DECEMBER Hatch-A-Long!😊

[BuckeyeFoodie]

Vaulted skulls are common in silkies and other crested breeds. Curious though as the chicks father’s skull in not that vaulted and the mother is not a crested breed. Only chick so far that has this, wonder what the genetics are in this case.

It is not uncommon for a vaulted skull to look significantly less vaulted as the bird matures - I have several that were very vaulted at hatch that look pretty normal now.

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

A update on my staggered hatch of 1 Ayam Cemani /? and 14 silkie eggs:

2 hatched: ac/?, and silkie.

1 dead in shell (eggtopsy showed a perfect cuckoo chick, but malpositioned. I'm going to try and intervene faster when I suspect this as I'm getting pretty good at knowing which one's are like this from multiple eggtopsies over the past year.

2 on day 20: 1 internal pip, 1 suspected to be malpositioned.

3 on day 19

3 on day 17???

4 on day 13.


From my hatch earlier this month I unfortunately have lost 2 of the 9, one had bad leg and foot issues, the other just failed to thrive.

Given that silkies are very prone to vitamin b deficiency, I am going to experiment with giving them b complex as close to hatch as possible, to see if it helps cut down on/resolve the leg issues faster. I will take notes and see if that makes any difference.

 

[LapisLazuli]

Are wool hens safe? Wouldn't the chicks get tangled in the fleece strips?

Anyone?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Anyone?

What are wool hens?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hope everyone is doing well. we have had shocking weather here (still do) flooding rain and wind which resulted in power outages. Sadly I lost soo many eggs in the incubator, only 3 left
My broody girls are going great protected from the weather though, 4 good eggs under the Polish and 2 under the Silkie, if I get any to hatch from the incubator I'll be putting them under the Silkie although the girls will most likely share anyway

Sorry for your losses.
Hope the rest hatch for you!

 

[lazylizzy]

Hey all,

So, I am afraid that none of my eggs are going to hatch. This is due to my own homemade incubator...

I made one for my last hatch and it was wonderful - 90% hatch rate!! This time however I made some BIG mistakes... namely, I ordered some eggs because one of my hens was broody and I did not have an incubator prepared. So when the eggs arrived and my hen was no longer broody, I was scrambling to throw something together. I didn't trust my instincts or take my time, which means I have had issues with significant temp fluctuation.

I should be on day 16 today. I candled about half of the eggs last night, but stopped because I became so discouraged. Almost every one of the half that I candled had a loose embryo that seemed to float to the top of the shell no matter which way I turned it. A couple seemed to have an identifiable air sac, but it took up nearly half of the egg. Am I wrong in thinking that these are quitters (due to my own mistakes)? I would love to seal it up in two days and pray for the best, but I'm wondering if I should call it quits and start over the right way.

I am so disappointed and mad with myself. Hard lesson learned, that's for sure.

 

[halefamily_flock]

This was my first winter hatch, and it appears that I ended up with 11 pullets and only 2 cockerels. Is anyone else experiencing high pullet ratios? I'm wondering if it has something to do with time of year?

I realize they're only 2 weeks old and I could be wrong about sex, but 2 crosses were sex-linked and seem 90% likely to all be pullets. The other 2 were crosses of auto-sexing breeds, and certainly look like they have sorted themselves out. I would be interested in any opinions, if you think differently...

Here are the Legbar-Olive Egger chicks

Cockerel

Pullets

And the Legbar-Dominiques...

Cockerel

Pullets

My girls' egg production dropped off a cliff just about the time I started thinking about separating them for breeding & collecting eggs. So I was only able to collect eggs from my rock star hens who were still laying (in some cases while also molting!).

Trying to figure out some explanation for 100% hatch rate with 85% pullets, other than dumb luck

Definitely makes me want to hatch again next winter...

 

[halefamily_flock]

Hey all,

So, I am afraid that none of my eggs are going to hatch. This is due to my own homemade incubator...

So sorry for your losses. I had a hatch that was a complete bust a few months ago. I was futzing around too much with temperature, causing major fluctuations and there was also a 10+ hour power outage in week 2. I let it go an extra 2 days and then had to mourn the loss of the entire batch. I did some eggtopsies and found that a couple had made it past the power outage, but then quit within a few days during my stress & futzing phase. This time around, I was much more hands off and it worked out much better.

 

[LadyCraig]

@LadiesAndJane here is that chick I was telling you about that hatched from the deathlayer cross. I call her Belle after Beauty and the Beast.

No idea who the female is that laid this egg. This was the last egg I got before winter hit and I hatched her with quail. Then I bought some chi

This was my first winter hatch, and it appears that I ended up with 11 pullets and only 2 cockerels. Is anyone else experiencing high pullet ratios? I'm wondering if it has something to do with time of year?

I realize they're only 2 weeks old and I could be wrong about sex, but 2 crosses were sex-linked and seem 90% likely to all be pullets. The other 2 were crosses of auto-sexing breeds, and certainly look like they have sorted themselves out. I would be interested in any opinions, if you think differently...

Here are the Legbar-Olive Egger chicks

Cockerel
View attachment 2452757

Pullets
View attachment 2452758

And the Legbar-Dominiques...

Cockerel
View attachment 2452759

Pullets
View attachment 2452760

My girls' egg production dropped off a cliff just about the time I started thinking about separating them for breeding & collecting eggs. So I was only able to collect eggs from my rock star hens who were still laying (in some cases while also molting!).

Trying to figure out some explanation for 100% hatch rate with 85% pullets, other than dumb luck

Definitely makes me want to hatch again next winter...

Beautiful feather babies!
I’m suspecting that, of my last hatch, 4/5 Deathlayers are Roos! But they are only about 4 weeks old...so keeping fingers crossed! Wish I had your luck!

 

[halefamily_flock]

Beautiful feather babies!
I’m suspecting that, of my last hatch, 4/5 Deathlayers are Roos! But they are only about 4 weeks old...so keeping fingers crossed! Wish I had your luck!

Thanks! I was hoping it was some kinda repeatable science...but I'll take the luck

Fingers crossed you end up with surprise pullets in a few weeks