First Hatch, Due Febuary 25. Who's with me?

[juliecox]

12 chicks now! And 4 of them are on the bottom, out of the rack. -_- Oh well. I'm using a GQF 1266. I think it's been modified, because it has some caulking around the window on the front that looks distinctly DIY. No telling, since it's an old hand-me-down.

 

[The Point]

3 now and 2 pips. 4 doing nothing.

 

[juliecox]

I now have ... uh ... hey, hold still guys ... 20-something. XD

 

[juliecox]

This morning, I had an incubator full of fluff! I think we got at least 50, with maybe 10 of them being Naked Necks, and maybe as many as 8 Easter Eggers. I was faced with a hard decision. It had been 48 hours since the first chicks had hatched, but a few eggs were still pipping. I opted to care for the chicks that were already hatched over hoping for more hatchings, so I readied the brooder, opened the incubator and cleared out as many chicks as I could easily reach. I then quickly refilled the reservoir with hot water, to jack the humidity and temperature back up, and misted the eggs with warm water. I don't know if anyone else will hatch after that, but I did the best I could by them.

 

[mopargal1972]

Here are few pics of the new babies. At least of those that are dry enough to pose for pics.

 

[juliecox]

Cuuuuute! I love little Silkie chicks, they are truly adorable.

I underestimated this hatch. I have 55 in the brooder with 15 still in the incubator. Yup, that's 70 chicks out of 90 - and on a test run with a bunch of unproven eggs! I am pleased as punch. The chicks are absolutely gorgeous, fat, bouncy, and constantly peeping. We have 14 Turkens and something like 20 Easter Eggers! A few Turkens even came from blue or green eggs; don't ask me how that happened, as the lady who sold me them said the Turkens laid brown and she didn't have a Turken rooster. Looks like someone's mutt genetics are rearing their naked heads!

So I'd like to solicit guesses as to what these chicks are going to look like as adults. There are white, red, black and chipmunk chicks, but then there are some others that are a little more unusual. I don't mind telling you, I wish I had a grow-out coop to keep these guys in for a few months to see what they turn out like!

55 chicks in a brooder ... They look crowded, but I had to get them to fan out to take the picture. They are constantly asleep in a great big heap of chicks! Tomorrow I'm going to set up another brooder to give them some more room.

A sampling of colors! What do you make of that pale red chipmunk striping? Weird, huh?

The Turkens! Check out that white one with the stripes.

And now, a series of pics of my favorite-so-far, who has named herself Cinnamon ...

 

[happyhensny]

They are so cute!

 

[mopargal1972]

OMG!!! Cuteness overload!

 

[juliecox]

Final Hatch Report out of 104 eggs:

77 healthy chicks
1 died in brooder
1 born weak, unable to stand or hold head up, culled
2 died in shell
23 didn't pip