California - Northern

[chickee]

Chickee, I am in love!!!

The fluffy feet put me over the top.




So I'm officially in LOCKDOWN!!!

I candled and weighed last night, the average weight loss is 14.1% and there seem be a couple potential quitters but being a candling newbie I didn't want to toss them quite yet. The suspense over the next few days is going to KILL me! This is my first hatch and I'm already going crazy. Blah!!! Hatch already!!!

<edited to add incubator picture>

The waiting is the hardest part.

Good luck!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Those will be very nice chickens!

 

[ronott1]

Five of the Heritage RIRs have hatched!

More eggs have pips too

They are so pretty and beefy from hatch. I will get pictures tonight.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Man did I just have a long drawn out hatch!! I had chicks hatch on day 20 through day 23

I attribute it to the power failure and egg cool down for that hour. The last chick had to be helped out and was in rough shape but is just fine this morning

All but one of the 17 eggs hatched. I have extra chicks if anyone is interested. 4 bantam buff Brahma (show potential) 2 bantam blue laced red Wyandottes (one blue/one splash~ show potential) 2 LF black laced red Wyandottes (Foley x Catt lines) and 2 EEs (turquoise/blue egg layers) available.

CLICK ON PHOTO's FOR A CLOSEUP VIEW ~

These are some of the EE chicks that are going to Jason

Here is the whole group~

Adorable! Congrats!

Quote:

Stay Healthy!
x2!

Today is a wet chicken day. lol Bedraggled Orps are so funny. All my chicks are in the run, damp but otherwise ok.

Broody Question:

Betty seems so have just about finished up with her chicks (maybe they are 5 weeks old now?). They seem to be on their own for the most part. She is laying eggs again. They panic at night when she hops up on to the roost and the chicks are stuck down below. We grab her off and stuff her in the broody bin with them but I am thinking we should respect what she is doing and stuff them in their broody bin and let Betty rejoin the flock? During the day they occasionally rejoin her but she doesn't really seem to look after them much. She taught them all the best hiding places and they stick together in a 10 chick group and free range together and when they see birds- they run to all the hides mama taught them. Sound about right for a free ranging broody and babies?

She's trying to teach them to roost. Trust her instincts.

Five of the Heritage RIRs have hatched!

More eggs have pips too

They are so pretty and beefy from hatch. I will get pictures tonight.

 

[chicksnthestiks]

Five of the Heritage RIRs have hatched!

More eggs have pips too

They are so pretty and beefy from hatch. I will get pictures tonight.

Yahoo! I love redheads!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: That is the thing about these--they do not look like the hatchery version from hatch. These are not yellow chicks! They are already a reddish brown color with brown candy corn beaks!

They also figure out how to eat by themselves.

 

[Miss Molly]

I have eggs due to arrive today too! e      

Golden Cuckoo Marans     

You will love your Golden Cuckoo Marans. I finally got mine in a breeding pen. I just did my first test hatch...all is good !
They are so beautiful!

 

[Miss Molly]

Five of the Heritage RIRs have hatched!

More eggs have pips too

They are so pretty and beefy from hatch. I will get pictures tonight.

Yes Please

 

[chickee]

You will love your Golden Cuckoo Marans. I finally got mine in a breeding pen. I just did my first test hatch...all is good !

They are so beautiful!

I want to see pictures of yours please

Who did you get yours from? The person I got these from purchased her stock from Rockin-G-Ranch. My friend, Kirstie has been working on her own line of GCMs, so I am hoping to add some of her birds in the future.

 

[zooweemama]

Are the geese your Africans? I think they can take even a couple of days longer. I'd probably give them at least a 2 day head start and then bear in mind that you may need to keep them longer in lockdown. You can fudge the lockdown day a day in either direction without a problem. So if it's a day late for the ducks and a day early for the geese, it shouldn't be a problem. But I would give them the headstart.

Now if it were a light weight goose like a Chinese, I think they are closer to duck times.

Yes I have Africans- although they are considered a large breed mine or production quality so they are a little smaller than the 'good stuff' with the heavy bottoms and dewlaps. But def bigger than Chinese. I think Chuck weighs about 15 - 16 pounds? I'll have to weight him. I hadn't considered that some eggs of the bigger breeds may need more time. Thank you so much!

Quote:
Yeah! Have you candled yours? I did mine last night and out of 25, one was clear so I took it out, so 24 into lockdown.
The seven year old LOVES to stay up until midnight! Last time he was making a big deal saying he was going to stay up until midnight and I was telling him he was not....my 4 year granddaughter looks up at me with these big, worried eyes and asks "Mimi, what's a midnight?" These kids always make me have to think how to explain something.
OK, so I downloaded this hatch chart this morning and it says my chicks should have gone into lockdown yesterday and they're due on Friday!

They better not all hatch before the grandkids get here for the hatching party on Saturday night!
Yep, mom knows when she's done her job. I was surprised how many little chicks could make it up on the roost! Most of the moms will even put their wings around the ones that are close. I just let my chicks follow mom back into the coop and integrate them if they didn't hatch in the coop to begin with.
What year did he graduate? I graduated from Paradise High in '79, my husband and one sister in '76, my younger sister '81 and my brother '86. Maybe we knew him.

I am excited for you!

Adorable! Congrats!
x2!
She's trying to teach them to roost. Trust her instincts.

Thanks! We let her alone last night. The chicks don't even attempt to roost they all huddle together in the lay boxes we have on the floor rofl.

But we are letting Betty do her thang!