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

[ronott1]

Spitzhauben appenzeller and black silkie.



Just so tired!!

I love that picture!

 

[Aphrael]

My official count is 8 chicks out of 28 eggs set. I got 5 Lavender Orps and all three of my homegrown eggs hatched. I have noted that the orps are nowhere near as robust and vigorous as the 3 from my own flock. Is this common with orps, or possibly another clue to poor breeder nutrition? I am putting poly-vi-sol in their water and gave a couple sips directly to the droopiest one. They seemed to get a lot more energetic once they started drinking the vitamin water.

I finally got some pics of them. I have mostly been in bed the last few days trying to shake off this stupid cough.

 

[michaelf]

I checked my trail camera and got a bunch of deer and turkey photos . These stood out to me. Figured I would share with all you guys!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote:
You should do the Cinco de Mayo Hatch-A-Long for turkey. It was fun but I did chickens not turkey. It's open to all poultry but it's mostly turkey. I think the idea was that Turkeys hatched for it would be ready for processing for Thanksgiving, if you were planning on processing.

 

[ronott1]

My official count is 8 chicks out of 28 eggs set. I got 5 Lavender Orps and all three of my homegrown eggs hatched. I have noted that the orps are nowhere near as robust and vigorous as the 3 from my own flock. Is this common with orps, or possibly another clue to poor breeder nutrition? I am putting poly-vi-sol in their water and gave a couple sips directly to the droopiest one. They seemed to get a lot more energetic once they started drinking the vitamin water.

I finally got some pics of them. I have mostly been in bed the last few days trying to shake off this stupid cough.

I hope your cold gets better!

Beautiful chicks!

 

[bantambury]

I got them from BYC member mbrobbins. The chicks are gorgeous! I couldn't be happier with them. She has a listing open.

AWESOME! thanks for letting me know! ill check her out so I could see about chicks for Easter!

I thought that crossed beak chicks start out mildly crossed and then with age tend to cross worse. Do not stress too much though, I had a severely cross beaked hen who was just fine. I had a 1/2 Gal. milk jug w/ a hole cut in it that I keep full along with the hanging type feeders. She eat out of both, but I wanedt to be sure she had a nice deep dish incase she was not able to fill up at the hangers. It was sad to watch her try to pic up small treats off the ground however, so I would feed her small treats from my cupped hands. For about every 8 pecks she would have one successful peck. She was great at getting fat fluffy chucks of bread off the ground, and no other bird EVER tried to steal her food! She was a great layer and momma. I did get rid of her because she was quite mean to all new birds which was causing problems for my small flock. That bird never let her beak get in her way. Hopefully she will have a long and happy hen life. I do have a few pics. of her on my homepage, but she looks bad due to her molting, Good luck with your baby!

I JUST RELIZED<>> my silkie's beak is like 100x better! it looks like there was no problem with it! I HOPE IT HAD GONE AWAY! now im just worried if she has a vulted head....there is a little bump, but it may just be bird sculls....some others feel like that too. maybe im just feeling the crown.

Anytime I click there on (ACCIDENT)

I end up browsing for at least a half hr. then I have to talk myself down by reminding myself about that larger henhouse I need first....
I wasn't a part of this Hatch-a-long, but I did follow it. Ron you have turned this into an amazing project I want to join. Time to build my own Bater!
ME! I have not tried hatching before, and I finally have a Roo now in hopes of hatching with a broody. But, just in case, I will be attempting to build my own incubator before the Easter hatch-a-long!!!

AWESOME! I cant wait! I will probably hatch polish, phoenix, d'uclle,
and silkie.......I hope! LOL

Just want to say thank you to Ron for the dedication this project took.

A thank you to all the experience shared. We didn't know anything but you all filled that gap. Other newbies asked questions I had and we all learned. Thank you so much! The documents on setting and hatching are a wonderful tool!

We are planning our next hatch, to set on the 18th. HOPEFULLY.

