HALLOWEEN HATCH!!! Anyone

[Mojo Chick'n]

I'm back

sorry I haven't posted at all since the one post saying I was in - I've been SO busy, then I totally forgot about this thread

I'm a bad chickenmama

Anyway, eggs are in the hatcher - no action yet, due day is tomorrow, though, so I dont' expect much yet. Just a reminder... I have 8 (what I think are) Buff Orp eggs, and one BabyMama egg. BabyMama is my game mix girl - she is gorgeous, and she got her name because I had her in the brooder coop for so long, that when I added in 100+ new babies (three weeks old) she decided to mother them all (she was at POL)

She is still a "mama" to anything smaller than she is - I can't wait til next summer when she goes broody on me and has her own babies (I am almost certain she will go broody, her mama is the queen of broody.)

I love the names you all came up with - I already have critters with some of those names

I have a donkey named Spooky, a pair of calves named Hocus and Pocus, and I had a pair of donkeys named Mojo and Juju (sold them).

I SO hope those eggs are actually from my orp girls - I saw one of the barred rocks in the barn laying last week, so I am hoping they aren't barred rock eggs (I have had a lot of BR chicks this summer - I'm ready for something different.) However, even if they are BR they may be half BO, since my BO roo is the only one of this year's cockerels who is hitting on the ladies, and he is a Love Bandit (sneaks up on them and goes after any girl who can't outrun him). That might be an interesting mix.

I'll have them all seperated into their own coops, soon, though (since winter is coming) so I'll know that whatever fertile eggs I have are pure pretty soon. Then maybe I can schedule a Christmas day hatch

meri

 

[Luvmybob]

OOOO I like hocus and pocus.... **writing those names down**


Crossing fingers for a good hatch tomorrow Mojo! Ours are due today---one hatched yesterday---and now just waiting on the rest....I'm so nervous, I thought for sure I would see at least one more this morning = ( Is that normal? Of course I placed eggs under her up to 2 days after she was broody so maybe that's it???

Thanks!

 

[Luvmybob]

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Congrats!! That is so exciting! Ya'll have some great names for your chicks... I love Icabod and Igor...that is too cute..

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

do all of you only hatch in summer? I like hatching in winter, myself (but then, I don't get much snow or too much cold, and I have a seperate brooder/hatcher room in the house - the benefits of kids growing up and moving out

)

My best hatch rates were this summer, though, after I added fans and turners to the incubators - I am curious to see how the hatches go this winter with them in.

The reason I like hatching in winter is that I sell chicks and chickens, and come spring, I'll have some that are ready to go into people's coops (when a lot of people either have older hens or baby chicks). I've been trying to keep track of sales this summer, and I think that I'm gonna schedule the hatching better next year, though - Hubby got addicted to hatching and had me having full bators (three of them) for MONTHS -- long after I got tired of dealing with the mess of babies in the house. When I complained, however, he set me up with an outdoor brooder coop - so how could I really complain too much?

In summer the babies can go into the brooder coop at two weeks old - so not so bad in the house, then.

meri

 

[Luvmybob]

do all of you only hatch in summer? I like hatching in winter, myself (but then, I don't get much snow or too much cold, and I have a seperate brooder/hatcher room in the house - the benefits of kids growing up and moving out )

This is our first hatch and it was up to my broody BO...I would love to hatch in the winter when we get an incubator...​

 

[Sassah001]

I am freaking out. Hatch day is today so I was going to candle one more time just to double check and one egg has a hole with a little escape artist trying to get out and another egg is peeping! It was the sweetest thing. How long does it normally take for an egg to hatch once they have broken through? This is my first time hatching and I am just so worried and keep going out there and lifting abe(my broody) up to see how they are doing, she is not thrilled with me, but I can't help it! a little advice?

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

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This is our first hatch and it was up to my broody BO...I would love to hatch in the winter when we get an incubator...

I got my first incubator last december or so - I now have three bators and I picked up an old beaten up one that I use as an overflow hatcher. I rarely use it, but in a pinch...

I am thinking that at most I might need one more incubator

yeah, I hatch a lot.

I am setting up purebred pens, though, and want to have enough for sales (I am retired, so I make a lot of feed money on sales of chicks/chickens and eggs.) I have Buff Orps, Large Fowl Cochins, Barred Rocks, bantam buff rocks, bantam cochins --- and the mixed yard candy flock who I won't be hatching eggs from once I am set up.

My cochins are mostly blacks, but I recently got a blue hen and an odd colored one that almost looks reddish platinum colored. Not a recognized color, I know, but she is gorgeous. My bantam cochins are a mottled cockerel a blue hen and a buff hen who I only keep cause she hangs tight with the blue hen (need more bantam cochin hens - they were sort of an afterthought.)

The bantam buff rocks are gorgeous, IMO. I went to the auction alone one night and hubby said not to bring anything home that is breathing

(silly man)... but these folks had them parked right next to me and I sat and watched them all night long and I just had to have some

I've already had at least two people want hatching eggs or chicks when they begin to lay. I need to get some pics of them, they are so pretty.

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

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Might be this evening before they actually come out - I'd leave her be

she may not want to finish if ya keep bothering her. Hatching times under a broody are usually (at least at my house) different than timing on incubated eggs.

so, step away from the broody hen and let her do her job

I know, it's so hard to wait - especially if it's your first hatch.

meri

 

[Luvmybob]

Quote:
WOW!! You are just like me! I have a broody and I took her off of her eggs this morning because I just felt like she needed to poop( and boy did she POOP )--tmi--but she was on there since Wed. night and I felt sorry for her so I took a snap shot of the one that hatched yesterday... cutie huh?? KING OF THE HILL!! Good luck to you sweetie!! I'm right there with you on this I'm freaking out too!!

And MOJO--YOU MUST STAY BUSY!! I'm so jealous, I hope I can be an expert like you one day = )

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

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I am more busy now than I ever was when I punched someone's timeclock.

We also have 13 cows - 12 of which we got as bottle babies, all of them are off bottles now (thankgoodness) but the most I had on bottles at one time was about 9. we have 8 donkeys, I have (I think) around 60 chickens - the chicken count keeps changing all the time.

This was my dream, though (luckily it was hubby's dream too). I grew up on a farm and we moved off the farm when I was a teen - I never quite got over it. I tried for almost 30 years to get back to the farm, and I finally got my own farm

(this is hubby's first time being a farmer, but he learns quickly

)

I'm no expert, I just do great quantities

so I take notes to try to learn a bit more each time.

meri