April Hatch Along

[Jessimom]

We did our first processing day - birds I had been specifically raising for meat plus a few very non SOP BCM boys. That enabled us to move my two "adopted boys" (ACx and SRB) up to the main free range flock. They will love it!!
And, I won a couple of auctions on the Rare Breeds Auction from GFF...so it looks like I will be brooding up another couple of batches of chicks. (hopefully the post office doesn't mess it up!) AND then maybe, just maybe, I will have enough birds to choose from to start a nice little breeding program!?!?

Congratulations on the processing day and on the wins on the GFF auctions! I'm so happy that the adopted boys get to move up in the world!!! I ended up taking 3 of the recent crowers up to a feed store. I still hope I can find a good home for the AC cross boys and the silkies.

 

[tao chick]

Please don't let me stagger a hatch again. Between mixing up hatching trays and sleepless nights I have lost count. I think I have 50 chicks. Plus 10 4-weekers. Plus 9 adults. Plus 4 eggs due Thursday. Math used to be easy before I got chickens.

 

[orrpeople]

Please don't let me stagger a hatch again. Between mixing up hatching trays and sleepless nights I have lost count. I think I have 50 chicks. Plus 10 4-weekers. Plus 9 adults. Plus 4 eggs due Thursday. Math used to be easy before I got chickens.

Haha!!! With ya, my friend, with ya! I just realized that I put a group of 3 week old chicks outside because I couldn't remember how old they were and it seemed like they had been indoors forever!! And I had indoor chicks that were older, still indoors!! Thankfully everyone did fine and the weather has been warm, but it wasn't just the staggered incubation that got me - the staggered "who is ready for the outdoors" got me too!!

 

[Birdydeb]

I did the same thing....got confused on ages and who was ready for outside and who wasn't. Put 4 chicks that were a month old in my old separation pen in a little coop of their own and had to race to get them some extra protection from all the rain we got. They still ended up standing in mud, so raced to get pine shavings down to soak up some water. I just never thought about freaking monsoon conditions coming on the heels of putting them outside. Hardy little stinkers(all four are pullets), they have done fine. During the time BYC was down, we had flood conditions and I had to struggle even with my big mixed pen but at least it has a covered run. The only thing I have incubating now is my heritage Dominiques and OEGB. All due to hatch at the end of the month. First candling showed the best development I have seen in any of my hatches in ALL 18 bantam eggs. The Doms had a lot of "iffy" eggs. All this moisture has just wreaked havoc with monitoring humidity. I finally got smart and am running these two incubators dry....upping the humidity a bit if needed with a piece of sponge. Seems to be working well.

 

[Jessimom]

There is absolutely NO WAY I could keep track of my hatches without an app on my phone. I check back at those dates before making any decisions. I've also started an excel file with who I got eggs from, when they arrived, when I set them, how many set, how many locked down and how many hatched. Let's see how carefully I update that.

I have mixed up eggs and found hatched babies in my turning 'bator. I pull them out and throw them in with the hatching ones. But, then I've had to keep all the eggs that didn't hatch, because at least 1 egg is one that I moved too soon. Now I write CLEARLY with sharpies what each egg is. That way, I if I keep good notes, I can track the eggs a little better.

Good luck with all the rain @Birdydeb!! I hope things dry out for you soon! We need rain, so the few weeks we got flooded out was welcome! My silkies suffer the worst. The tiniest bit of mud and they get huge mud boots we have to soak off.

Right now I have some a dozen shipped AC eggs, plus a dozen local backyard mix OE eggs that I"m hatching for a friend. Same friend just ordered a dozen Isbar eggs, but they accidentally sent her 7 silkie and 7 Isbar. I'll drop them in today. I'm hoping that the AC eggs will be the last chicks I brood for a little while.

 

[Birdydeb]

@Jessimom Forgot I have 11 bantam eggs for a friend in this little Magic Fly(Chinese) incubator I bought just to see how well it works. She brought me a dozen of her own bantam eggs to try it with. I broke one on the second or third day on the turner, so there are 11. They go into lockdown tomorrow. I hope she intends to get what hatches but I have no idea what they are beyond Bantams. LOL


IF I didn't mark dates down on my iPad....I would be hopelessly lost as to what is going on. I started out with detailed notes and evolved though to just when they went in the incubator and when lockdown is. LOL

 

[Jessimom]

@Jessimom Forgot I have 11 bantam eggs for a friend in this little Magic Fly(Chinese) incubator I bought just to see how well it works. She brought me a dozen of her own bantam eggs to try it with. I broke one on the second or third day on the turner, so there are 11. They go into lockdown tomorrow. I hope she intends to get what hatches but I have no idea what they are beyond Bantams. LOL


IF I didn't mark dates down on my iPad....I would be hopelessly lost as to what is going on. I started out with detailed notes and evolved though to just when they went in the incubator and when lockdown is. LOL

Good luck with lockdown! I love bantams - they just stay so cute. My egg customers haven't found the benefit of 2 full eggs and 1 extra yolk to make an AWESOME omelette with bantam eggs yet.

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

Adorable chicks!! But I want to start singing one of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong.....

LOL!! I thought the same thing when I saw that picture!

 

[Birdydeb]

Good luck with lockdown! I love bantams - they just stay so cute. My egg customers haven't found the benefit of 2 full eggs and 1 extra yolk to make an AWESOME omelette with bantam eggs yet.

I never thought of adding a bantam egg to 2 eggs for an omelette! Thanks! I will have to tell hubby who scratches his head at wanting Bantams.

 

[RockingA]

I forgot to post pics of my chicks after they hatched!! ❤❤ Now I've got 40 more already in the incubator!