First timer - starting my first batch Sept 15

[donsmit5]

How is everyone else's hatch going? Just wandering how it is going....

 

[seventreesfarm]

I think I'm at 13 out of 24 now. All 5 of my BCM/BR's hatched.

We'll probably do a quick fluffy-butt snatch tonight. They are just too rowdy to leave in there and my brooder coop is nice and toasty. I'll put a heating pad in a box with a towel to transport them.

A couple of pics at my farm's facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/seventreesfarm

 

[gladahmae]

I'm 2 out of 11 right now. Just got home from work, ate my midnight dinner and I'm almost afraid to go look in the incubator. If nothing else has hatched or pipped I'm going to be really discouraged. SOMETHING needs to be happening!


We did pull our first 2 chicks out since we are also brooding/keeping the chicks that BIL is hatching and he had to open his incubator to add more water (had to add an extra pan to get that humidity up!) so he took his one chick out and brought it over here. They make a lot less noise when they have a buddy to snuggle up to.

 

[superjjf]

My happy chicks at day 22!

 

[seventreesfarm]

We moved 9 of 13 out to the brooder coop. We took the whole top off the bator, put the fluffy chicks into a cardboard box that was preheated with heating pad & towel. Quickly grabbed most of the shells, topped up a sponge holder, checked the remaining eggs for signs of pippage, then out everything back as fast as we could.

The humidity and temp came right back up and the chicks in the brooder seem much happier. Still not sure if the floppy one will make it, but it's getting around a bit with the rest.

There are 4 damp babies and 3 pipped eggs left, and 6 eggs with no sign of action. And it's day 20

 

[ShelterFarm]

Six of six hatched and are bopping around - plan on putting them in the brooder this afternoon. Until then I'm leaving the webcam up for everyone's entertainment:

I had two that pipped the wrong end, but they both hatched just fine. One was pipped for over 24 hours but the others all pipped for under 12 hours.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/livehatch

R-

 

[CamNorth]

The 'little giant' type incubator I have doesn't let me see much, just a little. And the condensation isn't helping my vision. But I've got chicks, first one popped out yesterday morning, and now (hard to count) I think I have about 6 or 8.
There are a few I can see with cracks (pips?) but the hatched chicks push the eggs around so much, plus one got bloody fluid all over a couple eggs and the bottom of the incubator. It looks disgusting. Then there are the empty shells which makes looking difficult.

Today is day 22, exactly 3 Saturdays from when I put them in the bator. I will open the bator late this evening and put the chicks in their own brooder and remove the shells.

 

[cchardwick]

My RCom 20 Pro went into lockdown last night! I bought a 'hatching tray' that is designed for this incubator that contains all of the shells and mess during hatch and keeps the incubator clean. Seems like a rather bad design with the ridges in the tray as you can see from the photo the eggs don't line up very good, but I'm guessing maybe it's designed for keeping chicks separated after hatch.

I also just got my Brower Brooder and wheel kit and assembled it last night. Talk about a jigsaw puzzle! It took me about four hours to put the BILLION nuts and bolts and screws together. I also was missing about 30 washers and had to run out to the barn to get some that would fit. But once together this thing is built like a tank and it's very heavy. I just ordered my second level that stacks on top for the second hatch coming up. But for now I'm ready for my little chicks to hatch, only a couple more days YIPEE!

RCom 20 Pro with USB


Lockdown Time!


My new Brower Brooder!


The tops of the brooder are not attached and easily come off.


Peeking in the front window... no chicks yet!


Looking down at the water bottle, what a great design!


Here's the no spill feed tray, another brilliant design! All the mess falls into the slide out tray underneath.


Here is a long heater with thermostat, looks like it's working good!

 

[seventreesfarm]

The 'little giant' type incubator I have doesn't let me see much, just a little. And the condensation isn't helping my vision. But I've got chicks, first one popped out yesterday morning, and now (hard to count) I think I have about 6 or 8.
There are a few I can see with cracks (pips?) but the hatched chicks push the eggs around so much, plus one got bloody fluid all over a couple eggs and the bottom of the incubator. It looks disgusting. Then there are the empty shells which makes looking difficult.

Today is day 22, exactly 3 Saturdays from when I put them in the bator. I will open the bator late this evening and put the chicks in their own brooder and remove the shells.

Congratulations!!

The bator looks like the aftermath of a frat party with all the shells and little fluffies rampaging around.

We moved 9 out last night, left 3 in, and woke up to 3 more. There are 9 eggs left, but we'll give them til Sunday night.

 

[gladahmae]

we have a brooder similar to yours! Ours is the gqf though, and use, so it's not nearly so shiney and new.

We're STILL at just 2 chicks (3 including BIL's) and NOTHING else has pipped in the approx. 18 other eggs we've got. I was going to wait until tomorrow to float test, but there is one egg that was a day ahead and I'm going to pull that one out to float test it and figure I might as well candle and test the rest while the top is off!

Had to clean a chick's lil bum off today. I don't know if it was 'pasty' per se, but there was poop stuck to it, and it got a little yolk(?) and some fluid on it when hatching and looked kinda gross because then it dried and hat this stiff yellow stuff dried all over its back.

I'm going to give feather sexing a try with these too, band them, and see if I was right or not. I know it can be hit or miss with wyandottes, so I'm going to give it a guess.