HALLOWEEN Hatch-a-Long 2016 w/ Hosts, Mike, Sally & BantyChooks

[Cynthia12]

Thank you!

That is very reassuring. The power just came back on. The eggs were quite chill, but I am hoping they will be ok. 7 of the eggs I am especially hoping make it.

They are part of my son's FFA project and he doesn't even know about this outage since he is sleeping.

Oh good, glad the power came back on. I've had the power out for a while, and had good hatches..like what was said, mama leaves the nest.
I was thinking you could add warm water from the tap. Your water heater should work warm for a while. Just something to think about.
Sounds fun, your son doing FFA project. Bet you get some to hatch.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote: I took the chicks from Louise after a few weeks, purely for management. She was so heartbroken. And then she lost her sister. She roosts all alone now.
She gets hugged and petted all the time but I feel so guilty for taking her chicks. Next time I'll let her keep two chicks to raise and won't take them away. I won't make that mistake again.

For rose of you in the north. Zone 6 here. Do you hatch all year long? I want to try araucana eggs again but I thought maybe I should wait until March or April. I would keep the chicks inside until they got feathers...6 weeks or so. What do you all do?

Zone 3 here. I guess I've hatched "almost" all year as my "wonderful" husband just pointed out to me...lol.
I incubated into October last year and took November off when the girls molted. (I only had two hens laying at that time)
We had incredibly decent weather for the month of November and into December...but those chicks did really well to be moved to a new coop and .have the older birds mixed in afterwards.

I've decided to set eggs for the Halloween hatch. Not sure it's the brightest move but I like that those chicks will be from hens who are laying when the rest aren't. My coop has one side open(until we close it with plastic) and it's been down to freezing here already during the nights. I use a heat lamp. If it's windy I have to shut the door because it's too much air for the chicks. (My coop is a garage with a garage door. Not ideal, but we've made it work.)

My hatch failed for Christmas but I've hatched steady from New Years until now. Not sure I'll do Jan/Feb but I'll probably hatch for sure in March.
Chicks get pretty rambunctious and messy at 6 weeks. I'm not sure you'll want that in the house.
If I lived in your zone...I'd be hatching all year I imagine...lol.

 

[snywalker]

I took the chicks from Louise after a few weeks, purely for management. She was so heartbroken. And then she lost her sister. She roosts all alone now.
She gets hugged and petted all the time but I feel so guilty for taking her chicks. Next time I'll let her keep two chicks to raise and won't take them away. I won't make that mistake again.

Zone 3 here. I guess I've hatched "almost" all year as my "wonderful" husband just pointed out to me...lol.
I incubated into October last year and took November off when the girls molted. (I only had two hens laying at that time)
We had incredibly decent weather for the month of November and into December...but those chicks did really well to be moved to a new coop and .have the older birds mixed in afterwards.

I've decided to set eggs for the Halloween hatch. Not sure it's the brightest move but I like that those chicks will be from hens who are laying when the rest aren't. My coop has one side open(until we close it with plastic) and it's been down to freezing here already during the nights. I use a heat lamp. If it's windy I have to shut the door because it's too much air for the chicks. (My coop is a garage with a garage door. Not ideal, but we've made it work.)

My hatch failed for Christmas but I've hatched steady from New Years until now.  Not sure I'll do Jan/Feb but I'll probably hatch for sure in March.
Chicks get pretty rambunctious and messy at 6 weeks. I'm not sure you'll want that in the house. 
If I lived in your zone...I'd be hatching all year I imagine...lol.

I really like your thoughts about hatching eggs of the hen who is laying when the rest are not. I never thought of it that way.

 

[chickendreams24]

Well today is a tough one I'm not gunna lie. We decided to process today. For the first time well of course when we went out to do it the first time it started to downpour.

Take two. Everything is ready and DH2B is doing the deed on the first bird right now while I watch the water in the house. So grateful to him for this. I'm just not ready yet for that part. Maybe later tonight or next time we'll see. I'm grateful to these birds and excited to try the meat we've raised. I'm also a bit melancholy but I know they've had good lives and this is for the best. I'm also excited about the peace this will continue to give our flock as more and more spare cockerals come of age and get processed.

Wish we had some of you all here to guide us and make sure we do this right. We've watched very many videos and DH2B is a kind and gentle man. He will make this as calm fast and painful for these boys. Still I feel a bit guilty that this first time he is out there alone.

 

[chickendreams24]

We have finished up the prehalloween hatch this morning.

As life ends in the yard it begins in the kitchen and our flock is coming full circle for the first time. As we prepared the supplies we would need an eagle flew over head and landed in a tree in the yard. The branch it landed on broke and it flew off. Better for us to reap the rewards of all of our hard work instead of that bird of prey.

Still this is hard. I know I'm tender hearted this is something I've dealt with and worked through my entire life. I believe it can be a blessing and a curse. Still I know it's best and I don't want this to be an easy thing to take a life without thinking of it and respecting it. These animals deserve this.

 

[BullChick]

Well today is a tough one I'm not gunna lie. We decided to process today. For the first time well of course when we went out to do it the first time it started to downpour.

Take two. Everything is ready and DH2B is doing the deed on the first bird right now while I watch the water in the house. So grateful to him for this. I'm just not ready yet for that part. Maybe later tonight or next time we'll see. I'm grateful to these birds and excited to try the meat we've raised. I'm also a bit melancholy but I know they've had good lives and this is for the best. I'm also excited about the peace this will continue to give our flock as more and more spare cockerals come of age and get processed.

Wish we had some of you all here to guide us and make sure we do this right. We've watched very many videos and DH2B is a kind and gentle man. He will make this as calm fast and painful for these boys. Still I feel a bit guilty that this first time he is out there alone.

The first time is hard. Then the first time you watch. Please believe me when I say this. Doing it yourself isn't the experience you think it is. Especially if you have company. Having someone to talk to makes it much easier.
You don't think about the poop when dealing with animals or kids. You won't think about the unpleasantness of processing either. Biology was hard. Processing was sooo much easier!
Congratulations on the new babies!

 

[BullChick]

BTW, no broody!!

 

[Sienatiger]

Boo! I have a hen sitting on 4 eggs

 

[BullChick]

Boo! I have a hen sitting on 4 eggs

e

 

[pjnbill22]

Boo! I have a hen sitting on 4 eggs

.