Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[WVduckchick]

i have the Brinsea plate. Instead of adjusting the plate, I put some wash cloths under my puppy pads for seramas and OEGBs, to get them closer to it. Then as they get bigger, i take out the cloths. Eventually, i put the feet up on blocks of wood instead of taking that stupid thing apart. Lol
I've been meaning to order a Premier, just haven't done it yet.

 

[SilksterTN]

i have the Brinsea plate. Instead of adjusting the plate, I put some wash cloths under my puppy pads for seramas and OEGBs, to get them closer to it. Then as they get bigger, i take out the cloths. Eventually, i put the feet up on blocks of wood instead of taking that stupid thing apart. Lol
I've been meaning to order a Premier, just haven't done it yet.

LOL that's a great idea. I had to stick something under it with the brinsea on the lowest setting for my serama. I'm not sure they would be able to climb that steep of a hill if I left it on the highest setting and put padding under. Would need to get them a ski lift

 

[darkbluespace]

What are you using to prop up the heating pad? I use the brinsea eco glow but may set up a second one at some point and totally forgot about this.

Apparently I am not getting emails!?

Anyway, I was going to use pieces of wood on the sides, but then I realized I had this small wire cage that I had already taken apart to use one piece for something else so I used that, I just cut the sides so they are at an angle.

The chicks are doing well, it was wierd that I barely saw them for days. I did loose one chick, the tiniest one, and it was so tiny, I am not surprised. I have 13 in there now.

I found this yesterday...

 

[WVduckchick]

Apparently I am not getting emails!?

Anyway, I was going to use pieces of wood on the sides, but then I realized I had this small wire cage that I had already taken apart to use one piece for something else so I used that, I just cut the sides so they are at an angle.

The chicks are doing well, it was wierd that I barely saw them for days. I did loose one chick, the tiniest one, and it was so tiny, I am not surprised. I have 13 in there now.

I found this yesterday...

omg that pic is so cute!

 

[darkbluespace]

omg that pic is so cute!

He really couldn't understand what my problem was... he wasn't bothering the chicks, BUT he has to jump in and I was pretty sure that could squash some babies that way!

 

[SilksterTN]

Apparently I am not getting emails!?

Anyway, I was going to use pieces of wood on the sides, but then I realized I had this small wire cage that I had already taken apart to use one piece for something else so I used that, I just cut the sides so they are at an angle.

The chicks are doing well, it was wierd that I barely saw them for days. I did loose one chick, the tiniest one, and it was so tiny, I am not surprised. I have 13 in there now.

I found this yesterday...

SMART kitty!!! LOL Not surprised tho. They loooove heating pads.

 

[darkbluespace]

I have some mottled babies hatching right now.. I am pretty sure they are the cutest ever Serama babies!

I didn't even know their mama was laying again when I found her broody on 8 eggs! Her babies were only a few weeks old. I left her four and took the other four. I'll post a photo when they dry. Some of them will be silkied... mottled silkied chicks are freaking adorable.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Surprise babies are the best!

I hatched some mottled silkieds this year too, they are cutie patooties.

I've hatched a ton of chicks in general this year, too many, I went a bit nuts with it. Let's see what pics I have kicking around on the ol' phone...

 

[formerchickenlass]

Oh, and this was super exciting! I shipped eggs for the first time, to a gal up in Washington, and this week she hatched 8 out of 15! I thought that was pretty awesome. This is the pic she sent of the serama babies she hatched <3 :

 

[formerchickenlass]

In other news... gah, am I really taking up 3 posts with my chatter? Then again I guess it's been relatively quiet here so maybe it's ok. Anyway, in other news, I ordered some serama eggs off ebay. I figured since I shipped some eggs, I should also have the experience of hatching shipped eggs.

This has been an interesting adventure. Eggs arrived with air cells that were either invisible or looked like spirit levels or multiple bubbles. They'd been picked up by USPS at seller's house (lol) and then driven to my house as well rather than held for pickup. So they were good and jostled.

I let them set overnight and then started them upright in quail trays, and started hand turning after a couple days, just tilting side to side.

Well, I'm on day 11 now with the eggs. One was a really early death or possibly infertile (I think I did see a bit of a red spot inside the egg the first time I candled). Second was an early death, blood ring. I've got another one that looks like it quit a few days ago (leaving in another day or two just to be sure). And so far the rest are fertile and cooking right along! I started with 9 eggs and have 6 live ones. Most of them look like air cells have stabilized. At least one was still looking wonky when I candled last night.

I say at least one because they all have a strange aspect to them compared to incubating my own eggs. But I'm just completely blown away that you can ship eggs in the heat of summer from Louisiana all the way to Oregon, over two days, allowing them to be bumping around in a hot truck for hours, sitting on a hot porch or mail box before pickup for hours, and then have any that are viable. I'm actually starting to wonder whether some of these might make it to hatch. If they do, I'll come back and post about it!