4/17/12 Hatch buddy anyone?

[my4ladies]

Yeah its sooo cool to see! Well I candled all 11 tonight and 9 of 11 had beating/movement. And the other 2 I'm gonna give another day, but think they are tossers.. And blue eggs are hard to see into I'm finding out lol...

Yeah, the blue eggs are hard to see. And the marans too. The darker the room the better. I've been only able to shine the light through the large end, hold it at an angle, and that just lets me see veins around the edge of the air cell. I think that if it has died, those veins eventually start draining away from the air cell which forms the blood ring....I THINK. (someone correct me if I'm wrong.) So if I don't see the veins, then i get more worried.

Congrats on the 9/11. Not bad!

I was going to candle mine tomorrow but now I have to be out of town all day on business so I sneaked a peek at one today.

Just the most perfect little swimmer. This is my first ever candling and I can't quite believe how excited it made me to see the little guy in there.

I might just have to have a look at the others!!

Oh, yeah. Total excitement!! Yay for perfect swimmer. Let us know how they others look.

I really don't know how people can wait so long to candle, I just can't seem to stop myself! lol It's just so interesting and exciting to watch the development! I am on cloud 9 here this week, because both of my broody Silkies hatched out their chicks this week. They are so cute, and so fun to watch with momma! But I can't wait for my bator chicks to hatch, so I can play with them without getting my hand pecked off! haha

Apple only hatched one of her 3 eggs:



And Cottonball hatched out 3 of her 4:

VERY cute! Love that first pic. I'm with ya....can't control myself with the candling. It's addicting....they need a 12 step program for chicken candler addicts. I candled the first ever egg I hatched DAILY...and it was hatched in a make-shift incubator I cobbed together using a lightbox, which had many temp spikes. I will say though, that I never had to open a lid or anything....I had left a big hole for air exchange and heat escape which I could put my hand through to grab the egg. So each time I candled, the temp or humidity was not effected. I also candled it on day 20 or 21 and saw that it had broken through the membrane and took a video of it trying to pip the egg...you can see it's head actually bobbing back and forth. So cool. This chicky defied the odds (she's in my avatar)...she's also the one incubating 5 eggs right now!! I think I/she was lucky...and I won't be taking chances like that anymore. A bit too risky. Maybe every OTHER day now ; )

Congrats on your chickies, "grandma"!

 

[KnD ranch]

Thanks My4Ladies! And how is all your eggies doin?
My hen "black chicken" just hatched her first chick today too Mygreenkitty... That 1st pic of apple and the chick was exactly how I found my chick....great pics of them, Soooo cute!
Shes not letting me get any good pics at all...or too close at all either..I want to just check on her and make sure the chick gets food, but she ran me right outta there all puffed up lol and not just chased me out, but out and around the garden too haha... Should I just put some chick food in there, I assume its ok for her too? Or any ideas for a super mean mommy lol...

 

[my4ladies]

LOL! Chased you out and around the garden too!!! That's funny...more so when I picture it. My broody silkie is mild...she puffs up and makes her funny noises when I open the door to look at her, but I can reach right under her and she doesn't even so much as peck me.

I would throw some chick food in there anyway. As far as I know it's ok for mama to eat it too. I'd just make sure mama has her food too, but higher so the chicks don't get to it. Anyone else? I'll be having to deal with this soon too. Before, when another broody I had hatched chicks, I had them outside in a small dog kennel. I attached another kennel and put a divider in with a hole small enough for only the babies to go through. Mama actually SQUEEZED herself through the tiny hole to follow her babies, lol. So.....needless to say, I won't be going through that trouble again!!! Ahhh...we live and we learn.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Well, I have been in the hospital for the last two days, so I have not been able to candle my eggs again yet. But yesterday when I came home my broody hen had at least 3 lil fluffy peguin looking babies that hatched. It is funny cause they all came from different hens, but my rooster must have some strong jenes because they all look the same black and white with feathered feet. I will post pics as soon as I can get up and around by my self.
To everyone elts with those adorible babies, CONGRATS to you all. I can't wait for all of our incubating eggs to start hatching.

 

[mygreenkitty]

Well, I have been in the hospital for the last two days, so I have not been able to candle my eggs again yet. But yesterday when I came home my broody hen had at least 3 lil fluffy peguin looking babies that hatched. It is funny cause they all came from different hens, but my rooster must have some strong jenes because they all look the same black and white with feathered feet. I will post pics as soon as I can get up and around by my self.
To everyone elts with those adorible babies, CONGRATS to you all. I can't wait for all of our incubating eggs to start hatching.

Sorry you've been in the hospital! Hope you are feeling better! And hope you get to candle your eggs!

