Hi everyone! Thought I'd start this thread because of the popularity on the March Hatch-a-Long thread. Here's the story: This winter, all of my show birds were killed by a hawk, including my beloved frizzle Cochin bantam, Flo. At the beginning of this January I had 10 birds. By January 8th, I had 4 left - The hawk was so determined that it broke into the covered run and killed 3 in one sweep. We ended up moving the ones left to the coop that I had kept my bantams in to stop anymore losses from the laying flock. Of course, the girls were not happy, so we ended up giving them too a family friend with a huge laiyng flock where we knew they'd be well cared for. That very same week I received a call from my 4-H leader telling me that the bantam chicks from Duane Urch were in and to bring on box to pick them up on Friday. I ended up getting more Cochins to make up for the loss of Flo - of course, not frizzles, but I love them just the same. Rewind to this Christmas, and I got a Brinsea Mini Advance, which is exactly what I wanted. The same person I gave my laying flock to was kind enough to give me some barnyard mix eggs to practice-hatch in my incubator, and I set those February 1. All of them ended up hatching, and I still have them all now.
Well, 4 birds for showing wasn't going to get me very far, so I decided that I needed to order some hatching eggs! My Serama was also killed by the hawk, and I really liked her, so I decided to order some hatching eggs from here on BYC. I bought them, and they arrived in two weeks, packaged extremely well and with a lot of extras. I let them sit for the night while the incubator was warming up. The next morning, February 28, I set 18 - Somehow, I managed to do that with my tiny 'bator. The next week I candled them for the first time, with development in quite a few of them, except for 2 with blood rings and 3 clears. I also accidentally dropped one with veining... Still very upset about that. As it got closer and closer to hatch day, I kept tossing quitters, and continued hand turning. Day 17 - last candle before lockdown. I tossed 5 more quitters, leaving me with 8 with movement for lockdown. #8 egg had always done a little dance in the shell before incubation, so I was really hoping that the lethal gene Serama carry wouldn't take that one. On day 18, I put them into lockdown. Nothing on late day 19, so I got impatinet and did a quick candle - And found an internal pip from (you guessed it) egg #1!! I immeadiately put them back in a woke up the next morning to an external pip from #1. That night I was able to watch #1 completely zip and hatch. I took tons of pictures with my phone, and will post those soon. Anyways, the cooling feature in my incubator wasn't off like I thought it was. I of course turned it off quickly, but the temps didn't go back up until the time for cooling was over. Which meant I had to take the newborn chick out and keep him warm with me for a good few minutes (30+) and during that time I believe that little chick imprinted on him. I named him Stormy.
Now for Raine... Raine externally pipped the morning after Stormy hatched. They chirped back and forth, and Stormy was very happy to have a buddy. Late that night, still nothing from Raine, except some small chips out of the shell. I decided to go to bed and hopefully wake up to a new chick running around with Stormy. That morning, still only a little progress from Raine. Stormy would try and help, and end up dragging Raine in the egg around the 'bator. Raine would try to get out, and push, but nothing would happen. There was some yellow liquid coming out of the egg and by then I figured Raine wasn't going to make it. After posting some pictures for advice on the March hatch thread, they said to go ahead and assist. I read, a re-read, Sally Sunshine's guide to assisted hatching. I moved Stormy to the brooder with a stuffed Persian kitty (he was NOT happy about that). And started assissting Raine. I chipped away at the shelll and found that Raine was in the wrong position, but fully formed and ready to hatch. I continued, and by the end of that night, Raine had just a little bit of work to do to finish hatching. The next morning I woke up to Raine running around the incubator with a bit piece of shell stuck to her rump, but otherwise doing great! That afternoon I removed that last piece of shell and put her with Stormy, who was happy to have a real buddy, not a stuffed cat. Now for lots of pictures!
Stormy's Hatch
This is when he was chilling with me that night the 'bator wasn't working right...
Raine's assist and hatch:
I owe a huge thank you to the people on the March Hatch Thread who helped me through this whole experience... Thank you all so much!
I will be continuing to post updates of Stormy and Raine as they get older. Hope you guys enjoyed their stories.
Well, 4 birds for showing wasn't going to get me very far, so I decided that I needed to order some hatching eggs! My Serama was also killed by the hawk, and I really liked her, so I decided to order some hatching eggs from here on BYC. I bought them, and they arrived in two weeks, packaged extremely well and with a lot of extras. I let them sit for the night while the incubator was warming up. The next morning, February 28, I set 18 - Somehow, I managed to do that with my tiny 'bator. The next week I candled them for the first time, with development in quite a few of them, except for 2 with blood rings and 3 clears. I also accidentally dropped one with veining... Still very upset about that. As it got closer and closer to hatch day, I kept tossing quitters, and continued hand turning. Day 17 - last candle before lockdown. I tossed 5 more quitters, leaving me with 8 with movement for lockdown. #8 egg had always done a little dance in the shell before incubation, so I was really hoping that the lethal gene Serama carry wouldn't take that one. On day 18, I put them into lockdown. Nothing on late day 19, so I got impatinet and did a quick candle - And found an internal pip from (you guessed it) egg #1!! I immeadiately put them back in a woke up the next morning to an external pip from #1. That night I was able to watch #1 completely zip and hatch. I took tons of pictures with my phone, and will post those soon. Anyways, the cooling feature in my incubator wasn't off like I thought it was. I of course turned it off quickly, but the temps didn't go back up until the time for cooling was over. Which meant I had to take the newborn chick out and keep him warm with me for a good few minutes (30+) and during that time I believe that little chick imprinted on him. I named him Stormy.
Now for Raine... Raine externally pipped the morning after Stormy hatched. They chirped back and forth, and Stormy was very happy to have a buddy. Late that night, still nothing from Raine, except some small chips out of the shell. I decided to go to bed and hopefully wake up to a new chick running around with Stormy. That morning, still only a little progress from Raine. Stormy would try and help, and end up dragging Raine in the egg around the 'bator. Raine would try to get out, and push, but nothing would happen. There was some yellow liquid coming out of the egg and by then I figured Raine wasn't going to make it. After posting some pictures for advice on the March hatch thread, they said to go ahead and assist. I read, a re-read, Sally Sunshine's guide to assisted hatching. I moved Stormy to the brooder with a stuffed Persian kitty (he was NOT happy about that). And started assissting Raine. I chipped away at the shelll and found that Raine was in the wrong position, but fully formed and ready to hatch. I continued, and by the end of that night, Raine had just a little bit of work to do to finish hatching. The next morning I woke up to Raine running around the incubator with a bit piece of shell stuck to her rump, but otherwise doing great! That afternoon I removed that last piece of shell and put her with Stormy, who was happy to have a real buddy, not a stuffed cat. Now for lots of pictures!
Stormy's Hatch
This is when he was chilling with me that night the 'bator wasn't working right...
Raine's assist and hatch:
I owe a huge thank you to the people on the March Hatch Thread who helped me through this whole experience... Thank you all so much!
I will be continuing to post updates of Stormy and Raine as they get older. Hope you guys enjoyed their stories.
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That must have been very hard. I'm glad you're starting to rebuild your flock.
