AmericanMom]

someone once told me that chickens were the gateway to backyard farming... boy were they right!

 

[redhen689]

I have no idea what sex that chick is. Some breeds you can tell based on color or markings. Often, if you compare the size of combs between chicks of the same breed, you can tell. Often the roos are more aggressive from a very young age.

On an update on my chicks. I like to give them treats at times, so today I chopped up a grape and an apple slice into tiny pieces and put them in with the chicks. They were terrified of the new objects for quite some time. I ended up adding them to the food bowl, because they wouldn't even approach the spot I originally placed them. Even then they were quite suspicious and wouldn't bite.

I went out and ran some errands, after I arrived back home I heard a loud distressed peeping sound. The smallest chick was running around with a tiny piece of apple in it's beak. She was running around frantically trying to keep the piece away from the other chicks. Eventually she it got it re-positioned and swallowed it. Too funny!

 

[dldolan]

Yesterday I set 9 eggs each under my two broody bantam cochins! Ordered eggs plus this is the first fertility test for the Roo...They are only 6 months old, so he (in particular) is still developing his color pattern. The trio is a mille fleur (incomplete), a calico, and Rooster Ricky
is a gorgeous blue mille fleur! Eggs would hatch Friday the 5th...if all goes well! Mille fleur, Blue Mille Fleur, and a couple mottled eggs as well. We'll see!

Ethel angrily stomping around when I moved her nest. She got over it when she saw REAL eggs instead of golfballs!:

Here's Lucy looking over the situation:

Papa (of a few, i hope!) Ricky:

 

[Housemom408]

I'm in.... Due to hatch around the 5th. This is my first time. I'm using a broody from my mom ( she lives next door). It's the first for everything! First time for her to sit, first time for us to hatch eggs, and first time to to see if the roo is fertile. Fingers crossed we get some!

 

[TeaChick]

I want my babies to lay eggs!!!


But I will not get any until late November or spring I bet..

Me too.
I'm only getting eggs from the girls I bought last spring and one of the pullets that were hatched in late Jan. Who knows when the other two will start laying?!?!?!? And the chicks I have and the ones I just ordered won't lay until at least January; that being the case, they probably won't lay until spring.

I think we should share some chocolate; I bet that would help us feel better!!!

 

[TeaChick]

I think I am on day 7 but the broody started the hatch bad I stole the eggs from her because she weight less then 3 pounds and was sitting on 18 eggs! And my light isnt bright enough to get a really clear look at the eggs so are the candling pictures don't help as much as they should.

That's hard. I understand there's a float test. An egg with a live chick in it will float a certain way (with a certain amount of the egg above the water) and a dud egg will float with (I think less) of the egg above the water level or sink (I think). You can look that up. There's an article on Assisted Hatching and it either tells you how to interpret the results of your float test or it links to the info.
Meanwhile, getting eggs wet at 1 week of incubation is not a great idea b/c the bloom (film that protects the egg from bacterial infection) is water soluble.......
I would say, find a way to convince yourself that they're alright and hide the chocolate. (well, hiding the chocolate is for me lol)
I don't remember, (I'm sorry) what was the reason you thought they might not be viable now?

Candled half of my quail eggs on day 9 (yesterday), will do the rest tonight because I don't like having the incubator open that long with such small eggs. Pulled a few clears and early quitters, including one that was starting to weep.

I understand. And yes, weepers have got to go.
Hope they all do well!!! =)

How do you tell "quiters? I am never sure about them.

clears I can tell

I'm probably a day late and a dollar short on this, but...
The way I tell is either there's a horrible wide blood ring around the egg (you learn to tell after a few candlings what a blood ring is v/s good strong blood vessels forming), or if one is way behind the rest or there's no change from one candling to the next. This is a good case for taking candling notes (unless you get to know a very few eggs individually when you're hatching; I haven't hatched so many that I could keep track in my mind that this hen's egg from this day was at a particular stage or size compared to the rest and remember until the next week which one I needed to check more carefully; when I'm hatching 20-40 eggs at a time, then I'll need to keep a candling notebook so that I can record what I saw in each egg at each candling.)

Sorry

can I join?

I am going to be setting eggs on Thursday in a homemade incubator. have been testing it for a week and I am able o get it stable with almost no variance. just an experiment hatch with a mix of eggs and breeds

I've been using a homemade incubator this year too (I haven't bought one yet). I have to use a cardboard box to keep the temperature steady; the little cooler-bator I have doesn't do very well.

Ok, How I understand hatching rates:

Homemade incubator .....34
Shipped eggs ..................46
Not home raised eggs......26

Total...............................106%

Your base rate is 106%......

If a chick dies within 2 days it is a freebee.
So 6 eggs hatching will get you around 139% hatch rate!! Not bad for a first try.

It has taken me 2 months to figure this chicken math out.

I think I peed myself a little reading this!!!

 

[Y N dottes]

i think u did your math correctly.....in a perfect world they would hatch sunday night on the 14th.

I am gonna be setting my first batch in day or two, so im kinda in the same boat as u