LOL! Chased you out and around the garden too!!! That's funny...more so when I picture it. My broody silkie is mild...she puffs up and makes her funny noises when I open the door to look at her, but I can reach right under her and she doesn't even so much as peck me.

I would throw some chick food in there anyway. As far as I know it's ok for mama to eat it too. I'd just make sure mama has her food too, but higher so the chicks don't get to it. Anyone else? I'll be having to deal with this soon too. Before, when another broody I had hatched chicks, I had them outside in a small dog kennel. I attached another kennel and put a divider in with a hole small enough for only the babies to go through. Mama actually SQUEEZED herself through the tiny hole to follow her babies, lol. So.....needless to say, I won't be going through that trouble again!!! Ahhh...we live and we learn.

I think I read that you should be feeding the chick food, but make sure you have some oyster shell available for when the mommies start laying again? I have the chick feed in there for mine, hope that's ok. My 2 Silkie mommas are too funny, they seem to be raising the 4 chicks all together? They lay side by side, both clucking, and the babies just scoot all over and under the both of them. One big happy family, I guess! They haven't ventured outside yet, but have come out of their open crates into the main coop area. I could sit out there all day just watching them!

Thanks My4Ladies! And how is all your eggies doin?
My hen "black chicken" just hatched her first chick today too Mygreenkitty... That 1st pic of apple and the chick was exactly how I found my chick....great pics of them, Soooo cute!
Shes not letting me get any good pics at all...or too close at all either..I want to just check on her and make sure the chick gets food, but she ran me right outta there all puffed up lol and not just chased me out, but out and around the garden too haha... Should I just put some chick food in there, I assume its ok for her too? Or any ideas for a super mean mommy lol...

Haha I'm picturing you getting chased around, too! Silly hens! But I guess it's good they are doing their job so well, just wish they understood we just want to see and cuddle their cute babies! I have a WILD bantam Cochin setting on some splash Silkie eggs I ordered. Hope they hatch, but I'll probably never get close to those babies either.

 

[KnD ranch]

Hope you are doin well Farmin momma.. Get well soon!

Thanks My4ladies and mygreenkitty.. Well she's doin much better today..only one of the 4 eggs under her hatched, and she is much nicer now that I pulled the other eggs out. within a few minutes she was back to "normal" lol.. well she was at least OK with me in the coop and could hand feed and pet her, just not when chickys around (which I expected) so pheww... Thanks for the idea of putting her food up..
Oh and today she brought the chick out into the garden while I was out (I opened the coop door to see if she would) and she found a roach and the chick came and snagged it from mommy and ran lol... Mommy bird was chasing the chick but the chick prevailed lol... is it OK for it to eat little bugs and stuff already, I mean I'll look it up, but just curious if anyone knows off hand for sure.. and mommy was feeding chick stuff she was finding, so should I keep the chick confined and only on chick food for now.. just worried there might be some old scratch out and I don't want it to get it, but if a litt they find is OK then OK... thanks a lot everyone....I can't wait seeing her with that chick!

 

[Farmin Momma]

Thanks knD Ranch, I am feeling so much better. I still need a bit of help around but no biggy. I love hearing the stories about your broody momma chasing you around and everything! I can really picture it.
I am very bound and detumind to candle all my eggs tonight......We'll see how that goes!

 

[silkiemelon]

Well, I have been in the hospital for the last two days, so I have not been able to candle my eggs again yet. But yesterday when I came home my broody hen had at least 3 lil fluffy peguin looking babies that hatched. It is funny cause they all came from different hens, but my rooster must have some strong jenes because they all look the same black and white with feathered feet. I will post pics as soon as I can get up and around by my self.
To everyone elts with those adorible babies, CONGRATS to you all. I can't wait for all of our incubating eggs to start hatching.

I hope you are starting to feel better Farmin Momma! And congrats on your new chicks! I can't wait to see the pictures

Today is day 9 for me...Only 12 more days to go!

 

[GVChickenMan]

Glad you are feeling better Farmin Momma.

I finally got round to candling the rest of my eggs. Of the 7, 5 are fine (I think) and I had one blood ring and one that just didn't seem to do anything (was very porous which might be the reason). So I am now down to 5 eggs. Fingers crossed for them. I know it's not a brilliant result so far but, as it's my first time, I'm quite upbeat about it and excited to see what happens come hatch time.

Hope everything's good with everyone else!

 

[Farmin Momma]

Here are my baby penguins!


This one on the bottom has a beard and muffs, came out of a blue egg. 3 of the 4 babies have black feathered legs and the other has yellow feathered legs. The others came out of white, dark brown and light brown eggs.
They really made my day when I came home from the hospital. I cried I was so happy.