3rd Annual New Year's Day Hatch!!

[Melissa Rose]

Quote:
Yeahhhhh

Go chickies goooooo

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I just wanted to say... SETTING TODAY?!!! LOCO GUANO!

And...

Pigpen isn't looking much better today:

I have the weirdest looking black chick with a white face... hot2pot is this one of yours??!!

And this chick looks like Gomez Addams (to me at least):

 

[Jeffross1968]

Took the one we helped out of the bator and put it into the brooder, came back, heard another chirp, and found a pip on our only BCM that made it to lock down!

This, just after naming the only one to hatch, and with help....One

 

[Melissa Rose]

Quote:
I've been setting eggs the past few days for a slightly staggered hatch (18 marans and a bunch of mutt eggs).
I have 2 bators going with the new eggs; and another going with my quail for this hatch.

my newest bator arrived pretty much DOA.. luckily they have shipped out a replacement already

I got mine from Amazon and the second unit wouldn't stop heating when it reached it's set temp so I called Amazon and they sent out a replacement with one day delivery

Amazon's customer service is awesome!

 

[pbjmaker]

The Blue Giant finally has a buddy!! He is in there bouncing all around the newest chick to hatch, cheering him on. It is another blue JG. Two Blues to go with my two black pullets!

 

[anderson8505]

I had to unglue two from their shells, the last two.

started with 44 chicken, 13 quail.
Lockdown 29 chicken, 10 quail.
Hatched 20 chicken, 6 quail.
Total 67% hatch.

Time to clean out the 'bator, and restart. AK Michelle, you with me, on the "loco guano" train, as SCG calls it??????

 

[mrheinz77]

I got a NN from a Wellie egg last night.

Melissa Rose, anything yet?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm cleaning the bator right now... hopefully it won't find itself back on my only remaining table in the living room right now... brooders are on the rest. Me and the laptop are on the floor until the table dries, I spilled incubator water onto it

. It was 42 out today

so I'm starting to feel spring fever and CHICKS! We'll be paying for this into May, I do believe. It would be great if it was nice enough to get the ducks outside in say, 2 weeks.

 

[craz e laid e]

Quote:
How long did you wait before you bathed it?

As soon as I could tell she was glued to herself I started getting her bath tub ready. I just sat in front of a movie and soaked her, rubbed her, soaked her, rubbed her. Super glue could learn a thing or two from egg goo! That is some seriously sticky stuff!

Thank you, Michelle, for telling me to do it right away. I took her into a small bathroom I had steamed, with heater set at 90* (the hottest it would go), and gently worked to get the gunk off. She only had one wing, and I considered culling her, but I've seen some amazing "challenged" birds on here, so I continued bathing. After about 15 minutes I realized that her right wing (the one she was missing) was completely glued to her head! No wonder she couldn't get out by herself. I continued soaking, dabbing, rubbing, repeat, and finally got her wing loose, which she is able to move, although I think she may need some physical therapy later

. She is really strong, and COMPLAINED the whole time I worked on her. Blow dried her partially and stuck her back in bator for much deserved rest. Can't decide if I should call her Sticky, Trouble or Rocky!

 

[9Catsz]

Adorable chicks SGC!....and yes that one does have a resemblance to Gomez Adams....or Moe Howard.

Here's my final tally: 13 chicks out of 33 eggs with 6 dead in shell and that's including the two I dropped a mini flashlight on a few days ago and cracked/waxed. Only their air cells were cracked so I was hoping they'd still make it, but they never even pipped. Eggtopsy shows fully formed, but dead, babies. So different from snake eggs. With a snake egg, you can cut an oval "window" out of the top of the egg 5 days before they hatch and they'll still hatch. Apparently chicken eggs are more delicate.

None of my swap eggs hatched. Two were late quitters and 4 were early quitters. Some day I'll learn how to hatch shipped eggs.

Now for a pic of the baker's dozen that hatched.....all silkies and one bantam wyandotte/silkie mix (when I go into the wyandotte enclosure I have one hen who always tries to make a break for it and she finally made it and got out with the silkies....she's in love w/one of my silkie roos and they made a baby). I didn't keep any of the wyandotte eggs for a full week hoping to get them pure again, but apparently a week isn't long enough.

I was overjoyed at getting my first black showgirl, the only showgirl I got this round.....then I noticed its left leg is askew, juts off to the left and upward.

When it's on the ground, its little foot is facing upwards.

I used a dowel rod and a band-aid to splint its leg.

Now it's in a more normal position, but it cannot walk.

Here's the eggtopsy on a dead in shell that pipped a tiny hole and had dried blood that had oozed around it. Apparently what was supposed to be it's first breath was blood. Poor baby.