April Hatch Along

[WVduckchick]

This must be the year of the rooster! I can already tell a bunch of my chocolate orps are males, and they aren't selling.
:/

I did actually get a little luckier on my silver duckwing OEGBs, I think I got 3 trios! Letting momma raise 2 trios, I have one trio inside, with 3 seramas. (one Serama momma has 6 more, and another has 5 ((or 6?)) so I'll probably sell the trios outside, after momma weans them, and keep all the seramas till I can tell sex and how they will grow out.

Here's my SDW hen and her babies.

 

[Calichicken2015]

First chick.

Adorable!!! Congrats

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!

Awww...I hatched out all bantam cochins and they are the sweetest babies

This must be the year of the rooster! I can already tell a bunch of my chocolate orps are males, and they aren't selling.

I did actually get a little luckier on my silver duckwing OEGBs, I think I got 3 trios! Letting momma raise 2 trios, I have one trio inside, with 3 seramas. (one Serama momma has 6 more, and another has 5 ((or 6?)) so I'll probably sell the trios outside, after momma weans them, and keep all the seramas till I can tell sex and how they will grow out.

Here's my SDW hen and her babies.

Aww...so sweet!!! Nooooooo...not year of the rooster...LOL! I need hens

 

[WVduckchick]

Adorable!!! Congrats
Awww...I hatched out all bantam cochins and they are the sweetest babies

Aww...so sweet!!! Nooooooo...not year of the rooster...LOL! I need hens

I just love little bantam cochin babies! They are so beautiful. I just know I'm going to set some of my new splash girls' eggs.
Hey, maybe I'll just give them to the SDW sisters that I keep taking eggs from. Hmmmmm....

And I'm with ya on needing hens. I have a whole bachelor pen of boys that I can't get rid of. :/

 

[Calichicken2015]

I just love little bantam cochin babies! They are so beautiful. I just know I'm going to set some of my new splash girls' eggs.

Hey, maybe I'll just give them to the SDW sisters that I keep taking eggs from. Hmmmmm....

And I'm with ya on needing hens. I have a whole bachelor pen of boys that I can't get rid of.

YES!!! Give those sisters some splash babies to hatch

It is a win...win situation...right

So do roosters do Ok if you keep them all together? Mine are 10 days old, so can't tell at this point...only suspect boys because they are feathering out more slowly

 

[orrpeople]

YES!!! Give those sisters some splash babies to hatch   It is a win...win situation...right    So do roosters do Ok if you keep them all together? Mine are 10 days old, so can't tell at this point...only suspect boys because they are feathering out more slowly:/

They do much better if there are no hens. They still establish a pecking order (which sometimes involves mouthfuls of feathers!) but they exist fairly well together. I have two bachelor pens - bigger boys and little boys. Generally I will sell the bigger boys (or it looks like this time we will process a few of them), and then move the little boys up as they get bigger.

 

[tao chick]

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.

I was thinking the same thing! I'm game. I have a hatch date range of 5/15 - 5/25. I'll still be using this thread. If I can I'll edit the title if you want.

 

[hensareus]

I need some help. I did my 10 day candle last night. Looks like I have 1 with blood ring and 1 quitter; still have 22. My problem...too much humidity! Air cells too small. We've had a lot of rain. Already doing dry hatch. Still at 48-53%. Can you mist like ducks? Help

 

[spruce creek]

I think my next hatch date will be the 29th or the 30th of May. I'm happy to stay on this thread for the rest of May! Congrats to everyone on your hatches, and Thank you to everyone for your help and support through the incubation and hatch!! All 6 chicks are looking happy! My can they ever run fast already!! And POOP!! I have been really trying to keep it all very clean as they are not on medicated feed(I do have ACV in their water) and have a couple of poop eaters. They want to scratch and get really excited when they spot the alder shavings under the paper towels. What do you guys like to use in your brooders?? I'm debating just taking the paper towels out now but don't want them to eat the smaller pieces that are at the bottom. I tried to only put the big shavings in but there always seems to be a bit of smaller saw dust ends up in it.

 

[spruce creek]

I need some help. I did my 10 day candle last night. Looks like I have 1 with blood ring and 1 quitter; still have 22. My problem...too much humidity! Air cells too small. We've had a lot of rain. Already doing dry hatch. Still at 48-53%. Can you mist like ducks? Help

I have a really hard time keeping humidity down too, and think I might try some packs of silica to absorb moisture for the first 18 days. I read on BYC that some people use rice and charcoal from the dollar store(the kind you use in rooms to help prevent mold). I actually had a dish of salt beside my incubator hoping it would lower it a bit, one of the elderly woman where I live uses salt in her root cellar so I thought I would give it a try. I didn't have any luck with salt though. I did a dry hatch too, and it was pretty steady at 40%.

 

[WVduckchick]

I was thinking the same thing! I'm game. I have a hatch date range of 5/15 - 5/25. I'll still be using this thread. If I can I'll edit the title if you want.

Awesome! I enjoy all the folks on this one

2 pips when I left home this morning.

I need some help. I did my 10 day candle last night. Looks like I have 1 with blood ring and 1 quitter; still have 22. My problem...too much humidity! Air cells too small. We've had a lot of rain. Already doing dry hatch. Still at 48-53%. Can you mist like ducks? Help

Ugh. I have not tried misting chick eggs, but depending if you want to experiment, maybe try it on a few??? Maybe mess with your vents a little?

In addition to the things spruce creek mentions, I had another thought that I haven't seen tried (probably a crazy thought anyway)... but I have some cotton quilt batting, and I used it in my Brinsea Eco, for wicking the water to raise the humidity. It worked great, never dried out at all. But I wonder if it would help to put a piece in dry, away from the eggs, to draw the moisture away from the eggs at least.

Only other thing I can think of is trying to find a dryer area of your house. A closet, etc. Risky to move the whole thing, but maybe worth some consideration?

I think my next hatch date will be the 29th or the 30th of May. I'm happy to stay on this thread for the rest of May! Congrats to everyone on your hatches, and Thank you to everyone for your help and support through the incubation and hatch!! All 6 chicks are looking happy! My can they ever run fast already!! And POOP!! I have been really trying to keep it all very clean as they are not on medicated feed(I do have ACV in their water) and have a couple of poop eaters. They want to scratch and get really excited when they spot the alder shavings under the paper towels. What do you guys like to use in your brooders?? I'm debating just taking the paper towels out now but don't want them to eat the smaller pieces that are at the bottom. I tried to only put the big shavings in but there always seems to be a bit of smaller saw dust ends up in it.

I use puppy pads for a week or so, then add pine shavings. They may eat a few small bits, but I haven't had any issues with it. I also have had them tear into the puppy pads, and while it seems really gross to me, I haven't had any get sick and die from it. I think they just tear it up and don't really "eat" it.