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

[carcar80]

After a quick candle this morning, I noticed that some of my chicks are not as far along as others so I decided to put heat them in the microwave for 5 seconds to speed up the process...Not a good idea. 

Oh dear! I noticed the same with mine.. Thanks for the heads up!!

*removes eggs from microwave*

 

[Roan]

LOL

 

[Dish chickens]

Amberjem...sent you the funny.
I'm really starting to love my blue orps. Very friendly, gentle and so pretty.

That is what I'm hatching, I have 22 very active eggs from Blue on Blue pens. I got the blues last year and LOVE them, They are very big but very personable. I plan on doing two or three hatches this year of just BBS. All I have is blue and black right now but hoping for a few splash on this hatch. I like my buff Brahama's but they are slowly getting thinned out to make room for the orpingtons.

 

[Dish chickens]

They were from my flock :-( I think my rooster (aka Rocky) is not doing his job. I have seen him tend my new layers as well as the rest of his hens. He is 5 years old I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. Last year I did 3 hatches from my flock to supply my neighbor and a friend with chicks and all but 1 or 2 of the eggs were fertile. I bought 6 Buff Orpingtons in the early spring so he has 15 hens to tend. I tried to bring a new roo into the mix but Rocky won't allow another male to be in the flock. I think it's time to send him to freezer camp. Looks like shipped eggs for the Easter HAL is gonna be my best bet.

when I have this problem I grab scissors and go out and trim the roo's back side feathers and the hens that are in the breeding pen with him. I have Brahamas and Orpingtons and the Orpingtons seem to be the ones I'm always trimming. They are so fluffy, the roo is tending them but not hitting the mark because there is too many feathers to get around. Right or wrong it is what works for me. I went out and trimmed some of my hens yesterday because I had 10 clear eggs in this hatch and all were from the same breeding pen and I know the roo was trimmed.

I didn't trim the hens, I thought they were okay because they were younger not as full. I was WRONG

 

[Dish chickens]

We are at the half way mark ........

Ron could you explain what you do when you set your eggs for lock down? I know you posted it a while back but I didn't fully understand how you marked the x on the air cell. I may be able to retain it if I read it a second time...lol

 

[chicken pickin]

I candled my broody eggs this morn. She is on 5 eggs, 2 are definitely no good the other 3 look like they are developing ok. Its hard to tell outside in the morn because of the light but I try to do when she is off the nest so I don't disturb her. She moves her eggs around the coop floor from corner to corner so much I think she accidentally scrambles them sometimes. She is a Silkie but hasn't gotten the memo yet on how her breed is supposed to be superior at brooding

.

 

[hennible]

For a 5 year old rooster I think that is way too many hens. He'd need some Viagra for (rooster booster) chickens and I still think that way too many. I have ran 12-13 hens for 1-2 year old roosters.

 

[StarMeKritten]

I candled my broody's eggs friday night (day 8) but I couldn't really tell if any were developing or not. I'll try again tonight with a better flashlight. I sure hope she has a few that are developing. I knew that these eggs might not be fertile. While she has free ranged with the rest of my flock, my large fowl roosters just completely ignore my little bantam hens and my silkie roo seems to think that he's an australorp. I've never seen him acknowledge the bantams either. He's usually too busy bossing around my wyandotte rooster. She does like to hang out with the guys from my bachelor pen and I have seen one of the young guys (olive egger) mount her. I just don't know if he was able to fertilize her eggs or not. I would kinda like to see what a silkie/cochin/ameraucana/ welsummer looks like though.

I guess if none are fertile, I might give her a couple eggs from my large fowl to sit on instead. She is a very determined broody and won't give up until she has chicks.

 

[ronott1]

We are at the half way mark ........

Ron could you explain what you do when you set your eggs for lock down? I know you posted it a while back but I didn't fully understand how you marked the x on the air cell. I may be able to retain it if I read it a second time...lol

I cut down egg cartons from the top, fill the water channels and get humidity up to 65%. If the humidity is too low I will and a glass storage dish with a clean kitchen sponge.

I usually wait until day 19. I candle the eggs and look for the side with the biggest part of the air cell and tilt the eggs in the carton so that it is up. The chick usually pips in the middle top third of the air cell. Mark that spot with an X to see how close the chick got to that spot.

I hope this makes sense!

 

[chickkrakidd]

Here it is, the link to the 2015 Valentine's Day Hatch-A-Long. Just go to the link below and reply that you want to join the V-Day HAL.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/942598/valentines-day-1st-annual-hatch-along/0_80#post_14501215 @DragonClaw01 @misfitmorgan and myself, @chickkrakidd will be over the Valentine's Day HAL. So go join!!