4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[Poultry Couture]

So far I've got 11 copper marans, 1 mallard, 1 Polish x Barred Rock, 4 courtinix quail and 1 polish x Brown leghorn!

I'm confused because the polish x Brown leghorn has muffs...?

 

[Brechin]

Just reprogrammed my mincrocontroller to set new parameters for lock down. I have changed it to a timer that can be set from 1-21 days based on the 24 hour system, so now you flip a switch to set the timer. It will start counting down to 21 days and will still monitor and control the conditions inside the incubator per your set parameters (99.5 F and 55% humidity) and on day 19 will change the parameters to lock down mode (98.5 F and 65% humidity). This should help a lot with keeping things in prime condition for hatching. I have also set the alerts to be sent as normal for day 1-18 and to send more alerts if parameters begin to change (high or low) through lock down. I will have to take it apart and rewire it to add the switch but so far I think my next hatch will fair better. Also, I think I am going to go back to the red basking bulb I had instead of the purple night time heat bulb I switch it out for. The red basking bulb is much hotter and so concentrates the heat onto the water tray and creates much better humidity than the purple night heat bulb.

If you have not already seen or read about my invention please visit the "Most Ingenious Chicken Product Design" contest page HERE and check it out. It is the first submission on the thread and includes pictures and a link to the real time graphing system. There a a lot of great designs there that people personally worked hard to come up with and implement. But I would appreciate your vote! I worked very hard on my invention and hope to make it available to BYC members to help make hatching less stressful in the future. Hope everyone is having a great hatch and a fabulous new year!

 

[RavenWood]

Better late than never! Happy New Year everyone!

 

[FeyRaine]

Better late than never! Happy New Year everyone!

Great pic : )
& better late than never is so true for lots of us -- since we have live chicks this am & my first natural pip we are having our black eyed peas & pork today.
Hope everyone has good thing happen in 2013!

 

[RavenWood]

okay the chick that pipped yesterday at 7 p.m. is hacking out good now the chick that pit yesterday at 2 p.m. is not moving

Patience grasshopper. Patience.

my first chick ever Yayyyyyy.

chick number 2 yay 12 more to go.

There - patience paid off! But didn't you say in one of your posts that they weren't due to hatch until Friday? When you consider that chicks take (on average) 21 days to hatch, and you compare those 21 days to that of a 40 week human pregnancy .... taking away 1 day of development for a chick (roughly 2 weeks for human delivery) can be a pretty big thing.

UPDATE - sorry if this isn't well typed, only 2 hrs sleep

Checked at about midnight
Egg B had launched itself out of the half shell but had a bad hernia and was still very attached w/ visable 2 veins w/ red blood & some obvious blood in the membrane in the shell. I knew better than to mess w/ it and just let it be, I keep watch...

Around 1-2 am
Having "hatched" Chick B finally had the stregth to start trying to hold its head up and try to stand, all the thrashing and peeping got
Egg W excited and W got its head , neck & 1 wing out of the membrane but was then completely exhausted, I had to move its upper body back onto wet towel a couple times b/c it was sticking to the burlap which I figured would not help matters at all.

By 4 am
Chick B was walking somewhat (slightly curled toes) still draging an attached shell etc. it got hobbled by this cord & when I unwrapped it the cord went from pink/white back to fresh red blood! not good but it was still a closed system w/ the membrane & didn't keep filling so I let it be for a few min. then I pressed it direct pressure w/out breaking it, I pushed it as close to the eggshell as poss. and held it long enough that the part under my finger tip when clear then I left it still just in case so it couldn't leak out.

At this point Egg W became Chick W by launching itself out of the membrane & off the half shell. No hernia and the cord was clear and broke away quickly but the chick was completely exhausted and I was not very optimistic for it.

4:30 I had to get a couple hrs sleep

8:30 Chick B & Chick W still alive (HURRAY)
B still was trailing the eggshell but the cord was shriveled so I pressed it for a moment then cut it - zero blood : )
W was actually able to sit up and walk now, excellent progress : )

Both are dry but not fluffly - their down looks like stringy hair plastered to them, I guess I will have to wash them, but I'm not going to stress them that way any time soon, they aren't sticking to other things or each other so it isn't a problem.

Egg L -- I tapped and for awhile I heard nothing, was about to give up on it when I heard a flutter, a tapp and a peep <-- note a TAP none of the 3 I helped ever Tapped they could not reach the eggshell w/ their beaks! L can tap, so I think it may be able to pip on its own, I'm hoping so. The first peep from it was at 9pm last night, 12.5 hrs ago now, but it is MaranxMaran dark egg, and I'm just going give it another several hrs before I consider doing a pip for it. I would REALLY like a natural hatch to happen if at all possible!

So about the chicks : )
Chick B --
BlueCM over ? Orp likely or poss. Ameraucana based on egg shell color
Feathers looked black wet, but dry they are 90% a rich SILVER grey so BLUE woohoo there are a few blonde strands on the wing tips and chin, and poss. a few black so maybe actually SPLASH ? Skin is pink.
Also, these eggs were the exact same size, but B is HUGE almost twice as long head to butt, and feet 2x the size of W

Chick W (The Love-child egg)
Mutt parents on both sides
Appears all black , feet have pink toes, skin is pink

Also DH is convinced they are both male, based on Great-grandpa's day 1 sexing method that has something to do w/ if they have a tiny comb looking area, which vanishes in a day or so but eventually returns as a real roo comb, apparently judging this is all relative and based on decades of looking. While pullets of course would be best, LIVE is all I really care about at this time.

I'll try to get some pics. later today...

Yay! Small miracles!

 

[RavenWood]

I am so proud of these little guys ^.^

This is my not so little assisted hatcher drinking water.

Beautiful!

 

[Jessiey]

here's a pic of them all fuzzied out. the silver was the first to hatch, then the gold, the the lower left silkie, then the upper right one.

 

[Selah]

This is a beautiful picture! how did you get that blue color (besides your chicks coloring, lol)

Thank you...this pic was actually taken by my daughter with her cell phone It really turned out pretty artsy, and may have been influenced by the metallic light hood. Our red light bulb had just broken, so there was a regular 40 watt bulb in there at that time until I could replace it.

 

[RavenWood]

They look like they're looking for some attention

After I eat my breakfast I'm going to let everybody out and check on the eggs. I have a feeling I'll be helping quite a few chicks out this morning.

~ Aspen

Yes, they are! They all come running to the front of the brooder when they see/hear me! They think I'm their momma! LOL At least that's what hubby says

Hope you won't need to help too many!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

So far I've got 11 copper marans, 1 mallard, 1 Polish x Barred Rock, 4 courtinix quail and 1 polish x Brown leghorn!
I'm confused because the polish x Brown leghorn has muffs...?

Ive got an older chick thats a polish x white leghorn from neighbors eggs... it looks like a leghorn with a top hat poof lol