1 of my Sept swap eggs is zipping right now!

[chickenlisa]

I think they are Welsummer eggs, from all the hints I got and guessing I did with gamebirdsonly. I've got 5 eggs here and it s day 22. 1 of them started pipping yesterday. Hopefully more will, I had guinea eggs in there too and have opened the incubator quite a few times to take out the 'ready to go' keets....I hope they are just a day or so behind. They were so hard (practically impossible) to candle! They're soooo dark. I"ll post a pic of the baby if and when its out....
Lisa

 

[AussieSharon]

Fingers and toes crossed for you Lisa. I just adore my Wellies.

 

[chickenlisa]

OH thank you Aussiesharon! do you have pics of yours? I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much...you know- don't count your chickens til they hatch? But when I see pipping and zipping, I just can't help it! I see you're in Va. I want to move there someday so much! I'm so tired of the cold, snowy, (did I say cold?) winters in NJ....ahhh, back to watch the egg!
Lisa

 

[swtangel321]

Hope you get lots of chickies !!!!!!!

 

[AussieSharon]

Sorry they aren't the greatest photos. They were taken about 2 months back.
Virginia is lovely. I've lived here 7 years and have enjoyed it much more than the 10 I spent in Kentucky.

 

[chickenlisa]

Thanks for the pics- they are gorgeous! I had leghorns that looked just like your hen- I had posted pics of them lat year asking if they were Wellies, but was told they were brown leghorns... hope they really were b/c I've sold them already. They had beautiful blue eyes, (edited here to saybut white earlobes; so I think they really were leghorns. I just went back and looked at their pics.
Thanks also for the thumbs up on Va. Maybe you can PM me w/ some details about location, weather, etc for the best animal areas, rural but close enough to towns and shopping,not too far from the Chesapeake, milder weather, etc...(does all that exist in 1 area???) so when we can move someday, we'll have more info...I'm gathering it (info and advice) from wherever I can for now.

 

[chickenlisa]

well it hatched.

it's peeping up a storm, all alone. I changed the batteries in my flashlite and candled the other eggs- I know its a no-no, but with no pips, and the other guinea eggs left in there with no pips, I was starting to get suspicious. Well, 3 of the other wellie eggs were clear, 1 has a chick in it but I didn't see any movement. The 8 guineas were all dead. 3 Silkies were dead too. 1 is alive but not pipping yet. So I think when my 20 guineas pipped and zipped early and I took them out (in 3 different groups- as they hatched over 3 days) I must've hurt and accidentally killed these others. Or they just weren't strong enough and meant to pip and hatch...I opened up the eggs and most of them weren't shrinkwrapped looking. A few were, but most just looked like they stopped with the blood vessels still red and the yolk unabsorbed. Agh

I hate that when it happens. So in Feb or Mar, I'm ordering Wellie and Silkie chicks...not going to fuss with trying to hatch them. I will continue to hatch b/c its addictive. but for the ones I've hurt or lost, I'll just replace them with live and peeping chicks.
Lisa