First go-round with the incubator!

[Beanzie]

And we have a pip! A few minutes after I posted my last post I heard some peeping in the shell. I left for a while and noticed an ever so slight crack on the egg. Now we wait.

 

[jorey]

Yea!

 

[Beanzie]

This is what I woke up to; a bigger hole. The little chick has been talking a whole lot and bumping around. No other pips, but I think I hear the others chirping. There are a few that I can reach with the probe on my thermometer, and when I touch them I get a little chirp.

 

[Beanzie]

I set a couple dozen bantam eggs in my new incubator. Got the kinks worked out and the fan installed, so everything is a go for round two.

Oh yeah, and I got a baby chick. It zipped while I was outside but I got the hatch on video. Pretty sure it's a Silkie.

Slimy but cute. Very loud, too!

 

[jorey]

Congrats

 

[Beanzie]

Thanks! I have been told I have a case of mistaken identity on my hands. I was told the little black chick is a modern game. Clean legged, four toes: it makes sense. I wonder, though, will it turn brown?

The chick beside it is a lakenvelder. The little black chick - who I have named Forli - is very alert. I naming them so soon can lead to some disappointment, but it just came to me and I cannot unname it. Plus, it seemed like a good unisex name.

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Approx. how much water did you need to use to get it to 75% humidity for lockdown. I am in a humid area and without turning the incubator on I am staying at a constant 41-42% inside it ( per two digital therm/hygrometers). I plan on turning it on this weekend and letting it run for several days before I set eggs next week. I am going to use the "dry" and boost humidity during lockdown.

Congrats on your chicks!

Lori

 

[Beanzie]

Got one hatching right now that pipped the wrong end. It is going at it, though, so I am not really worried.

Approx. how much water did you need to use to get it to 75% humidity for lockdown. I am in a humid area and without turning the incubator on I am staying at a constant 41-42% inside it ( per two digital therm/hygrometers). I plan on turning it on this weekend and letting it run for several days before I set eggs next week. I am going to use the "dry" and boost humidity during lockdown.

Congrats on your chicks! :yiipchick

Lori

Gracias! I filled the trays completely. I have a tube running into my bator, and paper toweling is over my metal 'floor'. I push water up and it absorbs into the paper toweling and it boosts the humidity right up. Although now I regret the paper towel, as it looks pretty gross with assorted fluids on it. I guess that means less assorted fluids on the rest of my bator. Next time I am going to try setting cups of water with strips of sponges in them. I have heard of many doing that. But with my method I easily got 75% humidity within minutes.

I am essentially using a dry method for my next hatch. I added wet sponges, but have otherwise been leaving it be. I imagine the humidity is low, but I have yet to measure it as I only have one hydrometer. I plan on getting another, but the chicks need it more right now.

 

[Beanzie]

Well, my current total is five with another on the way. Here is the pile of them.

I even named them all, too! It is the first time I have named chicks since I was ten years old. God only knows if I'll remember them all, but I tried.

Here are my two Silkies, both currently sporting hobbles as they were splayed and couldn't get up. Black one is Forrest, because when it ran with its hobbles it reminded me of Forrest Gump. White one is Radio, because I thought of another 'star' bearing similar adversity. Then I remembered Radio was black and Forrest was white, but I was already set on the names.

This is Taylor, my Lakenvelder. Biggest of the bunch! My sister in law came up with the name.

This is Elko, my youngest birchen modern game. The other, Forli, was named after a city so I figured I'd name this one after a city, too.

Here is Taylor on left, and Forli, the tall drink of water she is. Forli is a modern game.

 

[Beanzie]

Well, let's see what you've all missed in my absence, for better or for worse.

First and foremost, I lost both of my modern games, Elko and Forli. They were doing really well, until Forli seemed weak and a day later he was dead. Same goes for Elko, although he never thrived as much as Forli did. Kind of hard to lose them, especially after naming them. But that is life. I just hope I don't lose any more.

The hatch is over. I currently have four chicks; Taylor, Forrest, Radio, and my little barnyard cross who fought all adversity and hatched, named Rufus. (A friend named the egg before it even went into lockdown, strange luck that it even hatched!) Rufus is a very pretty chick, I think a Dark Brahma cross, but I really won't be able to tell until he's all grown up. I hope Rufus isn't a boy, because then his name will be supper. Reminds me I got to stop naming my large fowl chicks, considering they might be roosters and would then be on the dinner plate.

Cute Rufus, protecting Radio from the evil, picture-taking giant. They seem to have a disdain for me since the other two chicks died.



I candled all of the eggs left in the incubator, and they looked like nothing was going to occur so I tossed them, and set a new batch. Now I have two incubators running. One has all bantams in it, the other is quite a few eggs from my own flock. After breaking the cardinal rule of beginner incubation, my incubator is almost full. Look at all those colors!

Thou shall not add eggs following the initial setting, thus creating a staggered hatch. Oops. I have two incubators, so it'll work. Somehow.


Anyway, that is my exciting life. Here are some more chick pictures.

They do drink out of the water, I have seen all of them go to town.


Is that comfy, Forrest?


Also, considering it is flock related, I sold two of my Americauna hens on Saturday. I was very excited to see them go to a great home. A few hours later I get a text from the woman who bought them. When she took them, she had them in boxes with holes cut in the top. She had an appt. in town and stopped before heading home. When she got back to her car, this is what she found.



And I told her even though they were four they still layed just fine. They proved my point!


Gotta love chickens!

Since I am really looking to focus on certain breeds, I have made my decision - for the most part - which breeds I will have. Which are:

Light Brahms - I used to have some, they were the nicest hens I ever had.
Dark Brahmas - I have five hens of this variety.
Buff Brahmas - Again, I just love Brahmas.
Barred Rocks - I had a few of these many moons ago, I loved them. Probably keep a rooster around and hatch some of these.
Silkies - Gotta have the fuzz balls.
Black Copper Marans OR Cuckoo Marans - I am really leaning towards BCMs, as I will already have barred rocks and don't want something similar.
White Cochins - I have four/five white hens and one solid black one. I was thinking of *possibly* getting some of a swanky color, but then I realized the whites are just gorgeous.

I am attempting to limit myself while maintaining a variety. I found an ad on craigslist for a bunch of *my* breeds, so I really hope I can get my rear in gear and call about the availability. They had Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans, Buff and Light Brahmas, as well as several Cochin colors. The ad said they had pullet chicks, but I am looking for some cockerels, so hopefully they have some as well. I can only assume so.