December hatch along

Pics
I am so glad yours are hatching, they waited until the very last day and I was getting nervous. If I recall this is your first hatch... are you seeing what I call Zipper Pipping? I actually am not sure if that is the common term or if its an original term by me but I have seen other people say Zipper to describe that. It really does look like they unzip their eggshell and come out.
 
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I got one chick from each of my laying ladies! Plus one second one from one of my ladies :)
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we got 5 ccclb EE Chicks!

There are 5 eggs left, one has pips but the other 4 don’t. There hasn’t been movement but I’ll leave them still. Going to crank up humidity before I pull these ones out.
 
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

I think she added a "C". whichever, I'm looking forward to seeing how these develop. The pullets should lay "brighter" blue eggs than either CLB or EE, right?

I've enjoyed following this thread. :pop I feel that I've learned a lot with everything you all have shared.

I didn't get an incubator for Christmas, but should be able to get one myself in January. Getting a few eggs now, not many. BUT all the ones I've checked (& eaten) have been fertile... So getting 1 (8) 55 Flowery Hen, 1(1) blue Ameraucana, 2 (4) Bielefelder eggs almost daily (not consistent yet, either. #s in parentheses are the # of pullets I have).

Soon - these should start laying? Lavender Ameraucana (3), blue Australorps (11 - 2 groups - 6 & 5 w/ cockerels), Bielefelder (2), Bresse (1), CLB-JR line (3), CLB/Xs (4), lavender Orpington (3) and Rhodebar (3). All were hatched between 5/15 & 6/25 - 2018. At this rate, I have an extra Rhodebar roo, NICE ONE, that no longer has a flock. May put him with the last 6 laying hens (will be 3 yrs old this summer) in the pasture (out of 20ish? & bantam EE roo), and incubate those eggs - just to have more egg layers in my pasture. Or not...

My 4 (April 2018) free ranging CLBs were laying, but currently not finding the eggs. They are not laying in the coop... The last nest we found - had no clue how long it had been there - so they were fed back to the girls. Was hoping to get a wire roof done on their run to contain them, but with all the rain predicted (AGAIN), not sure it will happen just yet.

Lost quite a number of chickens between 12/11 & 12/18. Free ranging during the day - some on fenced pasture and some in front yard (not really fenced in). Think single coyote - some torn up & left - others just disappeared. Lost a pony, too. Think she was running - whether from coyote or just playing not sure, but she appears to have slipped in mud, splayed legs out at hips (horses aren't supposed to "bend" that way) & seemed to pass in the cold when couldn't get up - IF we'd found her "splayed", we'd have done the deed much sooner as there is no way to fix that :(. Was alive when I fed before left for work, got home VERY late & didn't check ponies while dealing with a flat tire on truck & also the chicken massacre in front yard & finding a rooster that had made it all the way to one of the neighbors places (think he was carried part way - found tracks of canid critter & then his. He was very "punch drunk" <in shock?> when first put into small coop w/ 3 pullets who'd lost their roo. One of the torn up/left ones)... Daughter arrived home next morning and stated that she (2 yr old Shetland filly) was in same position as she'd seen her in when she got home day before - hours after I'd left for work (& coyote was spotted in the pasture by both Larry & her)... Last week was sad, sad indeed.

w/ 1 pasture coop completely empty, I moved the other 9 chickens from the wet/mucky one to it. Now need to add more leaves/pine straw today/tomorrow/Thurs to all coops before rain starts. We are looking at another large rain event - I think I can officially state that I'm VERY TIRED of rain. Usually don't say that as it makes the hay & pasture grow, but... rain, rain - go away (for now). We are expected to be on flood watches later this week (AGAIN).

O wow, this is probably a bad rant for Christmas day... :oops:. 2018 has been another chicken learning year. At one point, I had almost 175 chickens - those numbers are way down due to a couple of "freak incidents" both before & after storm(s), predators - lost large #s in short order - currently almost all chickens are locked in smallish coops/runs w/o free ranging. I did sell and process a few cockerels - have a group still that will be processing in the next week (Ameraucana, CLB, Orpington, farmyard bantams). Working on getting more coops, runs and fully protected tractors built for 2019 - preferably before i hatch more than 50 chicks... Would love to raise(incubate eggs?) actual meat birds along with the birds I have - who don't have a whole lot of meat - though all dual purpose types. Figure it may take a couple of generations to get chicks that grow to nice(r) sizes for meat... Some (like the 55 Flowery Hens & CLBs) may never develop a lot of meat - really feel they were "made" to tell what they were at hatch and produce eggs. Still good eating though!

Again, Merry Christmas! I hope to be joining hatch-a-longs in 2019 with a variety of breeds!!! :fl
 

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