I have 3 chicks hatched Easter morning 5 am and Easter night 7 pm, and one the day before. All seem to have splay leg. I have them in a separate brooder, give electrolyte drops, they are rubber banded with straw as spacer, and doing physical therapy in tiny jam jars 8 times a day. Also added...
I had two heavy squashes on top of the brooder to keep the cat out. When I opened it one rolled in and broke a chicks neck. In front of my 8&5 year olds. It was AWFUL. I haven't been this upset in a long time. Her neck was broken. She was buried in the back yard, my son named her "sweet little...
One of our chicks hatched this am around 530, and I've left it in the incubator until about an hour ago. I noticed it was flopping over and having a hard time walking so I think splay/spraddle leg. Another one born last night also has it. I tried the rubber band and straw trick and put shelf...
First time hatching in an incubator. I know opening it up before they all hatch is a no-no but I'm a first timer and I'm finding it hard to believe that all 18 eggs I put in there will hatch. I did candle them throughout incubation and not a single one looked bad on lockdown day (which I'm also...
Today is day 21, I had 3 hatch...first one hatched at 4 am, the other two within the last 2-4 hours. Tomorrow morning is it ok to take some out quickly and lock back down? I have 18 in there. I'm just thinking if I have a few that are going to take 22-23 days I'd like to take the older ones out...
This is the THIRD power outage this week. Ugh!!!! One sweet little fluffy butt hatched around 4 am. I've moved the incubator (as carefully as I could but a lot of water ran out as I walked) to my 4runners power outlet within 20 mins of power going out. The other two times we lost power this week...
18 eggs in lockdown, hatch day tomorrow but the only green egg has a pip!!! Rest are from my Americauna eggs (all blue). I'm so excited!!! I'm wondering how long now...I keep checking it. Humidity is at 72% does that sound right? I find so many different suggestions on humidity for the last 2...
My brother was going to pick up 4 eggs for my incubator and bring them to me Friday (welsh harlequin) ...he's coming from 4 hours away. The sellers other runner duck just got into the pen with his welsh harlequin duck this morning so he now has only one purebred egg for me (collected yest). The...
I have 18 eggs in my bator. Today is day 8 and one of the eggs is well veined but the air cell is 50% of the egg, the long way. It's really dark on the veined side and we weren't sure we saw movement or not (my 8 year old is convinced he did). Is that one a quitter? Aside from the awesome...
I supplement with sea kelp and ground flax but miss the dark orange yolks that the missing greens provide. Until rains, and green lands return, are there any supplemental things I can add to the girls feed to darken the yolk? I have 30 birds, so buying dark greens isn't reasonable. I've thought...
This 9 week old has me puzzled, pullet or roo? It's an EE (EE roo x EE hen) I will first post a photo of him/her ... This is the 9 week old
Now this is my 18 mo old hen who looks JUST like him/her:
(next photo of hen in comments)....
Chicken math has done me in! I LOVE watching my broody hens hatch eggs. I think I want to invest in an incubator and start hatching and selling eggs. The whole process is so exciting and fun. A hobby (outside being a baby nurse and mom of 4 -- this is right up my alley!) Do folks actually make...
Rooster is an EE, the hens eggs he fertilized and hatched are EE (green/blue egg layers), BSL, RIR and Barnevelders. I'm assuming the EE eggs he fertilized will be blue/green but what about the mix of the others? Thanks :)
I have a hen that hatched one chick Sunday, the other Tuesday night and it's almost Friday and she still wants to brood. I'm having to bring the babies food and water, she won't take them out. My other mamas did a great job and left the barn to free range and visit feeders/waterers by two days...
This egg appeared in a clutch that my hen was sitting in and I marked it as "stolen"...and not sure when it's truly due to hatch. I think it's anywhere from 16-18 days old. It doesn't stink...the hen hatched the other two she had (Sun/Tue), this was the last one so I candled it...what do you...
I have two broody hens sitting on eggs in the barn. Four are supposed to hatch Monday, another 8 in two weeks. It's going to be 108, 106, 104....and as far out as forecasted, 102 is the lowest temp for the next 7 days. I have a big high velocity fan going in the barn that circulates air nicely...
We are in the 90s here, I have 3 broody hens sitting...and other hens that occasionally raid their clutch and lay an egg. And of course the other hens laying in the near boxes normally. We will be 108 by the weekend. I try to get the eggs twice a day when I'm home. The eggs that were laid the...
Its going to be 106-108 starting midweek and through the weekend. One hen sitting on 5 eggs in our insulated/ventilated barn seems to be ok. I asked hubby to go to the barn and see if any hens snuck eggs into her box while we were gone -- he didn't know that did NOT mean forcing her out so he...
Few things, warning...newbie at this hatching thing
1. Hen is sitting on 6 eggs, 11 days today. I candled for the first time (because of my crazy busy schedule). Couldn't see anything, and one stunk like sulphur. I tossed it. Is that what you'd have done? I had an egg break/disappear all but...