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

[bugglesmommy]

Just wanted to share my new baby. Going to be growing up with the chicks that hatch

Aw! How sweet! Boy or Girl? What's the pups name?

 

[Kalalyn21]

Quote:
HIs name is Dierks. My almost 3 yr old son tried to name him Buddy but he tends to name everything Buddy so we chose Dierks. He is a 6 week old mini austrailian shepherd. I absolutely love him. Melts my heart, he was my birthday present to myself after losing my dog about 2 months ago.

 

[bugglesmommy]

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Sorry for your loss. He seems like a really sweet fella.

 

[chickengirl1193]

For detached air cells, they need to be in something that holds them mostly upright for the entire incubation so that the air cell is kept pretty much where it should be. An egg carton to hatch in as well is a good idea.

right now they are mostly upright in my turner. I just noticed that they were detached today :/ should i take them out of the turner and do it myself?

Build another coop.
.

well i think ill just be kicking the goats out of part of their shelter. Im just gonna make it predator proof and put a few more windows and a door so i can lock them up. Until then they are going to live in the shed dont tell my dad tho cuz his lawn mower and other things are going to have to move out...

also i asked my feed store to order a bag of grower crumbles (because this was the last chance until a week after new years) I believe it is an 18% or 20% feed. Can i feed this to my chicks as well as my 6 month old pullets? I only have 4 pullets right now and i provide calcium for them free choice and i even have to give them extra protein because the 16% feed isnt enough for them. I just didnt want to buy a 50lb bag of starter and have no chicks hatch so i decided that the grower would be better for my pullets just in case.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Sally, too bad we aren't neighbors, I have 2 very expensive CL pullets. You are right, unless/until someone local has some, it's the only way to get certain breeds, or certain quality. I do have a fellow keeper about an hour away who got some youngsters this past summer from GFF, so hoping she decides she has one extra cockerel, if not at least I know where I can get chicks or eggs

There are a couple of local people that are getting started so by April I should be able to get eggs but that means May for chicks. I was hoping for my CL to be laying by May, not just starting over. Wanting blue eggs is addictive.

I culled my 60 eggs last night, official count is 5 that took. I guess I am out of the running for best hatch rate. O well at least a friend gave me a dozen eggs from his mixed flock and I'll set them tonight.

I asked Santa for a auto door but he told me it was silly and not a "fun" present. He obviously doesn't understand the meaning of fun.

I could never convince DH to get one for our first coop, but when we started building our second coop, I made sure to include the auto door saying it was so much easier to install than making a chicken door from scratch. It somehow worked. Of all of the building tasks a manual chicken door would have been a breeze but still the auto door coming ready made was easier. By the end of the coop building Dh was ready for anything just to be done. Timing is everything.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:

Quote:
My Barred EE lays a pink egg, well it is coated and looks pink until you wash it off, then it's brown

Quote: I know that this is very much debated, but I flat out dump poison down the tunnels. I make sure NONE is within reach of the chickens. You do have to thoroughly search for dead rats so the chickens don't get to them too. I was horribly worried about the rats coming into my house, so I was willing to risk it. I kept filling the tunnels with dirt, and when they stopped clearing out the entrance I knew they were gone. I've had to do this twice in the past 3 years, and no problems so far.

Be careful doing that, I did that and the rat brought it back into my coop and my young turkey ate it and died, poison isn't the way to go, it can back fire on you and kill something you love. I vote for hunting them, wait at dusk they are slow and think they are sneaky, then you put a bb pellet in his eye

 

[ronott1]

right now they are mostly upright in my turner. I just noticed that they were detached today :/ should i take them out of the turner and do it myself?

They need to be turned this week so you should keep them up right in and auto turner or you can leave them in an egg carton and tilt it. An incubator can be tilted too. Some use that method when the stack a bunch of eggs.

 

[Wunjo]

Woohoo

36 of 36. All eggs have veins. I'm excited that I currently have 100% hatch rate but if all do hatch I will be shocked. This is only my 3rd hatch and it seems I always run into problems when it comes to day 21. If this hatch goes all well I will definitely have enough laying hens to supply our egg buying customers again.

 

[chickengirl1193]

They need to be turned this week so you should keep them up right in and auto turner or you can leave them in an egg carton and tilt it. An incubator can be tilted too. Some use that method when the stack a bunch of eggs.

I have them in the turner right now, that should be good enough?

 

[ronott1]

Woohoo

36 of 36. All eggs have veins. I'm excited that I currently have 100% hatch rate but if all do hatch I will be shocked. This is only my 3rd hatch and it seems I always run into problems when it comes to day 21. If this hatch goes all well I will definitely have enough laying hens to supply our egg buying customers again.

Happy hatching wishes!