Christmas 2014 Hatch-a-Long (12-25-14)

[ChickenLady2014]

Well, I'm sure everyones heard the phrase "do not assist your eggs." Well I didn't assist the ones that pipped at the wrong end last night. All three of them died. It seems the membrane suffocated them, I feel terrible. They had absorbed all of the yolk, they were healthy!

Oh well, have a merry Christmas everyone.

Im sorry about your lost chicks. Its so hard to know what the right thing to do in that situation. I did assist on 4 of mine, 1 died in the shell, 3 died within 24 hours of hatching. I don't know if I would do it different or not, it's so hard to see them pip in an area you know they are not getting air.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Well here is my stats from my December -hatch -along. Started with 72 eggs ~ 41 shipped eggs & 31 personal eggs. This was a fertility trial hatch for my eggs, I didn't know how effective my 2 Roos were. Out of the 41 shipped eggs, 33 were clears & early quitters, 6 hatched and 4 are still in the incubator. From my hens, I started with 31 eggs, 17 were clear, 1 died day 20 in the shell and 11 hatched ~ 3 of which died within 24 hours and 2 are still in the incubator. So 6/42 shipped eggs hatched and 11/31 of my eggs hatched, but 3 of them died. I didn't know which of my roos were getting the job done, but upon hatching It looks like some were from my Chantecler roo. These ended up being very large chicks, with leg problems. His 4 all pipped in the middle of the eggs. I had to assist with the hatching of these chicks. 1 died in the shell on day 20 and the other 3 were so malpositioned that they couldnt complete their pip. His chicks were the only ones that have died. I probably will be rehoming him sadly.

 

[gogetter]

It happens, although I wish it didn't

I'll have to take pictures of the others though, they very cute, and lively.

It's been nice hatching along with you. Good luck with your little ones.

Hello everybody,
just got in this evening and I have been reading all the ups and downs from this hatch. We are joining the downs. After the first three chicks hatched nothing else happened. Came home this evening and still nothing. I decided it has been long enough and cracked the shells. All 8 were dead, and only two had an internal pip. It was very upsetting. Well, my F-I-L gave me 10 more eggs to try again. Hubby even got me a new incubator, which is warming up right now. It also came with an automatic egg turner that can hold up to 41 standard eggs, but I don't have that many. We will see if this one does better than my home made one where i hand turned all the eggs. Hubby is awesome.
Bonus, a feed store where we were visiting had week old and 2 month old pullets. I got 6 of the chicks and 3 of the 2 month old pullets. I am giving one of the older pullets to my neighbor for their help.

Sorry your hatch wasn't more successful. Congrats on the new incubator and new chicks. Good luck with your future hatches and your home schooling!

Sorry about the chick Honey Bee.

Hope you have a better hatch next time wornoutmom.

Any condolences to any posts I missed about any losses.

Congrats to those who have chicks! I just love the striped ones some have. In my brooder I only have a yellow chick and the rest are black lol.

I hope we can all do a Christmas hatch-a-long next year as well

X2! Thanks so much for starting this hatch along! It's been so great to have people to hatch with, and just to get to "meet" other chicken lovers. I'll be looking for you on BYC! Good luck, and thanks again, Peep!

Just checking in. Out of the 15 that made it to lockdown, six hatched, and a seventh didn't make it out in time. We also had one that had been fairly weak since hatch, this morning when I went to check he wasn't doing so well, so my wife held him and let him know he was loved before we had to bid him farewell. Five happy healthy babies remain, and they would like to tell you hi. The one in the middle with his head down was the weak one.

So, on to the next round, setting 3 dozen tomorrow morning and hoping for a much better percentage. Until then, take it easy BYC. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Enjoy those cuties! And Good luck with your next hatch! I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose one of my 11. I've tried electrolytes but it's getting weaker. It was the last to hatch and the smallest. I had to assist that hatch as well. maybe I stepped in too early... maybe too late. All the others look well so far.

