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

[ronott1]

Here are a couple of Silkie chick pics from this weekend's hatch - from the birds I bought from SilkieSensation.





The one in the middle in the first pic was last to hatch by maybe 12 hours after the first to hatch to the right of it, and the size difference is perceptible. Amazing. They'll get a day or two in the brooder in the house and then go out to the brooder in the coop.

Very nice chicks!

 

[Whoops]

Quote:
Nope. It's a biiiiiiiggggggg tote. I wanted room for the brinsea brooder, and the feeder and waterer, and the chickies to move around without anybody getting trapped in any corners. No way I could have carried that thing with most of a 50lb bag of sand. Besides, how would my neighbors keep themselves entertained?

 

[rochelle1021]

I'm a new hatchet and a little worried, my Cochin bantam eggs are day 21.5 today... but no sign of pips yet it rocking..., should I candle? temps had been fluctuating 97-99. humidity 60-72% since lockdown on day 18... should I be candling?

 

[ronott1]

I'm a new hatchet and a little worried, my Cochin bantam eggs are day 21.5 today... but no sign of pips yet it rocking..., should I candle? temps had been fluctuating 97-99. humidity 60-72% since lockdown on day 18... should I be candling?

Do you here chirping noises?

You can candle quickly if you do not see pips. It may be time to add some water too.

I hope some hatch!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Some days I feel the same way. The neighbors probably get a good laugh. LOL It is great that you thought about your chicks and chemicals, but man that must have been alot of trips.

My experiance with the cat is when you shut a door that isn't normallyshut, or all of a sudden they aren't allowed in a room they use to be allowed into they become obsessed. LOL

I gotta tell you, I am thankful I now live in the middle of the woods where no neighbors can see me! Love love LOVE our new home!

Last year at this time, I was in a house that sat on the corner of two cul-de-sacs. I could literally spit and hit a neighbor on my left, and a neighbor on my right. Talk about no privacy! I was pretty much the laughing stock of the neighborhood (not that I cared), because of my strange hobbies. One of them was having pet praying mantids. I raised one every year, from hatchling to death. When a mantis is in the early stages, they are tiny. I had to catch their food, which was no easy task...fruit flies, or any bug that size, was all they could eat at those stages. So, my neighbors got a good view of me walking across the back yard, net in hand, swinging it from side to side, trying to catch mini bugs LOL.

I also brain tan deer hides. That was another site no one ever got used to...me standing at my fleshing beam, deer hide dripping as I scrape and scrape. Then stretching it, putting it on a frame, and smoking it over a pit I dug in the ground, with blue jeans sewn together as the enclosure.

Now I can do whatever I want and not be the laughing stock of the neighborhood!!

Just for fun, this was my first, and favorite, praying mantis I ever raised. Her name was Alice. When she died (in my hand), I made her a little coffin out of an empty checkbook box, decorated it, and put it in the freezer. Kept her their for five years. When we moved in here to our first home, I buried her.

Don't laugh, I'm sure all of us have some strange hobbies that do not seem normal to most.

 

[rochelle1021]

Do you here chirping noises?

You can candle quickly if you do not see pips. It may be time to add some water too.

I hope some hatch!

sorry no chirping noises so that worries me too

 

[rochelle1021]

sorry no chirping noises so that worries me too

thanks for your quick response..

 

[SilkieSensation]

Lockdown day 2 for me. I stood in front of the incubator and chirped then listened and no answers yet. My mom taught me this trick. When the babies are internally pipped they will answer back.

He he - something else for me to obsessively do these eternal lockdown days! The cat seems very obsessed with the guest bedroom where the incubator is. She is hanging out by the door and even slept by the door. I thought it was a good sign, but then realized, she's a cat. It's verbotten. Of course she's obsessed. Really hope I get some chickies. I found a nice big tote yesterday at Lowes (yay, managed to avoid the Evil Empire) set it up in the house and loaded it with sand. The bag of sand had been in the back of my pickup truck and the bag tore. I didn't want to use a bucket, because I use those for cleaning and I didn't want to get cleaning chemicals in the sand for the new chicks. All I found was a relatively small glass casserole dish. So, last night, I was trundling back and forth with a casserole dish, filling it with sand and carrying it inside. Some days, I wish I were one of my neighbors. It must be very entertaining speculating on what on earth I am doing. C'mon chickies!

Be careful with sand in the brooder. Check baby toes often. The sand will make poop cake & dry to their feet in big clumps & make their feet very sore & infected.

Here are a couple of Silkie chick pics from this weekend's hatch - from the birds I bought from SilkieSensation. The one in the middle in the first pic was last to hatch by maybe 12 hours after the first to hatch to the right of it, and the size difference is perceptible. Amazing. They'll get a day or two in the brooder in the house and then go out to the brooder in the coop.

I'm so glad Blue & his girls found a good home with you. I love seeing their babies! Showed my dd these pix & she's all excited to see Blue's babies too...lol

 

[Pozees]

sorry no chirping noises so that worries me too

I guess I'd probably candle to see whether there is movement. Have handy a spray bottle of clean, warmed water, try not to move the eggs, just hold the candler to the fat end in a dark room (if possible) and see if they are still moving. Some will hatch late, especially if there have been dips in temps during incubation, so all is not lost, and if that is a possibility you can just leave them alone until tomorrow.

 

[coopsbyty]

Here is a picture of some of the eggs I started on 12/10 for the hatch along. I started with 12 in the incubator, 5 are now nearly to hatching. I also have 3 under a broody silkie outside. The lighter eggs are Spitzhauben Appenzellers I bought and had shipped it took them a week to get here (on a priority 2 day package and the looked bad but I put them in the bator anyway) so I have my fingers toes and everything else crossed that they will hatch by Tuesday.




Happy New Year and Happy hatching everyone!!!