Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Hey, can someone give me a little advice?

I am hatching out my own chicks this year, instead of buying them, and so far everything has gone fairly smoothly. I've had an 80% (give or take) hatch rate. Not bad for my first try I think, but the newest chick had a very hard time hatching, it took little Blue (thusly names for the color of his/her eggshell) a little over two days from first crack to out of the shell. Now he keeps holing his head cocked so far back that he keeps flipping himself over.

Is this something I should be worried about? He hasn't been out of the shell for a full 24 hours yet, but I'm worried, non of the other chicks did this, and for some reason my family is very attatched to their little easter egger chick hatched from a blue egg on easter.

Chicks that don't hatch normally often have something wrong with them. He may have been in the wrong position in the shell, could have lacked nutrition during his incubation, may have been an older egg, or just about anything. All you can do is repeatedly set him on his stomach and see if he comes around. These chicks usually don't thrive. But on the other side he may have just worn himself out trying to hatch. Put a little sugar in their water and make sure he gets a couple drinks.

I had this huge hatch but still had about a dozen eggs left that weren't pipped and hadn't opened the air space yet. I checked a couple and they just aren't ready. They still had flowing blood. It's all brahma eggs. Maybe they are just going to take longer this time around since they are big birds.
I ended up with 12 goslings from Easter. The last two hatched this morning. Once they are dry I'm going to see if I can get all 12 in a chick shipping box. If so they might be headed to Georgia later.

 

[frazzledazzle]

Does anyone close to winfield ks have an icubator for sale?

 

[Trish44]

@frazzledazzle I am on the north edge of Winfield & have a foam GQF Hovabator with a turner I would sell. PM me for info.

My hatch is still ongoing as well, I had an awful lot of eggs in the hatcher this time. I have had a lot hatch, but there are still about 26 eggs in there not pipped or hatched yet. I hope some more still hatch, but the longer they go the less chance there is that they'll hatch from my experience.

@RooksMom I agree with danz there probably is something wrong with that chick, it may resolve & it may not. You might try giving it some chick electrolytes & see if that helps.

 

[chicken danz]

I sure can't keep from feeling discouraged right now. It's supposed to rain the next couple of days. Tomorrow there are major storms forecast. I just don't know how I'm ever going to get everything done. I need some nice dry days to finish a lot of projects.
I decided this morning to sell one of my Pyrenees. I don't have enough for all these dogs to do and I really don't need him any more since I have Yeti for the future. I have way too many mouths to feed. Anyone with an acreage that wants a good LGD that is very chicken safe send me a PM. He is NOT a town dog.
I need to move some more birds around but lack pens at the moment. I swear this just never seems to end.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz,
Hugs sending you a pm about your LGD.

 

[RooksMom]

Chicks that don't hatch normally often have something wrong with them. He may have been in the wrong position in the shell, could have lacked nutrition during his incubation, may have been an older egg, or just about anything. All you can do is repeatedly set him on his stomach and see if he comes around. These chicks usually don't thrive. But on the other side he may have just worn himself out trying to hatch. Put a little sugar in their water and make sure he gets a couple drinks.

I had this huge hatch but still had about a dozen eggs left that weren't pipped and hadn't opened the air space yet. I checked a couple and they just aren't ready. They still had flowing blood. It's all brahma eggs. Maybe they are just going to take longer this time around since they are big birds.
I ended up with 12 goslings from Easter. The last two hatched this morning. Once they are dry I'm going to see if I can get all 12 in a chick shipping box. If so they might be headed to Georgia later.

Congrats on your hatch!

Thank you, he seems to be doing a bit better, he (or she) is a little wobbly still, but he stands just fine, both feet under him, and he's pecking at the food a little. I was looking to wrong positions in the egg, and I think his issue hatching might have been that his head was down between his feet. Maybe he was just really worn out by a hatch that was really hard, and took almost 40 hours?

 

[Jlpkansas]

I'm new to the thread! I live near Mankato! I would love to find some Marans chicks close by.

 

[Trish44]

I'm new to the thread! I live near Mankato! I would love to find some Marans chicks close by.

I'm sending you a PM with a suggestion & welcome to the Kansas thread.

Well my hatch ended last night with 75 chicks hatched, my biggest hatch ever! My brooder is really full now so I hope some of these chicks can go to their new homes this week. Otherwise I'm in trouble.

 

[venymae]

Afternoon everyone! All of my chicks have been picked up and are at their new homes, Feels a little lonely. Haha.

I started keeping track of how many/what size eggs each of my girls were laying each week and so today I decided to crunch some of the numbers. Here they are!

Sexy (Production Red - 2yo)
Average Eggs per Week:6.75
Average Size: Extra Jumbo

Girlfeather (Easter Egger - <1yo)
Average Eggs per Week: 6.125
Average Size: Small (large end of the chart)

Greyling (Easter Egger - <1yo)
Average Eggs per Week: 5.75
Average Size: Medium (small end of the chart)

I'm hoping the 'G' girls increase in size, but I am happy with their lay rate. obviously Sexy is a beast chicken and I couldn't be happier with her production rate and size! She is a very friendly bird too. It doesn't really get better than that! Anyway hope you enjoyed!

 

[StinkyChicken]

Welcome Jlpkansas,



Sounds like lots of people are hatching right now. I have 3 serama chicks and 12 eggs in the hatcher and 28 more in the incubator. Pulse 2 broody hens sitting on 14 more eggs in the coop. LOL…. This is the first time hatching our own Serama eggs. We had 28 eggs to start with out of 28 two where not fertile and so far all will make it to lock down. The shipped Serama eggs last year we got 18 eggs half grow and 3 hatched. Batch # 2 18 eggs half grow and 4 hatched.