4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[cluck-cluck]

For those who had eggs shipped, I saw a somewhat disturbing video on the morning news a couple days ago.
It was a story about the busiest mail delivery day of the year filmed at the mail sorting facility in Hazelwood, MO. All the scanning and sorting was done on automated equipment and the package movement was smooth on belts but at several points all the packages tumbled to a lower conveyor belt.
As I watched I was trying to imagine what was happening inside the eggs in all those packages.

Yah, it's amazing that any eggs arrive in one pc.

I know several people have asked about this and I just got the news this morning.

This was posted on
NYD Hatch-along Contest #1: Total Number of Eggs Set

last night at 8:28 pm. And yessssss I am super eggsited.


WOW I can not believe that I guessed that close. I tried 2 years ago and missed by over 2K.

I was so eggsited this morning when I found out I had won a contest.

This is so awesome.

and yes I am jumping up and down with joy.

I hope everyone has a

, I know I will now.

Thank you everyone involved in running the NYD hatch along. You ALL deserve a BIG

I'm still jealous!

Congratulations again

Good Morning everyone. Do me a favor and don't talk too loudly, our end of the world party went a little TOO well last night.

I just had a shot of Grand Marnier (sp?) this evening and I'm such a lightweight, I actually passed out!

Wow. I'm almost ready to give up on raising ducks. After losing a hennie to prolapse, then one to starvation, I hatch out three eggs... One was weak, though it recovered the strength in its legs, but now it's failing again, lethargic. I also have one that's blind. So, one duckling is healthy and strong, two are probably not going to make it.

Losing Hennie like that must have been awful

but don't give up on ducks! you're so lucky you can have them!

WE HAVE PEEEEEEEEEEPS!!

Last night around midnight I was blessed to witness a chick hatch for the first time! We call him/her Shellbert (although we don't know which one that one is now) because he/she had a little shell on his/her head like a hat. When I went to bed there were lots of other eggies peeping and pipped. I woke up this morning to find more chickies!!




MORE BABIES!!

That's really cute! Congratulations!

The Muppet Christmas Carol "Joy To The World" Video

That was really cute, I was thinking about the muppets for some reason this evening, and there you were posting......

If the eggs I pulled from the incubator aren't rotten, can they be used? Cooked up for the chickens or dogs perhaps?

I fed mine to my dog........?

a couple more pictures of the eastern wild turkey I saw this morning.

Cool pictures!

oh and here are some chickie dees who are growing out

swedish flower chicks and 4 EE made from lavender AM roo over white leghorn hens (made splash chicks)

Oh my, they're so cute! I love the colors!

Here's a cute baby picture! We just got these 4, and it cracked me up that one went under the warmer and the others were looking like "Where are you going??"

That picture is really adorable, you should post it in with the cutest picture contest!

Well I just candled and everyone seems to have made it! Thanks everyone!

Awesome!

I think we freak out too much over these eggs! (I'm talking about myself as well, LOL)

I can't stop myself, I'm candling each night. Only 4 eggs, so really, it's not that much of a disruption. Anyway, they're still wiggling in there, so I still have 4 going strong! Yaay!

 

[SleepyOwl]

I was good and didn't candle yesterday. I checked today, because I figured it was time to toss the clear ones. 3 out of my 5 silkie eggs left had died!

I left one in there, because I still see like two veins, but I am sure it is gone also. I will check again tomorrow.
So now, out of 23 eggs, I am down to 5. One of those I am sure is dead.

So hopefully my four leftover make it. *sigh* I won't candle them again until lockdown, I'll just check the one.

So the eggs I have left are 2 silkies (both moving, so very much alive), and two mixed eggs. One is a Marans egg and one is an Ameraucana egg. Even though they are dark, I can see some veining. Or a shadow of what might be veins in the marans egg.

I popped open all the rest. They were all clear except the two silkie eggs. One of them looked like it died a few days ago. The other was a bit bigger, but definitely dead.

I don't think it is me. Temp has stayed steady, besides going down a few degrees when I open it to candle. It goes back up fairly quickly. Humidity has pretty much been between 30-45% for the last week. I just add a touch of water every day to keep it even. (I was having issues the first few days, but I don't think humidity is super important those first few days, is it?)

 

[FeyRaine]

Temp flux driving my out of my mind since candling yesterday <bouncing bouncing bouncing>, plus outdoor temps/house heat swings not helping, argh.

1st pan of water also apparently too small to up humidity to target.

So, just now,

opened bator,
put in trial water pan #2 (w/ hot water of course)
pulled the 5 questionable eggs & re-candled

One of them Egg M )maaayyybeee had a darkish smudge of movement sorta...

The others, humm

2 - and not coincidently I think, the 2 really large eggs I sure was hoping would hatch lg pullets, look pretty clear-ish, one maybe kinda has a lighter area at the top, if I squint.

2 others, about the middle 25-30% of the egg is a darker band - ? wide blood ring, or development - impossible to tell due to darkness of egg shells...

I sniffed them all , like nose on egg sniff sniff, not even the faintest hint of off smell

SO ALL 5 back in bator, just in case , while at this point I really do not think they are growing (even the other dark ones were really easy to see yesterday) but as long as they don't smell I'm gonna leave them in and hope the eggshells are just really thicker than the others (esp. those 2 jumbo sized ones which I think are BCM over Orp!! would be nice...)