Here are some things I learned from this hatch that I can implement to make the next one better.

#1. Have a way to put in water without opening the bator.
#2. Don't candle by removing the egg, or don't candle until day 17, that's a thought!
#3. Get rubbery shelf liner for the bottom of the bator, that metal grate looks hard on new babies.
#4. If an early bird hatches a full day in advance, try to remove it before any other eggs pip.
#5. If possible, only hatch one kind of bird and maybe they'll all hatch the same day and avoid the early bird problem. (It's worth a try)
#6. Never leave a baby with a bloody umbilicus in the bator w/o separating it.
#7. Get medical grade thermometers, the froggy one is fun for photos as it disturbs people to see a waving frog, but it's not as accurate.
#8. Get sponges for lockdown.
#9. The dirty egg never developed, maybe don't bother setting dirty eggs.
#10. Other people (On BYC) know everything so don't be afraid to ask.

Thanks everybody!

for #1, if you have vent holes in your bator, you can take a medicine syringe and drop water in. my bator had holes in the areas where theyre are no water troughs. to me it didn't matter duting lockdown whether it leaked out, so I just put it in. having water is more important.....than leaking, cuz you can just put more in!

I thought you said you didn't have any more room.

Welcome to the obsession.

Multiple coops is the way to go IMO. I was somewhat forced to. Anything here over 100 sq. ft. needs a building permit. So I have a bunch of small buildings but is great for breeding, quarantining, broody apartments, grow out pens, bachelor pads, etc.

kill me now....someone! LOL I have no room! hahahahaha maybe we could move soon and get a bit more land! then I could order chicks from all my fellow BYCrs! LOL

the ifferent pens sound like excellent plans! I may use one coop for males and one for females in the summer. PROBLEM: will my roosters fight even if they have grown up together? I want to choose who they breed with....not let them choose for me! LOL

here is the coop I would put the roos in. its a bit bigger than my hen coop.

Well, I broke down and bought me some chicks. LOL Meyer is only in Ohio and had a pretty good price on a feather legged assortment.

I am just so worried about introducing something that will kill Hawke.

I also found out something that REALLY bothered me (when she gave me directions to come get the chick)..... the lady that offered me a sizzle chick was involved in a ASPCA animal case 2 years ago. Her farm was cleared out of over 200 goats and other animals that had been mistreated. She is a hoarder, when I found out that it was the same farm I just didn't want to take chances. *sigh* My luck just sucks lately. AM I just being to picky?

I think you took the right move! I don't think they will kill Hawke, as long as you monitor them for a bit good luck!

Just finished posting some pics of my babies in the photo contest thread, but wanted to post some here too for those of you who aren't following that thread. I am also including updated feather pictures...and if the feather sexing works for my chicks (two different sized rows being girls, same size being boys), then ALL my babies are GIRLS!!! That's only if the speed of the growth is not a factor, because some chicks had feathers that grew slower than chicks born afterwards. Let me know what your guesses are for the feathers! The red lines are the top row, green lines are the bottom row

First to hatch, claimed by my youngest son:




2nd baby born shortly after her sister...they are almost twins when it comes to head spots:




Hubby claimed this girl because I had written the number 2 on the egg, and #2 was his baseball number and favorite Nascar driver's number. She is the only girl with so much yellow...all over her face, chest, shanks, butt, and tips of her wings:




Chick born 4th who has the fastest growing feathers:




Chick born with curled toes and feet...but I fixed them! Here feathers are still small:




And finally, we have "Miracle"...the one I had to help. She is now with her sisters in the brooder, and doing well!

Reminder photo:


Now:




Her feathers, AMAZINGLY, are already coming in!!:





Those are my babies!!!

@MontanaDolphin could I pm you and maybe you could help me out with telling apart those lines you marked o the wing pictures? I cant tell the gender of ANY of my chicks! im stuck! if you could help me, thst would be totally AWESOME!

