6th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[domesticzoo]

[quot e name="ronott1" url="/t/936421/6th-annual-byc-new-years-day-2015-hatch-a-long/1320#post_14453061"]I have worked out some contests! [COLOR=333333][COLOR=8B4513]Contests:[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=8B4513]1. Best Hatch Rate[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]First Prize: Pita Pinta, Arkansas Blue and\or Partridge Penedesenca Hatching eggs (Courtesy of @ronott1 )[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]Second Prize: BYC 2015 Calendar[/COLOR]

participants will need to be setting a minimum of 6 eggs​

.​

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These can be under broodies or in your incubators. Send @ronott1 a pm letting him know how many you will have cooking. We'll need that info​

by the 3rd of Jan at the latest​

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to be included in the contest. When the hatch is over,​

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you'll take a pic and post it to show us how many​

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you actually hatched.​

T​

he picture must be of sufficient quality to count all the chicks​

.​

​

In the event of a tie, the one who hatches the most chicks wins.​

[COLOR=333333][COLOR=8B4513]2. Best Hatch a Long Participant[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]Prize: BYC Calendar[/COLOR]

Open to hatch a long members except Hatch a long administrators. Send a PM to @ronott1 after the hatch is over with the name and reason for the nomination. Winner will be announced during the first week after the hatch.

[COLOR=333333][COLOR=8B4513]3. Cutest Chick Hatched[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]First Prize: Golden Feather Membership[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]Second Prize: BYC Calendar[/COLOR]

Open to all hatch a long members except Hatch a long Administrators. Post baby pictures in thread and we will vote on them.


[COLOR=333333][COLOR=800000]4. Number of eggs set for Hatch a Long[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=800000]Prize To Be Announced[/COLOR]

Click here and post your guess for the total number of eggs set. Do not go back and edit the number and only enter once. The contest is open from now until Midnight Tuesday the 10th. Winner will be announced by Friday. Open to all BYC Members.
[/quote] Well I joined for the fun! I will have to see how many eggs I can get that are clean and how many my friends will donate.

 

[jbenson]

If anyone in MN is still on the fence about joining and needs eggs, my gals are laying quiet steadily right now and I would be willing to share. They would be "mutts" will a very high probability of the father being a very rare naturally spurless frizzle with a sweet disposition (his father was also a spur less frizzle so I expect his offspring would carry spurless genes). I plan to brood my hatchlings in the basement for the next couple months.

 

[Roan]

My last hatch ( only hatch ) I had 2 that I washed both did fine until hatch day... Only one made it out... But I think that had less to do with washing and more to do with a toddler who opened the bator...

I do wash dirty eggs--Use a weak bleach solution and tepid water. I have used Mana pro egg wash too. It has hatching egg instructions on the bottle.

One person was able to hatch MG free chicks from an MB flock by dipping the eggs in an iodine solution.

The eggs hatched fine!

Do I need to use a bleach or iodine solution or can I just use warm water? I know that using the bleach or iodine will kill bacteria but I'm afraid of getting the ratio wrong and killing the babies. What about peroxide?

 

[FuzzyHens]

Yes they are!

The hen is a Marans x Ameraucana(Olive Egger) and those Olive Eggs are fertilized by a Cream Legbar

Wow! I can't wait to see what hatches from those!!

 

[chickkrakidd]

Anyone care set a few extra eggs for me?? Lol as it turns out, I probly won't be able to do a NYD HAL this year :'( I'm really bummed out about it. I had made a homemade incubator, but when I went to warm it up& test for a couple days, there was not enough heat put off in order to do a hatch. You know that one thing that you think is gonna work and that you really want to work, but it doesn't... that feeling... yeah, I'm feeling that right now. So if anyone would set a few eggs in my name, I'd greatly appreciate it. And try to keep me up to date on what happens when and what to do and NOT to do. Never hatched eggs out before and would greatly appreciate any info that I could use in the future when I am able to incubate some eggs. Also, anyone know/ have a good still air incubator design that I could use to build my own?? Thanks for everything in advance and I love BYC!!!

 

[chickwhispers]

Beautiful eggs chickin pickin!