 

[gogetter]

Well here is my stats from my December -hatch -along. Started with 72 eggs ~ 41 shipped eggs & 31 personal eggs. This was a fertility trial hatch for my eggs, I didn't know how effective my 2 Roos were. Out of the 41 shipped eggs, 33 were clears & early quitters, 6 hatched and 4 are still in the incubator. From my hens, I started with 31 eggs, 17 were clear, 1 died day 20 in the shell and 11 hatched ~ 3 of which died within 24 hours and 2 are still in the incubator. So 6/42 shipped eggs hatched and 11/31 of my eggs hatched, but 3 of them died. I didn't know which of my roos were getting the job done, but upon hatching It looks like some were from my Chantecler roo. These ended up being very large chicks, with leg problems. His 4 all pipped in the middle of the eggs. I had to assist with the hatching of these chicks. 1 died in the shell on day 20 and the other 3 were so malpositioned that they couldnt complete their pip. His chicks were the only ones that have died. I probably will be rehoming him sadly.

Thanks for the recap. I also set eggs from my own hens and another source, but they weren't mailed. I'll picked them up so I didn't think it would make a big difference. My eggs were clean, only a few days old, stored with the air cell up. The same cannot be said of those from the other source. It made a big difference! I had lots of clears (my roo it's only 8 months old and it's been frigid here), but all 6 of mine that were fertile ended up hatching. Of the 13 fertiles I got from him, only 5 hatched. It's so interesting to do the math. Good luck with your babies.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Thanks for the recap. I also set eggs from my own hens and another source, but they weren't mailed. I'll picked them up so I didn't think it would make a big difference. My eggs were clean, only a few days old, stored with the air cell up. The same cannot be said of those from the other source. It made a big difference! I had lots of clears (my roo it's only 8 months old and it's been frigid here), but all 6 of mine that were fertile ended up hatching. Of the 13 fertiles I got from him, only 5 hatched. It's so interesting to do the math. Good luck with your babies.

Thank you and enjoy you little fuzzy butts as well.

 

[Happy Dad]

Here is a couple of pictures from yesterday of "Uno"




When I grow up I want to be an Extra Large!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Sorry about the chicks you lost The Colonel

Thank you ChickenLady2014 and gogetter

I was happy to host this hatch-a-long! I was actually surprised there wasn't one up already. I do hope I will be able to do this next year

Uno sure is cute! Are you going to raise her as a single chick or get her a friend? I raised a single chick in the spring, she is actually pretty aggressive. It could be because she didn't have other chicks to socialize with or it's just her personality is like that Goodluck with Uno either way

Here's my official christmas hatch. The black one with a white spot in the middle is the only christmas hatcher, the others all hatched the 24th. He should also be the only male from this hatch. Out of 20 into lockdown, these 5 made it. So a 25% hatch rate, defiantly not a 80%. Did anybody get above 80% hatch rate?

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Sorry about the chicks you lost The Colonel

Thank you ChickenLady2014 and gogetter

I was happy to host this hatch-a-long! I was actually surprised there wasn't one up already. I do hope I will be able to do this next year

Uno sure is cute! Are you going to raise her as a single chick or get her a friend? I raised a single chick in the spring, she is actually pretty aggressive. It could be because she didn't have other chicks to socialize with or it's just her personality is like that Goodluck with Uno either way

Here's my official christmas hatch. The black one with a white spot in the middle is the only christmas hatcher, the others all hatched the 24th. He should also be the only male from this hatch. Out of 20 into lockdown, these 5 made it. So a 25% hatch rate, defiantly not a 80%. Did anybody get above 80% hatch rate?

Hope I didn't miss any other posts...

 

[The Colonel]

Hope I didn't miss any other posts...

I hit around 33%, so I know how you feel. I was hoping for closer to 80, but between infertility, and probably too high temps after the first 5, it seemed to be impossible. Hopefully this one will turn out much better. Set 3 dozen last night with a hatch date of January 18/19. Even though it won't be Christmas anymore, I'll throw the results up here and let you guys know.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I hit around 33%, so I know how you feel. I was hoping for closer to 80, but between infertility, and probably too high temps after the first 5, it seemed to be impossible. Hopefully this one will turn out much better. Set 3 dozen last night with a hatch date of January 18/19. Even though it won't be Christmas anymore, I'll throw the results up here and let you guys know.

Sure Colonel, keep us all posted. I have 6 eggs going in my 2nd incubator that are due to hatch on January 6th I think. I will have to check my sheet. The day counter on the incubator isn't correct because I had to reset it after removing eggs that went into lockdown before Christmas. It might be time to candle again.