I did not currently join this hatch-a-long because I was not intending on hatching eggs. My duck hen was hatching some. but in the morning of hatch day she had pips and for some reason stepped on the eggs and crushed them. I rescued 2 eggs and put them in the bator I candled them one they warmed back up. One was infertile and this little duckling hatched in the afternoon of New years day. I think that it is a little girl an Indian runner.

my last hatch in june we had our broody step on a pipped egg and crushed it inward......it eventually hatched, and only had a crooked toe....we decided not to fix it. about 1/2 months ago he got taken by a hawk. very sad for all of us. Very beautiful!




good luck with your ducks! I want ducks so badly!

Thanks....My boy is a Brabanter cross...with what I don't know. He is my love...Seriously, I would trade my whole flock to keep this one boy. He is so sweet, the perfect size for the girls, BEAUTIFUL, curious, and did I mention sweet?? I am trying to duplicate him as closely as I can, and have only had 1 come close, but instead of hearts on the chest he ended up with teardrops. He is my other roo. So, I want a brabanter hen to breed with him, for myself, not to sell or anything. I just want to continue...him...he has so many wonderful qualities. I will certainly let you know when I find a source!!

THIS ROO IS TO DIE FOR! HIS FEATHERS! Truly Beautiful! lucky to have him!

My official count is 8 chicks out of 28 eggs set. I got 5 Lavender Orps and all three of my homegrown eggs hatched. I have noted that the orps are nowhere near as robust and vigorous as the 3 from my own flock. Is this common with orps, or possibly another clue to poor breeder nutrition? I am putting poly-vi-sol in their water and gave a couple sips directly to the droopiest one. They seemed to get a lot more energetic once they started drinking the vitamin water.

I finally got some pics of them. I have mostly been in bed the last few days trying to shake off this stupid cough.

I love that silver looking chick! relly stands out! such glossy feathers! I love the yellow and silver chick the most though! VERY cute!

I checked my trail camera and got a bunch of deer and turkey photos . These stood out to me. Figured I would share with all you guys!

So neat! one of my relatives in PA adopted an abandoned baby turkey she found in her backyard....named turkey. very beautiful bird! he is about 3 now.

 

[CackleJoy]

Thanks....My boy is a Brabanter cross...with what I don't know. He is my love...Seriously, I would trade my whole flock to keep this one boy. He is so sweet, the perfect size for the girls, BEAUTIFUL, curious, and did I mention sweet?? I am trying to duplicate him as closely as I can, and have only had 1 come close, but instead of hearts on the chest he ended up with teardrops. He is my other roo. So, I want a brabanter hen to breed with him, for myself, not to sell or anything. I just want to continue...him...he has so many wonderful qualities. I will certainly let you know when I find a source!!

Yours is much lighter than ours. We are told ours is a cream but perhaps we were told wrong. You did say yours is a cross? I have to admit I love the way ours treats all the girls. He's Soo funny!




The gold below is a reflection from the setting sun, he is more cream colored like the above picture. As you can see he has heart shaped spangles too.

 

[Aphrael]

Thanks.

The babies are making me laugh. They have just discovered that their brooder has 2 whole other levels they didn't know about. Now they are zipping up the ramp and then hopping off the edge flapping their little stubs.

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote:
Yes, he's a cross...I would prefer to have a Silver Spangled hen, but I'm not holding out much hope for that because I haven't found so much as a mention of those eggs for sale anywhere online, past or present ( they may not even be in the states for all I know). So, I figure I'll still get a good result from the Cream. Your boy is beautiful, and the real deal!

 

[bantambury]

Thanks.

The babies are making me laugh. They have just discovered that their brooder has 2 whole other levels they didn't know about. Now they are zipping up the ramp and then hopping off the edge flapping their little stubs.

My chicks are so called 'flying'


"I believe I can fly I believe I can touch the sky"
no. they cannot. but they think they can. we will talk soon.