Setting eggs tomorrow night, 3/29/12, anyone want to hatch with us?

[aukuma]

​

Three of my silkie babies....(not a two headed silkie

)

 

[B J Hopkins]

​

Three of my silkie babies....(not a two headed silkie

)

Glad you explained!! Sure does look like a 2 headed chickie!! Good picture.

 

[B J Hopkins]

Tonight I moved 3 six wk old Cochins out of the Brooder. My Momma Cochin who has the 1 Silky baby was looking all over the shed for the missing older babies! I set a 3 wk old Silver Laced Wyandotte on her back (which promptly burrowed into her feathers to hide) and that calmed her down. I just can't get over what a good Momma she is to all those incubator babies that were not hatched by her.

 

[Cats Cradle]

Here's my update!

Bantams - I have 20!!! (out of 28) I am amazed how good a hatch I had from those eggs!!! Everything that pipped hatched.

Reds - 7 of 14 hatched. I had one more that pipped, was zipping, got rolled and didn't make it.

I honestly expected better from those eggs.

The incubator is still running, but no more pips. I'm leaving it alone for the night , but I think everything is done.



I have a few interesting observations:

1. I think I'm going to do more carton hatching. I really liked how those eggs didn't get rolled. I also experimented with little rings of paper towel roll. Those held the eggs steady fairly well with only bantam chicks, but when the big chicks started hatching they didn't stop the eggs from rolling.

2. Two eggs got rolled fairly hard and seemed to suffer from it. The last bantam to hatch was rapidly zipping when it was rolled. ( I know I was watching... what else would one do at 3 am?) After that I watched it's little beak trying to do more, but it was in an already open part and couldn't seem to reach the right spot. (I think the roll shifted the chick slightly.) I let it go about 8 hours. Finally I gave just a little help with that last bit of shell that needed to crack and it pushed itself out. The other chick died within a couple hours of being rolled and I'm not sure why. I was still "giving it time" so I hadn't done anything yet. I know others say the rolling doesn't hurt, but this is the second hatch where I've seen chicks suddenly stop progressing after a good roll.

3. My genetic mix may be more interesting than I thought. 6 of the 7 chicks that hatched from my big eggs (production reds) looked just as I expected, a dark buff color. The other one is a dark, dark reddish brown. Interestingly some of my bantam mutts are the same color! My chickens all free range, but the bantams seem to stick together as one flock and the reds have several little groups of their own. I've never obsevered them mixing, but those chicks make me think I have some crosses between the two groups. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow! I have quite a rainbow!!!


All in all I'm happy with the hatch and I've learned a lot too!

 

[chickenmommy1]

Here's my update!

Bantams - I have 20!!! (out of 28) I am amazed how good a hatch I had from those eggs!!! Everything that pipped hatched.

Reds - 7 of 14 hatched. I had one more that pipped, was zipping, got rolled and didn't make it.

I honestly expected better from those eggs.

The incubator is still running, but no more pips. I'm leaving it alone for the night , but I think everything is done.



I have a few interesting observations:

1. I think I'm going to do more carton hatching. I really liked how those eggs didn't get rolled. I also experimented with little rings of paper towel roll. Those held the eggs steady fairly well with only bantam chicks, but when the big chicks started hatching they didn't stop the eggs from rolling.

2. Two eggs got rolled fairly hard and seemed to suffer from it. The last bantam to hatch was rapidly zipping when it was rolled. ( I know I was watching... what else would one do at 3 am?) After that I watched it's little beak trying to do more, but it was in an already open part and couldn't seem to reach the right spot. (I think the roll shifted the chick slightly.) I let it go about 8 hours. Finally I gave just a little help with that last bit of shell that needed to crack and it pushed itself out. The other chick died within a couple hours of being rolled and I'm not sure why. I was still "giving it time" so I hadn't done anything yet. I know others say the rolling doesn't hurt, but this is the second hatch where I've seen chicks suddenly stop progressing after a good roll.

3. My genetic mix may be more interesting than I thought. 6 of the 7 chicks that hatched from my big eggs (production reds) looked just as I expected, a dark buff color. The other one is a dark, dark reddish brown. Interestingly some of my bantam mutts are the same color! My chickens all free range, but the bantams seem to stick together as one flock and the reds have several little groups of their own. I've never obsevered them mixing, but those chicks make me think I have some crosses between the two groups. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow! I have quite a rainbow!!!


All in all I'm happy with the hatch and I've learned a lot too!

YAY !!!!!!!

 

[chickenmommy1]

I was also goin to say That is a load of babies and can't wait to see pics

 

[Cats Cradle]

Here are the promised pics!!!

These 9 bantams all look basically alike.


Here are two more similar to eack other and one that is a one of a kind!


Then 7 more dark red coloerd ones.


And the last to hatch!!! We had a little d'Uccle that was my daughters favorite, but lost her to a fox. So we are super happy to have this little chick of hers!!! (She was the only feather footed chicken we had, so I know this one is hers!)


More to follow...

 

[Cats Cradle]

These were all out of large eggs that came from my production reds. Looks to me like a game of "which of these things doesn't belong here..."


See what I mean? Here the dark one is with two of the bantam chicks. They really look a lot alike!


Here is the last little bantam with one of the reds... big and little!


Finally, the whole rainbow!!!


OK, that's it... hope you all enjoyed!

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Oh my gosh, that little bantam next to the big red is so stinkin' cute!
Here's one my of new hatchlings, a BLRW:

 

[aukuma]

Oh my gosh, that little bantam next to the big red is so stinkin' cute!
Here's one my of new hatchlings, a BLRW:

Love this pic!!