3rd Annual New Year's Day Hatch!!

[superchemicalgirl]

Quote:
I love your chickens' names!!! I also love Pigpen, who I think is SCG's or else ChooksChick's cutie, but I might be wrong. Anyway I hope Pigpen wins cutest chick contest. NEXT year, we must have best name contest!!!!!

I too, love crapsonporch. I am imagining a hilarious moment when that name was born. I have one chicken, named FatOne - she's skinny now but was the largest chick of my bunch. Every time someone would come over to see the chicks they'd go "Wow - look at that fat one" and so it stuck. When we're trying to be nice around other people (you know, pretending we're not crude and have some manners) we pronounce it like she's Italian.

 

[Beautiful_Chickens]

Quote:
OK am I the only one that has ridiculous pictures running through their head at this statement?

Do we need to put "nipple stampede" in the NYD Dictionary!?

 

[yinepu]

I went ahead and culled 4 of mine today.. the little crippled chick wasn't doing any better and looked to be going downhill fast.. 3 others weren't growing at all and so I was keeping them in a smaller brooder.. none would eat so I figured a quick death would be better than starving

 

[9Catsz]

Quote:
Such a sad thing to have to do.

 

[BHep]

Tonight I separated my bantams from LF in the brooder. I have 7 very small chicks out of 40. In just a few days they have started to get trampled and squished. One more brooder to clean.

 

[gryeyes]

And now a sixth chick is out! This one is your standard black chick with white tummy.

Surrounded by the five blondies and a slew of not-hatched eggs.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Quote:
Similar to this? (not to rain on your parade)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/fo...57886_100001337108712_622255_1219526091_n.jpg

That is pretty cute. What is is made of?

That's PlayMobil.

Thanks for all this 'sick chick' info. Jumpy has only gone down hill, got her eye open n some sav-a-chick in her, now to check for pasty butt, separate her and check brooder temp. Thanks guys, don't know what I would d without you all.

 

[debs_flock]

Quote:
YAY!!!

Does this make up for spending 24 hours running to stare at the incubator every 15 minutes? Once I got that first pip, I even got up MANY times during the night to open the vent plug and press my ear to the hole, listening for peeps. It was not a pretty sight in my nightgown since the incubator was down around knee level, LOL. Except for the two chicks that escaped their shell confinement when I ran to the store, I even took MULTIPLE pictures of each chick as it emerged, pip to zip to kicked free.

What did I learn from my very first hatch?

When you put your eggs into the incubator for lockdown, do NOT place any of them directly below the elements in the incubator. Even though they will move and the first out chicks will kick them around.................while they are at the pipped stage, you can NOT see them without trying to peek around all the mechanics. VERY frustrating!

Deb

 

[ChooksChick]

For all:

2 things to always have for the fragile chicks, and to prevent fragile chicks-

1- fine sand and a hunk of soil from the yard. This dish of sand and hunk of soil will somehow make the flora of the chick gut better than when they are hatched. I don't pretend to understand how, but I promise you they work.

2- Exact or Kaytee brand baby parrot formula (from the pet store). Either one sprinkled over their feed will immediately make the feed more palatable as well as stock their gut with probiotics and other nutrients they won't accumulate as quickly without the boost. It's also incredibly yummy concentrated feed that puts chick crumbles to shame, so if you have an ailing chick, the flavor and concentrated vitamins and protein will be far greater for taking a baby back from the brink.

At hatch, these are always in my stock for those babies that are in need in one way or another. The sand and soil make a difference, particularly if there is grass in the hunk of soil. The baby parrot formula is often the last-ditch effort and saves them when nothing else will.

I wish I'd posted this earlier!

 

[debs_flock]

Oh, and one last thing.

Literally, when the last viable egg hatched, I instantly missed the anticipation of a chick in an egg shell womb.

I am going to be on a road trip for a week during the Valentine's hatch. I've already started looking for a converter that would allow me to plug the incubator into the lighter plug in my car...

Is that OCD?

Deb