April Hatch Along

[WVduckchick]

Looks like we are done at 6!! I candled the ones left and was surprised how big the air cels are from lockdown. They are not small at all, so not sure what went wrong with the eggs from my big hen. :-( No movement in any and some look like the are just dark blobs of liquid now?!

I have 10 eggs collected for another hatch and will continue to collect for a few days, then I am ready for a May hatch along!! How many of you are hatching for May?

I saw one May hatch along thread, but they started it the first week of April! lol I wasn't going to join it so late in their game.

But I have 6 eggs in the hatcher right now, should start hatching tomorrow evening. I'll be adding 3 more in a day or so, that started under a broody, and I have 40+ lavender orpington eggs that are due in another 10 days or so. I'm game to just stick with this on one through summer, if anyone else will still be hatching more.

 

[RoseViewFarm]

I have 10 eggs collected for another hatch and will continue to collect for a few days, then I am ready for a May hatch along!!   How many of you are hatching for May?  

I am! Though it'll be late May. I may ha e gone off the deep end. I've got four dozen eggs headed my way. I'll have two different lines of Marans, Ameraucanas, and my replacement Orps. What are you hatching?

 

[spruce creek]

Not bad! Congrats!

Dark blobs of liquid as in sloshy, loose in the shell? If so, trust me, DO NOT crack them open. I had a broody that had a few unhatched. The sloshy ones had me curious. Oh good grief, the stench!

And what happened with the one that had a bit of gunk dragging when it hatched? Was it just egg gunk? Did it heal ok?

I snipped it off once it was dried up, it started to peck at the blue egg chicks umbilical area that was already swollen and red so I took it out, snipped it off and put it in the brooder. The other chicks all attacked it eagerly pecking at any crusty bits left on its back. I took it out gently scrunched them with my fingers so they would flake off and then tried again. They left it alone after that. That last one though, from the blue egg couldn't use its legs very well yesterday, couldn't seem to put weight on its feet, but when one of the rescue chicks started trying to peck at it it went straight for its eyes. I saw it do that to any chick that got too close. They all seem to be doing well now, fluffed up, eating and drinking. Its getting hard to tell them apart already. I was hoping that I would be able to tell the blue egger( I call it that because the owner wasn't sure of breed, she thought they were araucana but they didn't appear to have any tufts at there cheeks that I could see) would look a little different so I could tell it apart.

 

[orrpeople]

I saw one May hatch along thread, but they started it the first week of April!  lol  I wasn't going to join it so late in their game. 

But I have 6 eggs in the hatcher right now, should start hatching tomorrow evening.  I'll be adding 3 more in a day or so, that started under a broody, and I have 40+ lavender orpington eggs that are due in another 10 days or so.  I'm game to just stick with this on one through summer, if anyone else will still be hatching more.

Yeah, I noticed the same thing with the May group - they are already several thousand posts into it!! I am gradually winding down with hatching here - I have some of the BBS Marans I won from a BYC auction, and CJ Waldons 55 eggs due in about 7 days. It gets so ridiculously hot here in summer, I can't even imagine shipping eggs. So, I won't be making any impulse buys in the near future - maybe this fall, when everyone has grown out and I can really tell what I have out back. I do have one new broody that we removed from the nest over and over for a week, but she's committed. So, I gave her three OE eggs (since Buffy's babies turned out so incredibly cute!) and built a temporary enclosure for her in the barn. Once she's used to it, I will leave it open so she can go out and dust bathe and poop, but right now, she hops in the regular old egg boxes again if I do.

 

[elizabethu42]

First chick.

 

[Birdydeb]

...

First chick. [/quote

First chick.

Awwww. Adorable! CONGRATS!

 

[Birdydeb]

sorry about above post doubling....internet has been wonky all afternoon.

 

[WVduckchick]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing with the May group - they are already several thousand posts into it!! I am gradually winding down with hatching here - I have some of the BBS Marans I won from a BYC auction, and CJ Waldons 55 eggs due in about 7 days. It gets so ridiculously hot here in summer, I can't even imagine shipping eggs. So, I won't be making any impulse buys in the near future - maybe this fall, when everyone has grown out and I can really tell what I have out back. I do have one new broody that we removed from the nest over and over for a week, but she's committed. So, I gave her three OE eggs (since Buffy's babies turned out so incredibly cute!) and built a temporary enclosure for her in the barn. Once she's used to it, I will leave it open so she can go out and dust bathe and poop, but right now, she hops in the regular old egg boxes again if I do.

I'm winding down too. Hopefully my broodies are too! I can't do this every year. I felt so bad for selling the first broodies chicks when they were only a couple weeks old, I've let all the others keep theirs. I've got babies all over the place! But I do have my first May incubator pip! Bantam calico cochin.

First chick.

Cute as a button!

 

[Birdydeb]

I have this incubator with Barnevelders, Speckled Sussex and Lavender Orpingtons that will go on lockdown next week. And I have an order of Heritage Dominiques being shipped Monday....which will put me at the end of the month. LOL After that unless someone begs me to incubate for them....I will be finished. I hope. I have a friend who is an instigator. So.....who knows. She is liable to find something she wants me to hatch. LOL

I believe I will hang around with the rest of you for another month.

Not doing any more ducks unless there is a really, really good reason. Somehow or other I have a hard time seeing them leave if they are being sold and with this duck hatch I should have what I want.....I promise I will put some pics up of the little stinkers.

 

[orrpeople]

I'm winding down too. Hopefully my broodies are too! I can't do this every year. I felt so bad for selling the first broodies chicks when they were only a couple weeks old, I've let all the others keep theirs. I've got babies all over the place!

But I do have my first May incubator pip! Bantam calico cochin.
Cute as a button!

Ah! I love bantam babies - so perfectly tiny!!
I was out watching Buffy and her little brood - and I thought the same thing - it would be hard to sell her little family. So I guess they'll grow out with the rest of the crew. Then, when she's done with them, think about selling them. Yes, lots and lots of babies around this place, too. Sometimes I worry about what to do with them, then I'll sell a few and everything seems better. I am building a tractor for the next batch of roosters. They might as well be fertilizing the orchard and mowing the grass while they grow... because I have a ton of them!!! (I'm afraid to actually total it out, but this hatching season has been quite boy heavy!)