APRIL Hatch a long ......Anyone?

[FarmGirlForLife]

My polish serama cross is zipping!

 

[jbenson]

One Ameraucana/Araucana bantie out when I got home from work this afternoon. 3 more pipped. So excited. Hoping for a dark chipmunk colored one or maybe two since I lost my brown chipmunk hen unexpectedly last weekend.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

I'm so sad. Two pips today and they are due tomorrow but every one else is dead. I may be a newbie at this but this is terrible. This is the second hatch that's gone like this *sigh* do I keep trying?

 

[Joplus]

Wow that's awful I'm so sorry. How do you know they are dead? I'm new at this too. But did you open the incubator? Your not supposed to.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

Wow that's awful I'm so sorry. How do you know they are dead? I'm new at this too. But did you open the incubator? Your not supposed to.

The way my incubator is, you kinda have to. But as of its new modification from today, now you don't. A bit too late for these guys. And because of the last hatch, I know that they either come early or they don't come at all. And they come in one rush, not one at a time. The two that did hatch had to be assisted which was why i was in the incubator. I did get three out of four ducklings though. Once I saw that the two needed assistance I knew the rest were dead. Taking a few and candling them showed that I was right. And yes I understand that you are not supposed to remove eggies, but I had the same thing happen before so I kind of knew.

 

[NuggetsNuggets]

Ohhhh... I'm so sorry your hatch didn't go as you had hoped. I'm pretty new at this and lost a whole batch of 41 eggs last month due to a defective, brand new incubator... It was heartbreaking, but I went ahead and tried again.

I have 3 roosters in with 11 chickens so that bumps up my fertility ratio, at least I think. This was not on purpose, but rather a lesson not to buy straight run, if I can avoid it. Prior to a few months ago, I had 12 roosters, but my poor hens were really taking a beating from them. I originally had 9 of my own roosters, then someone have me 3 more... Needless to say, 1 of the roosters given to me disappeared and the other 2 are in the freezer, 3 of my roosters disappeared (coyotes, we think), and 3 went into the freezer. I chose which roosters to keep and the ones I chose, I think I've don't ok with - all three are Barred Rock, good size, with ok personalities. They have somehow divided up the hens and it's pretty clear which hens belong to each rooster.

For all of my hens, this is their first year to lay eggs, and even though I have been getting eggs for months, I still get some that are very small and those don't make it into the incubator. If the eggs aren't "large" sized or better, I didn't try with them. Now, I also have adult Bantys and I did try to incubate all of their eggs - but if the 15 that have hatched only 2 were Bantys, and one didn't make it through the night, but the other Banty is fat and fluffy and cute as the dickens.

I've gotten super fast at getting the lid off my incubator, gathering egg shells and moving fluffy, dry chucks to the heated box, there's not really a way around that, that I can see. I have my incubators and box in a spare bedroom, no vents or windows open, and I keep the door closed, lights off, except the heat lamp in the box. Also while they are incubating, it's important to keep an eye on the temperature and humidity levels. For 18 days, temp is 99.5, humidity of about 60%, but for the last 3 days, I keep the same temp, but elevate the humidity to about 75%.

As of last night. Out of the 41 eggs I had incubated, I had 14 chicks and 2 Banty babies. One of the Bantys drowned in the water (still trying to figure that out... ) and I'm not hearing any sounds from the remaining eggs, thus far. I didn't candle the eggs before or during the incubation process. First off, I don't know how, and it wouldn't have changed the final outcome or number of chicks that hatched.

I think the bottom line is... What works for me, might not work for you. I have made a lot of mistakes, but have learned a lot over the last few months, and I am going to keep trying and see what happens. I don't feel like I am doing myself any favors if I give up...

So I hope you don't give up... If today is their birthday, like it is for mine, perhaps a few more will hatch.... Then maybe try again.

 

[Magic Birdie]

My quail eggs are going to go into lockdown tomorrow... But I've had some temperature spikes overnight. I've found them at 106 degrees in the morning

 

[29PalmsRanch]

Hey sorry to hear about your hatch. I have a suggestion that will keep you from losing chicks to waterers/drowning. Do you know those little bright colored stones that walmart and other places like dollar stores sell for crafts? They are about 1/2 inch to 1 inch in length. They fit neatly into the bottom of a normal poultry waterer and are interesting for the chicks to peck at. With smaller birds like bantams, quail, and some pheasants, they will jump into the water and it's deep enough to obviously drown them. If you fill up the waterer tray with the stones, they can still get the water and it makes it interesting for them, but they can't drown in it. We hatch out about 100 quail a year for food. That's how we keep those little critters from drowning themselves.

 

[jbenson]

5 babies out by bedtime last night (3 Ameraucana/Araucana bantam and 2 Ameraucana/Araucana crossed with my Light Sussex Frizzle bantam roo, so technically Easter Egger). 4 more out by the time I got home from work today. Need to move them to the brooder, but I know for sure 2 of them are crosses of my Mille Fleur d'Uccle roo and my fav backyard mix hen who is a light lavendar barred hen. Excited to see what colors that pairing throws. 2 more of that variety still yet to hatch, but they are pipped, so I'm going to wait a bit to grab out the dried chicks so as not to shrink wrap anybody.

 

[MKandtheforce]

Today is day 21. This was just a clutch of bad luck. Turns out, my chickens were eating the eggs whenever my broody got up. I had only four eggs left by the time I caught on and put her (and the eggs) in a crate. Now, only 1 is viable.

Please, little chickie, hatch. Cockerel or pullet, I'll keep it. I just want something. Regardless, I'm looking into getting some babies to shove under Chewbacca. I want her to have something to show for her labors! Lol.