4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[gamebirdsonly]

Horray! I candled last night and 10 out of 11 eggs are clearly growing! WOW. Who would expect that much fertility out of grocery store eggs?! Not me, that's for sure.

 

[Razadia]

I wish it would stop raining. I need to move my birds around. The chicks from my last hatch need to go into the rabbit cage and Tally and her roo need to be moved out to the cage next to the game pen.

So much to do and it's too wet to do anything. I want to get a few picks of my two Underwood chicks I hatch from eggs I got from Jim. They're cute little things.

In other news, we aren't the only ones the cat killers have hit. The same day we lost Goliath, our neighbor found six of their cats dead in their yard. They were killed the same way all three of the cats we've lost this year were. Now we need to move the trap out of my other neighbor's field, check to make sure it's still in good shape, and put it and Red in the front yard to catch the dogs.(The cat killers.) They're someone's pets, but I'm (not) sorry to say they are going to either lose their dogs to the pound or gun. It just depends on who gets to them first. The neighbor who's cats were killed will shoot on sight with a high powered rifle if he gets the chance. We might end up doing the same thing if we have to. I will not lose another cat because of human stupidity.

 

[JulieNKC]

No birds outside today. Besides the snow, it is windy and they are all hunkered down in the coop for the day. I cooked up the spoiled brats some rice and peas and made little balls (my toddlers thought it was fun and kept them busy too, yay) and stuck them all over the coop to give them something warm to eat and something to do besides lay there and pout about the weather. I'm so glad I had my npip testing tuesday when it was in the 50's and sunny instead of today, or yesterday during the rain.
I started to candle yesterday, and pulled 3 clears. There was a thunderstorm going on, and the power started to flicker so I stopped and closed up the incubator just in case. Luckily it stayed on though.

 

[RavenWood]

I was too frustrated to try last night... but here's a vid of my candling.

I posted a video of my chick moving too (this is my first hatch, so it was quite exciting), but apparently no one saw it

Hmmm worth a shot! Do roosters normally lose their fertility at a certain age? My head roo is getting up there...

My rooster is almost 6 yrs. He was injured right before I needed him to do his job so I didn't know if he'd be up to the task, and he wasn't ... but it appears I did get 2 viable fertilized eggs from him. Hopefully we can get them to hatch.

 

[ronott1]

Horray! I candled last night and 10 out of 11 eggs are clearly growing! WOW. Who would expect that much fertility out of grocery store eggs?! Not me, that's for sure.

We have a Whole Foods now, so I am very interested in this!

What brand were they?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

No birds outside today. Besides the snow, it is windy and they are all hunkered down in the coop for the day. I cooked up the spoiled brats some rice and peas and made little balls (my toddlers thought it was fun and kept them busy too, yay) and stuck them all over the coop to give them something warm to eat and something to do besides lay there and pout about the weather. I'm so glad I had my npip testing tuesday when it was in the 50's and sunny instead of today, or yesterday during the rain.
I started to candle yesterday, and pulled 3 clears. There was a thunderstorm going on, and the power started to flicker so I stopped and closed up the incubator just in case. Luckily it stayed on though.

Love your coop! Do you have any pictures of your coop without this snow and such? I would love to see the inside...and of course your chickadees too!

~ Aspen

 

[Jessiey]

I posted a video of my chick moving too (this is my first hatch, so it was quite exciting), but apparently no one saw it

I saw it! I have read through all of the thread... just can't reply to everything, and I'm sure that's how everyone is feeling. This is my first hatch too! How many eggs did you set? how many do you still have? We ca be first time hatch buddies. ^.^

 

[RavenWood]

I saw it! I have read through all of the thread... just can't reply to everything, and I'm sure that's how everyone is feeling. This is my first hatch too! How many eggs did you set? how many do you still have? We ca be first time hatch buddies. ^.^

Thanks Jessiey! I set 36 eggs - 12 were my own, but my rooster is almost 6 and had been injured so I didn't think we'd get much from him and I was right - only 2. I also got 12 from a lady in town, but she wasn't sure her rooster was mature enough and I had roughly 2 fertilized in that bunch. I also have 10 Maran eggs and 1 RIR of which 6 or 7 appear to have life in 'em so ... all in all, not a raving success for my first hatch attempt, but I'll be happy if some make it to the end. Having a few issues with humidity up here in cold northern BC Canada!

How about you? What did you set?

 

[JulieNKC]

Love your coop! Do you have any pictures of your coop without this snow and such? I would love to see the inside...and of course your chickadees too!

~ Aspen
It's just an old carport/tent thing frame in front of our old garden shed/now coop.

I wrapped it in welded wire and tarped it. I wrap the sides in tarps or plastic for the winter of the open part so they have a bigger covered area in weather like now. Half of the pen is the mandarins pen, and I'll be adding an outside covered run to their section this spring. The crib on the right was made into a little house for the calls/mandarins. Except for the mandarins, the rest are only locked in there for nighttime and usually have the whole yard to go poop in. They prefer the front doorstep, of course.

Here it is not covered for winter, and some of my babies.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I wish we had snow keeps saying its gonna but all we get is some rain and ice , cold weather and dreary clouds , Ill trade someone with snow even if its like 4 feet