Illinois...

[BReeder!]

I kept saying this is "my last hatch" about once a month all summer. My last planned hatch was in August. After that I put the incubator into storage. But 3 hens went broody, so my "last hatch" was Sept 9th. Those hens & mamas are doing great. Then my son's fav serama chick from his spring 4H project went broody.

This is "Coge." She a spoiled little serama. There's nothing special about the way she looks, but to DS, she's perfect. She was hatched May 1st and started laying 3 weeks ago.

What a little brat! (the chicken. My son's OK.) She refused to lay in the reg nest boxes. She kept hopping the backyard fence & knocking on our back door. I put her in a little coop (which was occupied by some older chicks) as a way of containing her, and then it became her routine! She insisted that I carry her & place he into the extra broody coop to lay her egg. When finished, she'd beat up the chicks to make them squawk, so I'd let her out. I finally locked her in an unused rabbit cage. She decided that was suitable, and after the 2nd day all I had to do was leave the door open for her to come & go as needed. After all of that, she only laid eggs for about 10-12 days before going broody.

One of her 1st eggs was completely useless. Here it is next to a Sebright's egg.

This is Coge now. She's sitting tight on some eggs in the rabbit hutch.

As soon as DS noticed his little pullet was broody, he ran inside to grab some of her eggs. I had no idea if any of her eggs were fertile. She started with 8, but one was peeking out. I removed that egg plus one more just in case. Out of the remaining 6 eggs, 4 started developing.

I guess in about 2 weeks, we'll have our last "last hatch."

We are done hatching birds this year. We just have the human to hatch. I know DH knows the tone is coming because she decided to pull out a lot of baby stuff yesterday. Any day now...

 

[Molpet]

The last 4 broodies didn't have much luck. 2 were in the same dog house and one hatched. The other ones didn't hatch anything but gave up after 25 days.

 

[Faraday40]

gave up after 25 days.

Serously!? After sitting that long, they gave up just a couple days before their poults hatched!? How sad & frustrating.

Of course, I've been having the opposite problem. Way too many beaks to feed. I'm sort of glad DS's serama only has 4 little eggs. If only one or two hatched that would also be OK. Since the incubator is locked up, it's all up to the broody now.

With the exception of the silkied serama, Cookie's chicks are bigger than her. (Aug hatch)

The Sept 9th hatch (group formerly known as "my last hatch") is also doing well. They are split up between 3 hens.
Here are Smudge's chicks:
The lav in front may be my only male.... but he's not showing any confirmation yet. Just slow to feather.

PR has the 2 white chicks. No idea on gender yet. They are pretty wild and always in motion, so hard to get clear pics. (This is so unlike all my other orpingtons. I can tell they're not being raised by another orp.)

Lastly Crystal has 4 laced orps and 2 seramas.
No recent pics of them, but I think it's an even split 3 to 3 split on genders. The laced orps are tough to tell. They "look" female but 2 have just slightly taller combs and slower feathering.

 

[Molpet]

Serously!? After sitting that long, they gave up just a couple days before their poults hatched!? How sad & frustrating.

Of course, I've been having the opposite problem. Way too many beaks to feed. I'm sort of glad DS's serama only has 4 little eggs. If only one or two hatched that would also be OK. Since the incubator is locked up, it's all up to the broody now.

With the exception of the silkied serama, Cookie's chicks are bigger than her. (Aug hatch)
View attachment 1932108
The Sept 9th hatch (group formerly known as "my last hatch") is also doing well. They are split up between 3 hens.
Here are Smudge's chicks:
The lav in front may be my only male.... but he's not showing any confirmation yet. Just slow to feather.
View attachment 1932109


PR has the 2 white chicks. No idea on gender yet. They are pretty wild and always in motion, so hard to get clear pics. (This is so unlike all my other orpingtons. I can tell they're not being raised by another orp.)
View attachment 1932110 View attachment 1932111


Lastly Crystal has 4 laced orps and 2 seramas.
No recent pics of them, but I think it's an even split 3 to 3 split on genders. The laced orps are tough to tell. They "look" female but 2 have just slightly taller combs and slower feathering.

I should have said they were chicken hens. The eggs were either early or late quiters, none were alive. I had a couple of late hatches this year so I was giving them extra time. I hadn't candle the eggs until they got off.
I was glad they gave up and I didn't have to break them.

 

[Faraday40]

I grabbed some pics of the laced orp chicks today. It was pretty cold out there this morning.

I also made some predictions. They are 4.5 weeks old. Let me know if you agree.

I've been pretty sure about the males all along. They were hunches but now I'm starting to see some wattles. (#2 is less obvious)

Female 1 is another I've been sure about all along. petite, quick to feather, & angular face. Still has no real comb

Female 2 is pretty big boned, but looks more female today. The comb area is very flat. This one I'm not as sure about.

 

[Faraday40]

More orp pics

My fav lav girl:

Mr Nice Guy

The lav boy from @homeschoolin momma is still my back up rooster. He looks great from a distance. It's just that his comb is pretty wonky. (And yes he has a tail. LOL)

My CCL always looks like a villian. Here she is giving me the usual evil eye.

And then there's Tillie. My over-achiever. Today was her 383rd egg in a row.

 

[Tortoise]

My lav girl looks like a Male compared
To your fave lav girl.
Yours barely has a comb and wattle.

 

[Faraday40]

My lav girl looks like a Male compared
To your fave lav girl.
Yours barely has a comb and wattle. View attachment 1933018

Yes. She's much younger. (and from an unrelated line of lav orps)

Mr Nice Guy is the brother to your gal. Both are starting to look like adults.

 

[Tortoise]

Oh good, I thought you were going to say, oops, you have a rooster lol. He'd be a quiet one if she was. The other one likes to do all the talking.

 

[Faraday40]

Oh good, I thought you were going to say, oops, you have a rooster lol. He'd be a quiet one if she was. The other one likes to do all the talking.

She looks just right. Her comb size & color are what hens look like when not laying. (like when broody, molting, or just taking a winter break) She has Jewel's wattles.

Do you have any other recent pics of the orp babies?