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

[bantambury]

my chicks are feathering well! my black turned out to be frizzle! couldn't be happier! the yellow is feathering in with brown and orange like her partridge mom...but being a yellow chick im worried she will turn all white after her first molt....although all her feathers are coming in the came colors

 

[gevshiba]

Here are some pics from today

Nikola decided he wanted his picture taken too haha

One of these things isn't like the others. Glad you didn't post the cat at the very end, or I might have drawn conclusions. Very nice pictures. As a matter of fact, there's been a lot of really nice pictures. It makes me cringe to post my next picture, but...

 

[gevshiba]

I was going to cull the wry neck chick Tuesday, after work. That morning, when I went to check on him before I left, he was gone from his box. He's been with the other chicks for 2 days now. Anyone want to guess which one he is? Sorry about the messy brooder picture. They are little piggies with the food.

 

[jbenson]

Well two looked like there were not as big inside the egg as the rest..i could see more light thru the liquid part of the egg then the other, the others were just all dark for the most part but all the aircells look to be the same size relatively. The one that hatched looked all fine and normal on day 19 and then on day 21 the aircell was huge and the egg felt really light.

I have found that any who appear behind developmentally (during candling they don't seem to fill up the egg as much as ones set on the same day) don't usually hatch. Usually they are early quitters or they might attempt to pip, but due to too much fluid they are unsuccessful and they drown. I had a few this last hatch like that. I think my main thermometer is a little off and I will be replacing it.

 

[jbenson]

Questions often come up about the likelihood of pullets vis a vis cockerels in a hatch so I thought I'd share something.
Yesterday,my son was riding with me after he dropped his car off for repairs.
We were talking about selling some chickens. He asked if chickens are hatched with a 50/50 chance of being pullets and cockerels. I said yes. He did a little math in his head and told me there's a 1 in 5,000 chance that a dozen incubated eggs will either be all pullets or all cockerels.
He's in college for actuarial science. The exact number was closer to 4,990 something but he rounded up.

I had a hatch last spring that was 12 cockerels and 1 pullet. I wondered at the time if the ambient room temps might have affected it, cause they sure affected my ability to keep good temp and humidity in the 'bator. Last year I found that I had higher pullet rates out of my earlier hatches where temps stayed more consistent.

 

[tntchix]

Here are some pics from today

Nikola decided he wanted his picture taken too haha

aww such cuties. What a tree, too. did you make that?

 

[ronott1]

I had a hatch last spring that was 12 cockerels and 1 pullet. I wondered at the time if the ambient room temps might have affected it, cause they sure affected my ability to keep good temp and humidity in the 'bator. Last year I found that I had higher pullet rates out of my earlier hatches where temps stayed more consistent.

Did you think that the heat killed off the pullets? That is a common misconception along with heat determining gender in chickens.

Chickens are different from humans since the female determines gender.

Quote: My Pet Chicken

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A: If you want to know how to tell the difference between males and females in chickens, please see our related questions, below. This question addresses how sex is determined in chickens genetically.

In birds, the sex of the embryo is determined by the egg, not the sperm (as it is in humans). Avian sex differentiation is not determined by XY chromosomes like it is in humans and most mammals (or even the XO system used by some insects). In those systems the sex is determined by the sperm, by what the male contributes to the offspring. By contrast, birds have a ZW system of sex determination (shared with butterflies, moths, fish and reptiles). In that system, sex is determined by the female within her ova, and the sex of offspring is not affected at all by the sperm which the male contributes. Some people think it is this difference which makes parthenogenesis possible for birds. Parthenogenesis occurs when unfertilized eggs see embryonic development.

The truth is that these parthenogenetic eggs are extremely unlikely to hatch, and in most studies, avian parthenogenesis is reported to occur more frequently with turkeys than chickens. (One book I have seen reports just the opposite.) Most parthenogenetic development only involves a few organized cells, and it closely resembles normal embryonic death within the first three days of development in fertilized eggs. Parthenogenesis ceases when the eggs are incubated, although it is theoretically possible for one to hatch. Reports suggest that offspring could be males that could then reproduce sexually. Some suggest that parthenogenesis is more common when males are absent from the parent flock, and that parthenogenesis is nature's way of providing for what is missing.

And now for a bit of related trivia: in Ireland in the 12th century, the barnacle goose was believed to be parthenogenetic, to reproduce without mating. Therefore, priests and religious people could still eat this goose during fast days (days in which normally one could not eat meat without sin). The reason is that the barnacle goose wasn't considered flesh, as it wasn't "a product of the flesh." It was thought barnacle geese reproduced out of driftwood, probably because they were migratory and never seen in the summer while they were reproducing. In 1215 Pope Innocent III outlawed the practice of eating the reputedly parthenogentic barnacle goose on fast days. However, eating the barnacle goose (and later, just any type of goose) is still traditional in England for the religious holiday of Christmas.

Who would have thought that weird, geeky chicken knowledge would lead you to the traditional English Christmas goose?​

 

[FuzzyHens]

Chores don't take me two hours but in good weather watching the chickens might.

 

[blackgoat]

I thought that the crooked toes happened because if too many temperature spikes.
Guess I was wrong. So it's because if too low humidity?

I'm pretty sure mine were because of temp fluctuations. My incubator got accendentally turned off three times for no less that 5 hours each time. I was shocked that as many hatched that did. My humidity was high for the first week, then about 35%-45% , then too high again at lockdown for two days.

 

[Cynthia12]

I was going to cull the wry neck chick Tuesday, after work. That morning, when I went to check on him before I left, he was gone from his box. He's been with the other chicks for 2 days now. Anyone want to guess which one he is? Sorry about the messy brooder picture. They are little piggies with the food.

No way! He's in this photo? Which one..this is great news! Is it the one sitting on it's butt on the top left?