Chicks for Christmas ! Submit your holiday chick pictures contest on!

[shellyga]

I wokr up to two little cochins and a slight crack in an Easter Egger egg this morning

the Easter Egger that I thought might just wait until after midnight tonight was a super-zipper.. out and drying as I type.. makes 3 so far for me on Christmas Eve.

Shelly

 

[kizanne]

Quote:
Well I read all (ok alot) of the posts here and there are many different ways to incubate. One is when you go to lockdown you use an egg carton with the bottom cut out.

I actually used an 18 pack so that I could cut almost all the bottom out of the two outside rows and still have stability.

The thoughts I've read on this and the reasons I went with it were.

I had an automatic turner with keeps the eggs big end up where the air sac is. You remove the auto turner for lockdown. I wanted my eggs to remain in the same orientation they had been in. Also when they hatch it takes them a minute to get strong enough to escape the egg cup this means most the mess stays in the egg cup including their first poopy. It also prevents the first to hatch from kicking them all over the bator. Also makes a web cam set up easier cause you know where to focus.

I can tell you my first outs have been 'helping' the others pip. And they are picking at old shells and eating small bits of shell.

I have bee happy so far with the results I've achieved with shipped eggs. I had 13 fertile eggs and if the pipped one makes it that means 9 at least hatched and I've made every mistake in the book.

Thanks to all the advice and experience here on BYC I feel like I am well informed, still have done everything wrong but had an idea of what I was doing an why.


There are plenty that don't use the egg cartons and get great results too. It is one of those things you have to decide.

 

[crossgirl]

Tea cup and nugget are so cute!!

I snuck Holly's eggs away and I think I hear rustling in one of them!

 

[bikerchic]

I have 1 cochin out and 1 peeping from inside the egg.

 

[dixiebeast]

I woke up to 4 ameraucanas sleeping peacefully...only one left but it hasnt even piped so it may not hatch but today(late afternoon) is really day 21 so who knows!!

 

[Baylor]

I have 2 more hatched this am one at 6 am and the other just a few mins ago! I have 5 out now and the last two are slowly zipping their way around the egg!

 

[crazyperson]

Okay, here they are...

Some of them:

Some more:

This one's dark, but you get the idea. Group shot:

And...I know this is off topic, but I thought I would share this story:

A couple of weeks ago DH and I were in the kitchen and he opened the back door to let one of our dogs out. Now, we have a rotweiller, two pit mixes and three cats in our house. My dogs "tolerate" my cats, but HATE strange cats. So anyway, when DH opened the door, he yells "WHOA, that cat just jumped in the door"!!! I say, "Yeah so..." and he says: "BUT, IT'S NOT OUR CAT!!!" Okay, so now I pick up my feet, because I figure there is going to be a HUGE riot. BUT...NO, this cat just comes strolling in our kitchen like it's lived here all its life!!! He looks at my rottie and she just looks back at him. Now, my other two dogs come in the kitchen and just look at him, too. Even my cats didn't do anything. It way just crazy!!! I have done alot of animal introductions in my life, most of which are dicey in the beginning, to say the least, but I've NEVER seen anything like this!!! Now, you might think that my animals already knew him, but this cat is super friendly and we would have seen him outside, if he was already here. Anyway, I pick up this cat to put him outside, and DH says, "What are you doing? It's cold and rainy outside." So, he feeds this cat, who is starving, and he's now part of our family, too.

I read a Christmas story a few years ago called The Christmas Cat, but if I remember right, that cat was pregnant. This one is a boy, who is now quite comfortable and named Slinky.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!

Margo

 

[bikerchic]

Love the peeps and Slinky too!

 

[CBarrett]

Quote:
WOW! Great story! And the chicks are absolutely beautiful.. We had a cat that looks exactly like Slinky that did the same thing to us.. He just kind of showed up one day, made himself right at home, and our dog was stunned into silence and disbelief.. lol We had him for about 5 years, and then he disappeared as quick as he had appeared..

 

[Barred Rocker]

Ok, 15 so far. A few more pipping in the incubator. I lost a couple while hatching.