December Hatch:Who is going to have Christmas babies?

[shellyga]

Mountainwhisper..what kind of chicks are you "expecting"

I haven't been on the forum long but I have to say that it is one of the friendliest places on the internet.. I have had MANY MANY questions and all of them have been answered with "newbie" language that helps me understand.. helped me treat my poor sick rooster and even helped me mix up some chicken treats for my pets.. I hope you will enjoy BYC as much as I do.. I think my love borders on addiction!

I have 11 Buff Orpington eggs due to hatch on the 16th or 17th.. my first.. we plan to candle them tonight to see what is happening..so excited.. then I bought some eggs on the auction from two super friendly sellers.. so I have Blue Orpingtons, Marans and Blue Laced Wyndottes (If I spelled them wrong.. I have misplaced my notes so forgive..lol) in too.. they are due the 22nd or 23rd.. so peeping will be heard in my house soon... I can't wait.

 

[emvickrey]

I can't hardly wait till these all hatch. 2 more to go and one is working on it. The other doesn't appear to doing anything. They are early as I just put them in lock down last night. This happens all the time because I keep my temps a little warmer. The way I get fluctuations I don't want the eggs to cool down too much and I can always let out some of the heat if it goes up a little too high. I'll be glad when we finally get the cabinet built. It will be chick city around here come spring when we do get it built.

Anyway, I noticed that it looks like 2 of the 3 silkie chicks have vaulted skulls. The parents to them did also when they hatched and have huge fluffy heads, so i'm sure these will too. The hen has nice toe separation but the roo doesn't. They both have the dark skin and blue ear lobes. I'm sure the chicks will doo. I just hope I get colors I plan to keep instead of selling them off after all the waiting.

I need somebody to come and

my hands to keep me out of the hatcher.

 

[Tala]

Day 9 last night, candled - removed one clear from my BR pullet. I usually get good fertility from her, but this thing was CLEAR clear. Not a speck of blood when I cracked it.
10 eggs have movement!!!!!!!

and one of the darkest eggs I wasn't real sure about. I just almost pulled it, but then I thought I saw a darker blob, so I left it. Wondering if maybe it's a really light BCM egg instead of a Cuckoo Marans egg....that would throw off my sex-linking

Oh well, 11 eggs still a cookin!!

 

[mountainwhisper]

to: shellyga

I ordered a mixed lot of eggs from Flowers' lil eden she has (Purebred Black, whites, blue, buff, red, & Partridge Silkie bantams, Silverduckwings, BBReds, Cochin bantams, Norweigan Jaerhon, Buff Orpingtons, cochin bantams, white Frizzle bantams, Araucanas, Mottled Cochin bantams, white Cochin bantams, black Cochin standard, Black tailed buff & white Japanese bantams, and a Buff laced Polish hen) That being said... one of the eggs is definately araucana, one has frizzle written on it, another is a tiny white egg that is probably one of the bantam varieties, one is a pretty large pink egg, and one is a large dark brown egg. I can't wait.. no peeping going on yet... but getting anxious as time goes on. Thx for the warm welcome.

 

[emvickrey]

I'm still waiting for egg #4 to hatch. There is a hole in it now instead of just a crack. I gave it a pep talk

hoping that works.

They still have 2 days till they are actually due.

I took the other 3 out and fluffed them up a bit. I couldn't resist.

I quickly put them back in for moral support for the one pipped. When #3 was zipping out the other 2 where standing around it watching and chirping like they where coaxing it out. So cute.

I just hate the wait when I have eggs I really really want to hatch.

So here I am

making myself stay away. It's not gonna happen any faster if I stand there staring in the hatcher.

 

[ctsanders1]

Quote:
If that bird doesn't come out within 24 hours of it making that small "chip" in the shell, you need to very carefully help it out. Staying in the egg too long can cause deformity or death. But be very gentle. Sometimes just removing the top porting of the shell can help them to go ahead and hatch, but if that doesn't help (after a few hours), you are going to have to hatch it yourself.

 

[GotChicken?]

I won an auction from CJ Exotics last week, so tomorrow I will have 18 Silkie eggs going in for a post-Christmas hatching. A mix of blacks, blues, splashes, whites, splits, and one lonely partridge. Hopefully I'll do better than my last attempts at hatching eggs, and get more than two chicks (GO 3!!!

)

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I think I may have gone a little too far on my December hatch! I have 62 in the homemade incubator aka the TVbator - built out of a 1950's TV (15 from my E.E. girls, 6 E.E. from ebay, 14 white leghorn from ebay, 9 barred rock from ebay and 18 "barnyard mixes" also from ebay)

I picked up my Hovabator today from another BYC member (did not think to ask her user name in the excitement), and I have 5 Sultans, 8 FBCMarans, 12 Blue Araucana as well as 12 mixed Araucana on the way to put in and I think that is all. The hovabator will be plugged in, brought up to temp, and then kept up until I pop the eggs on Saturday the 11th to participate in Mahonri's New Years Hatch!

I'M GONNA HAVE BABIES!

If you can't tell, I am excited! I haven't hatched in almost 20 years!

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
If that bird doesn't come out within 24 hours of it making that small "chip" in the shell, you need to very carefully help it out. Staying in the egg too long can cause deformity or death. But be very gentle. Sometimes just removing the top porting of the shell can help them to go ahead and hatch, but if that doesn't help (after a few hours), you are going to have to hatch it yourself.

If it don't do something by late tonight i'll help it along. I've done it many times. If they're meant to live they will. I've had some that I just knew I would loose and after laying around a little longer than the others it got up and survived right along with the others. Then i've had some I just knew where fine and they drop dead without any signs it was going to happen. I just say if it's meant to be it will happen. I give them every chance I can to help but sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

 

[emvickrey]

GotChicken? :

I won an auction from CJ Exotics last week, so tomorrow I will have 18 Silkie eggs going in for a post-Christmas hatching. A mix of blacks, blues, splashes, whites, splits, and one lonely partridge. Hopefully I'll do better than my last attempts at hatching eggs, and get more than two chicks (GO 3!!!

)

You did good by getting some eggs from CJ.

Thats where mine came from. All but the pair of whites I got saturday are from her stock and they are very nice birds. I got some back in the spring and it's their chicks that are hatching right now. They are turning out very pretty. I have 3 partridges and one I don't know but it looks like it may be partridge also.

She was the first silkie to lay and they are all laying now. I have a very handsome roo that is doing the breeding and another that doesn't. He will when I separate them later. He is a lavender split, not as fluffy as the others but he has a nice fluffy head. That is if it is a roo. If it's not, she isn't laying yet. My blue one was the last to lay and her first egg was smaller than a quail egg and she sat on that nest just like she was concentrating on a bigger egg. It has to feel like a poopl.

As far as the egg that just pipped a hole and stopped, I noticed dark around the edges and I didn't want to loose it so I just finished helping it out and it may be black like the roo. I'll be able to tell better when it's dry but it seems to be doing fine. It lost a little blood but seems ok. We'll see on that one and the last egg is pipped now. It is a mix, the hen is polish/silkie and the roo is the black lavender split. Should be interesting.​