& after 3 continuous days of non-stop wind of 30mph gusting to 70+ or so (not kidding we are on mtn TOP gust to 60 are normal here) we have a few tree limbs down but no damage,
and I stood still outside for awhile in the freezing temp. just to enjoy that the air was almost still < ah, how peaceful>

Hope everyone is cozy and your eggs are growing well.
& congratulations to AJ on guessing the # eggs set !!! very cool that you won

FeyRaine

 

[farmerChef]

37/74 left, most are shipped eggs, so I think thats not too bad.
8/8 pekin duck *shipped
0/4 mixed duck, my birds
6/7 EE/OE/Marans *shipped
4/8 BBS Orps *shipped
4/6 sizzle/silkie *shipped
5/11 Mystery swap eggs *shipped
1/8 bantam EE/OE and serama *shipped
0/8 silkie and ameraucana *shipped
0/3 silkie cochin project, my birds
2/3 black sexlinks, my birds
1/1 BBS JG, my birds
5/6 EEs, my birds




And.........
The EE Double Yolker!!!!!!! I can see lots of veining!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Well I just candled and everyone seems to have made it! Thanks everyone!

YAYAYYA!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

These are the raised pens we use, each has a 3 sided shelter space and an in floor pool (cement mixing pan). When the ducklings are young we add a ramp for them to get out and can remove it as they get older.




use to use them for call ducks, but they are for ducklings now.

how cute!!! are call ducks really that tiny??? heck I can have them!!!! hmmmm scratching chinny chin chin!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

HATCH UPDATE:

I have 4 Basque and 4 TJ chicks going strong. The one Basque and one TJ egg left in the incubator were dead. The TJ eggs appears to have drowned as it pipped into the membrane and never made it to the aircell. I pulled away lots of shell looking for it's face and when I found it, the chicky was not moving and it was definitely dead. No movement, breathing, peeping, and if you have seen death you know what it looks like. And I do.

The Basque egg was actually underdeveloped. Looks like a 2 week old chick but definitely dead. Did an eggtopsy and little thing was so small but feathered

I don't think there is anything I could have done for either of them. It makes me sad but I am a move on kind of person. So I am glad I learned some things today and I am not discouraged!! I am actually gearing up for the next set of eggs! NYD will be fun when those guys hatch and I have some lav Ameraucanas, BBS Marans, and Russion Orloffs on the way!


A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVRYONE FOR WALKING ME THROUGH THIS!! AND A BIG FAT THANK YOU WITH LOVES AND KISSES FOR SALLY SUNSHINE FOR ALL THE INFO! THAT WAS AN AMAZING HELP!

Great WORK!! I am wondering... you dont have "cold spots" in the bator do you???

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Temp flux driving my out of my mind since candling yesterday <bouncing bouncing bouncing>, plus outdoor temps/house heat swings not helping, argh.

1st pan of water also apparently too small to up humidity to target.

So, just now,

opened bator,
put in trial water pan #2 (w/ hot water of course)
pulled the 5 questionable eggs & re-candled

One of them Egg M )maaayyybeee had a darkish smudge of movement sorta...

The others, humm

2 - and not coincidently I think, the 2 really large eggs I sure was hoping would hatch lg pullets, look pretty clear-ish, one maybe kinda has a lighter area at the top, if I squint.

2 others, about the middle 25-30% of the egg is a darker band - ? wide blood ring, or development - impossible to tell due to darkness of egg shells...

I sniffed them all , like nose on egg sniff sniff, not even the faintest hint of off smell

SO ALL 5 back in bator, just in case , while at this point I really do not think they are growing (even the other dark ones were really easy to see yesterday) but as long as they don't smell I'm gonna leave them in and hope the eggshells are just really thicker than the others (esp. those 2 jumbo sized ones which I think are BCM over Orp!! would be nice...)

& after 3 continuous days of non-stop wind of 30mph gusting to 70+ or so (not kidding we are on mtn TOP gust to 60 are normal here) we have a few tree limbs down but no damage,
and I stood still outside for awhile in the freezing temp. just to enjoy that the air was almost still < ah, how peaceful>

Hope everyone is cozy and your eggs are growing well.
& congratulations to AJ on guessing the # eggs set !!! very cool that you won

FeyRaine

 

[gamebirdsonly]

These are the raised pens we use, each has a 3 sided shelter space and an in floor pool (cement mixing pan). When the ducklings are young we add a ramp for them to get out and can remove it as they get older.

use to use them for call ducks, but they are for ducklings now.

I like those pens

 

[TMNfarm]

I haven't been checking here much today... My youngest DS had a BBgame this morning, then I spent the rest of the day spending some QT with the kids... Star Wars Monopoly (I won

), Jenga.. The out to the barn to do chores a bit early, now gonna snuggle down for a movie and some popcorn!!

On a side note, I decided to give each of my family members a dozen eggs for a family Christmas present, but my girls decided to slow way down on their laying... I'm freaking out cuz, I'm not going to have enough for everyone, but today they all decided to give me an egg (except Prim, but she has an excuse!!)! If they give me 11 more between now and Monday moring, I'll have enough!!! Go ladies!!! Lay those eggs!!!