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

[cree57i]

N

 Oh, trying to ID the chicks which hatch is going to be great good fun, I think between the 3 flocks there are about 20 different breeds!

&

I HAVE A PIP -- No not the NYD HAL batch, the I couldn't wait & had the new bator hot for duck eggs I didn't get batch!
so this pip is about 24 hrs ahead of schedule (I set midnight dec3, when I found out about no duck eggs & was staring at 96+ eggs getting old)

Funny thing cree57i, this pip is not from your flock or mine, it is from the other eggs, a light brown, rather pinkish, med-large egg wins for 1st pip.
I was sitting here between the snoring dogs making a seed wish list when I heard that distinctive little chirp from the next room.

So I have NOT added ANY water! But we have been in pea soup fog AND raining for over 24hrs...this is a new one on me, should I add water or hold tight??!!
I'm leaning toward hold tight b/c we have standing water around the house & we are on a mountainside, it is THAT wet/humid. I'm thinking just the eggs themselves will add enough inside the bator as if it needs any. (I did pull out the 1 plug I had in when I saw the pip, so both vents are open now).

Hurray!!! That is very eggciting!

 

[michaelf]

If anyone has never seen this it is awesome! I thought I would share .

 

[Kaylish]

Merry Christmas Eve everyone. I'm off to a short day of work and then home to bake, wrap and candle if I can be good.

I might just candle first...

 

[draye]

Merry Christmas Eve everyone. I'm off to a short day of work and then home to bake, wrap and candle if I can be good. I might just candle first...

I'm in the process of making fudge right now.

 

[jbenson]

Well short days in winter mean lots more candling hours in the evening. I took the top off to reposition the hygro yesterday and of course, had to check on the babies. One early quitter. I thought for sure the egg nearest the turner motor would not make it (there are rumors the added heat is bad for it which is why they sell the turner with that spot blocked - but I took that off and put an egg in anyways). That one was fine, but I moved it to another spot that opened up from the early quitter. 37 eggies moving right along. There was a lot of movement in there last night - got me all excited and then got me remembering my brooder isn't set up yet. Good thing I have a few days off here around Christmas to get that set.

I've started advertising the chicks more this past week, and in a few more places than just CL, hitting a couple local forums I am a part of. So far, I have 6 people on my customer list for chicks. I might actually sell this first batch right away, which would be great because I will be reloading with a full set right away. DH has become the biggest enabler on this, which surprised me a bit. Last year he was not thrilled about how many eggs I set or how many chicks I hatched. I still can't believe he's encouraging me to have a second 'bator (probably won't have one for this hatching season though, we are finding we have too much to do to make one and we don't have it in the budget to buy one). But every time I talk about the eggies, he says "you need to set some more now." He's all worried that I'll miss the 4H crowd this year again. We had a chat about how quick chickens are and how many rounds of eggs I can set to hatch before March 1 and I think he realized it's a lot of eggs (I did the math and if I count this first set, I will have set 148 eggs with a hatch date before or near March 1!

I didn't sell many more chicks all season last year than that!) That's gonna be a lot of chick selling and a lot of fluffy butts in the basement for the next few months.

 

[chicken pickin]

Merry Christmas Eve everyone. I'm off to a short day of work and then home to bake, wrap and candle if I can be good.

I might just candle first...

Merry Christmas Eve to you also! And to all of our fellow hatchers!

We are getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve Party. By far my favorite day of the year, Family, friends, food, hilarious yankee swap, good times.

 

[chicken pickin]

I'm in the process of making fudge right now.

Yum!

We are about to start making some chili.

Oh and Grinch kabobs lol they are so cute. Im looking for the link so I can share with you all.

edited to add link - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grinch-kabobs/

 

[Roan]

If anyone has never seen this it is awesome! I thought I would share .

I love Pentatonix!!! And have loved their version of that song since I'd first heard it!!! Thanks for posting the link!

 

[hockeydad6791]

Mmm Christmas goodies!! The DW is hard at it also. I don't think she slept last night. When I asked her if she did she said for a few minutes,but her side of the bed wasn't even messed with. I snuck a peek when I turned my eggs this morning and of the 8 left 5 are doing well and not sure about the other 3. There is a mass in them but I can't see movement or veining.

 

[Roan]

Mmm Christmas goodies!! The DW is hard at it also. I don't think she slept last night. When I asked her if she did she said for a few minutes,but her side of the bed wasn't even messed with. I snuck a peek when I turned my eggs this morning and of the 8 left 5 are doing well and not sure about the other 3. There is a mass in them but I can't see movement or veining.

LOL we try not to go overboard with all the cooking for Christmas. we usually have turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and a lemon meringue pie and a chocolate pie. (Basically because I am the designated holiday chef and what I say we have, we have...well, in my mind at least.) LOL

Holy Wow! I just realized that it's week 2 for me! Candling tonight!!!! I think I will do it at 12:00 am on Christmas morn' so I can find out if I've been naughty or nice this year.