Thanksgiving Hatchalong

[Flockmama87]

I had mine upright for 3 days. No turning first 24 in bator, then I tilted for 2 days and then put them on their sides. I think you have a good plan to keep them upright in the cartons through hatch. You'll be able to tell if they pip into the air cell and hopefully the hatchlings won't knock the other eggs over! How far away did your eggs ship from? Mine traveled over 650 miles so if a get a few to hatch I'll be happy. I live within driving distance to Meyer Hatchery where I got my layer flock The shipped eggs are more toward show quality (or so I hope) for my breeding stock so I am stuck with shipped eggs for that type.
Sorry if I missed it in an earlier post, what breed(s) are you hatching?

Mine didn't ship from too far...not sure on mileage but I live in Missouri and they came from Arkansas lol didn't have any broken, they packed them well. I'm hatching silkies, with a possible frizzle in there....I really wanted silkies for their broodiness...that way I wouldn't have to mess with the incubator too much besides my quail. I still have to hatch those little guys but the silkies can do the chicken work lol plus I think a broody would put me in my place and keep my hands off those eggs lol

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Mine didn't ship from too far...not sure on mileage but I live in Missouri and they came from Arkansas lol didn't have any broken, they packed them well. I'm hatching silkies, with a possible frizzle in there....I really wanted silkies for their broodiness...that way I wouldn't have to mess with the incubator too much besides my quail. I still have to hatch those little guys but the silkies can do the chicken work lol plus I think a broody would put me in my place and keep my hands off those eggs lol

Lol yes broodies make it a lot easier not to hover over the eggs! Silkies are so cute, hopefully you get some good mamas from this hatch!

 

[rt farms]

Yes, yes,yes! I'm the crazy chicken lady up at 0330 listening to the peeps from within the eggs! I have internal pip..baby's not far away! Day 20!!!

 

[ameliadanielle]

Having a broody definitely kept me from touching the eggs much at all. They were candled once when we had to move her so I could remove clear and fresh eggs and I tried to pick eggs at about the same development. So hard to candle brown eggs and I've never done it before. I'm obviously very bad at it. Lol. So it's good that I don't touch them. We had one hatch late Tuesday night or very early Wednesday morning. Another Wednesday night. Two Thursday. One Friday. The last Saturday night. My only problem now is leaving her alone checking for chicks. Every morning and every night we've been picking her up and counting chicks. She's not happy about it but she's not pecking us either. We have two buff babies, they're silkie/standard laying hens crossed. Our silkie rooster is buff colored and we have two buff orpingtons. A buff orpington is my broody mom. So I'm crossing my fingers that the two buff chicks will be silkie/orpington hens. They would make such good mamas.

 

[ttakas]

What do you do at 3:30 am when you wake up and can't go back to sleep? I candled a few eggs and tried to take some pictures. Looking good for day 6.

 

[ttakas]

Yes, yes,yes! I'm the crazy chicken lady up at 0330 listening to the peeps from within the eggs! I have internal pip..baby's not far away! Day 20!!!

At least I wasn't the only one up at 3:30 this morning

 

[Laurel Meadows]

What do you do at 3:30 am when you wake up and can't go back to sleep? I candled a few eggs and tried to take some pictures. Looking good for day 6.

Those are really clear pics! I'd like to get some of mine but I'm worried about dropping an egg in the process! I use a small flashlight so I'd have to balance the egg and flashlight in one hand and take a pic with the other. Is that what you did?

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Yes, yes,yes! I'm the crazy chicken lady up at 0330 listening to the peeps from within the eggs! I have internal pip..baby's not far away! Day 20!!!

Go babies, go!!!

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Having a broody definitely kept me from touching the eggs much at all. They were candled once when we had to move her so I could remove clear and fresh eggs and I tried to pick eggs at about the same development. So hard to candle brown eggs and I've never done it before. I'm obviously very bad at it. Lol. So it's good that I don't touch them. We had one hatch late Tuesday night or very early Wednesday morning. Another Wednesday night. Two Thursday. One Friday. The last Saturday night. My only problem now is leaving her alone checking for chicks. Every morning and every night we've been picking her up and counting chicks. She's not happy about it but she's not pecking us either. We have two buff babies, they're silkie/standard laying hens crossed. Our silkie rooster is buff colored and we have two buff orpingtons. A buff orpington is my broody mom. So I'm crossing my fingers that the two buff chicks will be silkie/orpington hens. They would make such good mamas.

It's good that she's still sitting on the eggs after several days of hatching. Hopefully she will not try to leave the eggs as she starts taking care of the chicks. Not sure what your setup is, or how much room they all have, but hopefully they have access to chick starter and water so momma can show them how to get what they need while she's on the nest. Good luck with the rest of your hatch! Those buff babies are adorable

 

[ameliadanielle]

It's good that she's still sitting on the eggs after several days of hatching. Hopefully she will not try to leave the eggs as she starts taking care of the chicks. Not sure what your setup is, or how much room they all have, but hopefully they have access to chick starter and water so momma can show them how to get what they need while she's on the nest. Good luck with the rest of your hatch! Those buff babies are adorable

They are in the garage right now. Lol. She has taught them how to eat and drink. Sometimes she lets them go out to eat without her and she just watches from the nest. I thought yesterday she was maybe off the nest too often to hatch out anymore, but we got that one last night. The food and water is about 1 foot from her nest. She doesn't stay off of the eggs for more than 5 minutes, she's just getting up more frequently than she did before any of her chicks hatched. I do think pretty soon she is going to want to lead them out into the yard and leave the unhatched eggs behind. Maybe we will get a couple more days as it's going to be rainy here until Tuesday and she has thought about taking them into the yard but called them back to the nest instead. I'm ok if no more eggs hatch as these were totally not planned. It would be nice if the of them would just hurry up before she gives up on sitting on them.