5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[chicken pickin]

There is no such thing as goat proof fence...lol
I tie my little monsters out on dog chains every day and lock them in 6 ft high chainlink with a tarp roof at night.

So far my goat fence seems goat proof(knock on wood). We built a wood fence first using Oak wood posts and cemented each post a foot under ground then stapled cattle fence to the inside of the wood fence. The fence is 4ft tall and they cant get over they also jump against the fence often and the fence doesn't budge. We put the fence up 7 months ago with no issues...yet.

 

[chicken pickin]

. I got another eggs from my olive egger today!!! Oops that one fell int the incubator also

Love that color! So pretty kinda yellowish green.

 

[Nonyah Biz]

Yay! Congrats!

i added pic to that post

 

[Nicky-the-witch]

I am so jealous of all the lovely candling pics - my eggs are under a broody so I don't get the chance to see what is going on. I wouldn't even dare try to get my hands on one during the night - she does not like being touched at the best of times!! But she does a great job of keeping those eggs & chicks safe.
1st of 3 really hot days today - currently 37C (99F) and it's still only 11:30. I have set up a misting system on top of the coop (under the shade cloth) to provide evaporative cooling - water is wetting roof which is also cooler to the touch - thermometer in coop reads just over 35C (95F) she is still panting but sat on eggs rather than hovering over them. Also have bottles of frozen water near to her nest - as water defrosts have been adding it to her water supply to keep it cool.


The things we do for our chickens! My chicks also have access to a frozen bottle (half defrosted) so they can get near it to cool down in their coop - guinea pig has one too!!

I was thinking of leaving my two 30 day old chicks out in their outside coop tonight rather than bringing them into the laundry - it is due to fall to 25C (77F) overnight.
What do you think?

 

[Aphrael]

By the way if you have some delicate knicknacks that get dusty (like something with feathers or a model sailing ship) put it in a zip lock bag with about 3 tablespoons of salt and carefully shake. I hold on to the object through the plastic so that only the salt is moving around. It works spectacularly. Start with showing him that magic trick and then he may be more receptive to using it on carpet. Besides germs don't like salt. It negatively impacts their reproduction.

Nice tip! I'll have to try that on my fabric sculpture dragons.

yes, but also.....


do fridge eggs take a longer time to begin their growing process? yesterday was day 4 and I had nada in them.....I hope something will start!

if nothing does, we will have a LOW hatch rate......literarily 11 of our eggs are fridge eggs, but the OEs are SO dark I cant see ANYTHING in them so I have no idea!!!!! AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRR!

Well, I candled day 3 and my 2 non-fridge EEs had veins but the fridge one didn't have anything. When I candled two days later it had veins as well. So I think sometimes they may start a little slower. I don't think it would affect their hatch time much if at all though. The fridge eggs I had in my first hatch popped out right about the same time as the others.

Hi everyone...it was suggested I come join the fun here...I have eggs due to hatch Jan. 2nd...my first ever, and set to be a trial run on an old used incubator I bought years ago. Figured I'd screw up somehow, or something would go wrong, so I set 10 of my girls' eggs fertilized by my aggressive rooster...I felt that if none made it, that wouldn't be too bad because "they" say you shouldn't breed aggressive genes. If they do make it, I'll just eat the roos when they get big enough, and keep the pullets for egg laying, never hatching any of those eggs.

I'm on day 5, and although I've had issues with temperature and humidity, 9 of the 10 are growing. I see little kidney beans with black dots for an eyeball on each. I can also see them move...I couldn't believe it...it's like every time there's a heartbeat, it moves. Pretty cool

My flock consists of one 10 1/2 month old Barred Rock cockerel, two 10 1/2 month old Barred Rock pullets, and six 9 1/2 month old Commercial Black pullets (which are hatchery Barred Rock crosses). The eggs could be from any of the girls...I have no idea which pullet lays what egg!

Here's some pics I took today of 7 of the eggs. You can see the kidney bean and eyeball

Hi and welcome to the hatchalong!

It is a lot of fun here! Those are some neat candling pics. I think seeing the babies inside and getting to see them move is one of the coolest things ever.

Okay, now I need some help! I set 38 eggs, sure that I'd get 2-3 chicks per dozen. But I know for sure I have 20 growing, and the rest are blue and dark brown and I can't see anything yet. I can't hatch that many chicks in my incubator - it's too small! Anybody have ideas on making a cheap hatcher or ideas for managing the hatch in a small bator?

Well, a cooler bator like mine is cheap and simple to make. You could try something like that for a hatcher.

. I got another eggs from my olive egger today!!! Oops that one fell int the incubator also

I really love, love, love the color of that egg.

I want some of those in my egg basket!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

So far my goat fence seems goat proof(knock on wood). We built a wood fence first using Oak wood posts and cemented each post a foot under ground then stapled cattle fence to the inside of the wood fence. The fence is 4ft tall and they cant get over they also jump against the fence often and the fence doesn't budge. We put the fence up 7 months ago with no issues...yet.

You are so lucky. One of my two 7 1/2 month old doelings (Boer crossed with who knows what) jumped over a 4 foot fence today for the first time. Now I don't know what I'm going to do...their other enclosure/pasture is 4 ft as well. Maybe I should have gotten pygmies.

 

[davisbrood]

I want to join the Hatch-a-Long. If I had seen the post sooner, I would have set some eggs. But I will live vicariously through all you other hatchers. Goooooo chickies!

 

[Ramblin Rooster]

I want to join the Hatch-a-Long. If I had seen the post sooner, I would have set some eggs. But I will live vicariously through all you other hatchers. Goooooo chickies!

You can do the Easter Hatch!

That's what I'm doing because I got an incubator just after the cut for this.

Also...

 

[chicken pickin]

I am very excited for the Easter Hatch also. I might fill 2 incubators for that one.

Don't forget there is also the Cinco De Mayo turkey hatchathon(all poultry welcome though)

 

[chicken pickin]

I want to join the Hatch-a-Long. If I had seen the post sooner, I would have set some eggs. But I will live vicariously through all you other hatchers. Goooooo chickies!

And

Backyardchickens is a great place!!!