 

[FuzzyHens]

I do wash dirty eggs--Use a weak bleach solution and tepid water. I have used Mana pro egg wash too. It has hatching egg instructions on the bottle.

One person was able to hatch MG free chicks from an MB flock by dipping the eggs in an iodine solution.

The eggs hatched fine!

MG? MB? What does that stand for?

Be prepared, lots of questions over the next 25+ days.

 

[Aphrael]

You missed it too. lol The second prize for best hatch rate is a 2014 BYC Calendar?

Oh!!!

My eyes skipped right past it!

Some of my eggs are fairly dirty and have a bit of fecal matter on them.

I know I've read that you shouldn't clean hatching eggs since it will remove the bloom but what should I do about these eggs?

One of my hens prefers to lay on the coop floor (we use the deep litter method so if we don't catch her eggs soon enough, they usually end up partly buried so they get pretty dirty. Should I try to hatch those eggs or clean them or leave them as are?

If I should clean them, is there a bloom substitute? I've heard of using mineral oil as a substitute for the bloom but I don't have any. So would vegetable oil or olive oil work?

I wanted to do a test on that very thing. So on my incubator test hatch that just finished right before Thanksgiving, I washed roughly half of the eggs I set. When it was all said and done, I lost a lot fewer of the washed ones than the unwashed ones, and only one of the washed ones was lost as an early death/bloodring (indicating possible bacterial invasion - the big fear about removing the bloom). I washed them in warm water (probably around 100ish degrees) and Dawn antibacterial dish soap. I figure they used Dawn to clean the oil from those poor wild ducks and it's supposed to be safe to use on pets, so it's probably safe to use on hatching eggs.

I think the oils are used on eating eggs only. I would think that oil would clog the pores and not allow air transfer to the embryo.

Anyone care set a few extra eggs for me?? Lol as it turns out, I probly won't be able to do a NYD HAL this year :'( I'm really bummed out about it. I had made a homemade incubator, but when I went to warm it up& test for a couple days, there was not enough heat put off in order to do a hatch. You know that one thing that you think is gonna work and that you really want to work, but it doesn't... that feeling... yeah, I'm feeling that right now. So if anyone would set a few eggs in my name, I'd greatly appreciate it. And try to keep me up to date on what happens when and what to do and NOT to do. Never hatched eggs out before and would greatly appreciate any info that I could use in the future when I am able to incubate some eggs. Also, anyone know/ have a good still air incubator design that I could use to build my own?? Thanks for everything in advance and I love BYC!!!

What do you have as the heat source? If you used a light bulb, you could just try a higher wattage bulb to generate more heat.

 

[domesticzoo]

Getting ready for the hatch-a-long! Bought food for the current chickens and some MP egg wash for the eggs I have collected!

 

[chickkrakidd]

Oh!!!     My eyes skipped right past it!  


I wanted to do a test on that very thing.  So on my incubator test hatch that just finished right before Thanksgiving, I washed roughly half of the eggs I set.  When it was all said and done, I lost a lot fewer of the washed ones than the unwashed ones, and only one of the washed ones was lost as an early death/bloodring (indicating possible bacterial invasion - the big fear about removing the bloom).  I washed them in warm water (probably around 100ish degrees) and Dawn antibacterial dish soap.  I figure they used Dawn to clean the oil from those poor wild ducks and it's supposed to be safe to use on pets, so it's probably safe to use on hatching eggs.     I think the oils are used on eating eggs only.  I would think that oil would clog the pores and not allow air transfer to the embryo.

What do you have as the heat source?  If you used a light bulb, you could just try a higher wattage bulb to generate more heat.

I tried using a 60 watt regular white light bulb, it was not got enough. So I tried a 100 watt red heat bulb. It brought the temp up 10 degrees or so, but not close enough to 99.5 to 102.5 range (which I've heard suggested for still air 'bators bc it does not have a fan to circulate air around the egg.) plus I used a hot glue gun to seal the hole the light socket was secured into and when the bulb heated up to the max, it melted the glue which ran onto the bulb. It was sort of a "hurry made" incubator& not much thought was put into it.