December Hatch-A-Long 2014

[ChickenLady2014]

After breakfast I went to check on the chicks. My barred rock hen was sitting on the nest and the one remaining egg! Momma hen had taken her babies to a different part of the hen house, unharmed. I put them all in a dog crate and moved them to a horse stall so they will be undisturbed. I already know in my mind that the legbar egg won't ever hatch, so I don't care what the BR hen has in mind. Four of my babies are from my Speckled Sussex and the other three are hatched from a black copper Marans. You can see the huge white spots on their heads!!!! I hope they aren't all boys since I'd really like to get some olive eggs next year.

So cute, congrats!

 

[The Colonel]

Just checking in, set 41 eggs on December 2 at 8:00 pm. Planning for Christmas babies for the neighborhood kids. Will candle for the second time on day 14, so 3 more days. Will keep in touch.

 

[Renee572]

Just checking in, set 41 eggs on December 2 at 8:00 pm. Planning for Christmas babies for the neighborhood kids. Will candle for the second time on day 14, so 3 more days. Will keep in touch.

good luck.

 

[The Colonel]

Thank you.

 

[Debs55]

My bloody silkie hatched! well kind of lol I pretty much pipped and zipped it over the course of 2 days. I can't remember if I said before but it DID pip below the air cell. Its feet are kind of curled so I will probably fix them with some bandaids once I can safely get it out of the bator. Not sure when I last updated so here is it so far

4 sizzle chicks hatched and 1 egg left
1 marans chick hatched, 1 zipped (for some reason it zipped down the egg instead of around...its working at it though lol) and 2 eggs left ( 1 has been wiggling though!)
1 of my own silkies hatched and 1 egg pipped
and 3 splash eggs doing nothing

 

[ChickenLady2014]

My bloody silkie hatched! well kind of lol I pretty much pipped and zipped it over the course of 2 days. I can't remember if I said before but it DID pip below the air cell. Its feet are kind of curled so I will probably fix them with some bandaids once I can safely get it out of the bator. Not sure when I last updated so here is it so far

4 sizzle chicks hatched and 1 egg left
1 marans chick hatched, 1 zipped (for some reason it zipped down the egg instead of around...its working at it though lol) and 2 eggs left ( 1 has been wiggling though!)
1 of my own silkies hatched and 1 egg pipped
and 3 splash eggs doing nothing

Wow congrats, go chickies go

 

[Peep-Chicken]

That sounds like you have a contaminated egg. Leaks are very bad and if it is happening to/has happened to all your eggs, it is probably because of a build up of pressure from bacteria thriving within the egg. Even if they don't smell bad, a beaded or leaking egg is a disaster in the incubator and is best gotten out ASAP, especially if you have other healthy eggs in there! I think opening briefly during lockdown would be less of a sin than letting an egg bomb go off.

I think the fact all the chicks are yellow is coincidental. However, if this egg and the ones in May are coming from the same parent stock, and they all went leaky at the same time rather than one going leaky and being left to spread the bad, I would question the health of the hens. If you are consistently getting contaminated eggs from those hens, it is likely that it happened before lay, or they are laying more porous eggs than not. There are lots of ways eggs can get contaminated, though, and if it is just the one egg, I would consider that it was from handling. Even as careful as we are, our bodies are practically zoos for microbes, and an egg going bad here or there is something everyone is bound to experience!

I hope your other eggs are well and behave as hoped!   

As for everyone questioning the possibility of sex links, sex linked chicks are born as a result of being a first generation crossing of sex-specific color varieties. If you are concerned, I would research the ingredients for black stars. If you are making the same cross there is reason to worry, but otherwise it is coincidental!

Thanks for the great explanation!

 

[Renee572]

My bloody silkie hatched! well kind of lol I pretty much pipped and zipped it over the course of 2 days. I can't remember if I said before but it DID pip below the air cell. Its feet are kind of curled so I will probably fix them with some bandaids once I can safely get it out of the bator. Not sure when I last updated so here is it so far

4 sizzle chicks hatched and 1 egg left
1 marans chick hatched, 1 zipped (for some reason it zipped down the egg instead of around...its working at it though lol) and 2 eggs left ( 1 has been wiggling though!)
1 of my own silkies hatched and 1 egg pipped
and 3 splash eggs doing nothing

yay.... come on splashes

 

[Renee572]

Here we are 9 hours into day 21 and I have no other pips yet, don't even see any eggs wiggling and don't hear any peeps. I'm starting to feel a little bummed. So far only 1 chick out of 10 eggs and 1 for sure that died! :/

 

[Purpletie3]

My bloody silkie hatched! well kind of lol I pretty much pipped and zipped it over the course of 2 days. I can't remember if I said before but it DID pip below the air cell. Its feet are kind of curled so I will probably fix them with some bandaids once I can safely get it out of the bator. Not sure when I last updated so here is it so far

4 sizzle chicks hatched and 1 egg left
1 marans chick hatched, 1 zipped (for some reason it zipped down the egg instead of around...its working at it though lol) and 2 eggs left ( 1 has been wiggling though!)
1 of my own silkies hatched and 1 egg pipped
and 3 splash eggs doing nothing

Woot Woot! Great job! Glad you were able to get the lil guy out! SOunds like you are going to be busy. WE got the same hatch rate...4 sizzles/6 and no splash. Sorry I missed this earlier but I was working on a brooder room. Gotta get it squared away before xmas vaca...when I entrust my chicks to a sitter!