JANUARY 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[Purpletie3]

"Just waiting on a friend bc I am all alone in here...maybe I can hatch him" lol

 

[Renee572]

So,I woke up to the Hovabator and 1/3 orpington is out and 4 out of the 6 silkies are out. One silkie is totally zipped and stuck in the membrane...The other doing nothing. So, they must like a 5 degree difference in there.

The little Brinsea mini has one silkie out and one tying to get out. I shoved 7 silkies and 1 orpington in there for hatch.  So there are like 5 eggs left one pip last night. 

I am very pleased as yesterday I was so nervous about the temp swings.

At this point 6 chicks. 

I'm so glad it's going well for you! I was nervous for you too yesterday.

"Just waiting on a friend bc I am all alone in here...maybe I can hatch him" lol

so cute, hope that chick gets a friend real soon. My first chick had to wait like 6 hours for a friend, luckily I think it was too tired to care that it was alone because it didn't peep much.

 

[Renee572]

Almost forgot to post my hatch.

No pics im sorry i will get some.

2 out of 4 frizzle/frazzle cochin eggs hatched.
The other two were fully formed, one had internally piped and died for some unknown reason.
The other was all black too big for it shell and even with assistance it died at about midnight last night, no reason why that i could see. Yolk was fully absorbed, fully formed chick.

The only thing i can think of is i keep getting these black chicks...black skin and all but they have these like beads all along their fluff shafts. i am thinking it must have something to do with the terminal frizzle X frizzle cross. The lady i get the eggs from has one straight feather roo, 1 fizzle feather....3 straight hens and 3 frizzle hens. So i think that the frizzle roo keeps mating one of the frizzle hens.

Anyhow the two i got were yellow...their older brother is almost all black including skin and feet.

congrats on the 2 that you got to hatch. Sorry the other 2 didn't make it. Post pics when you can!

 

[Renee572]

Renee... They are super cute! I don't think you will be out of the hatching business for long! You enjoy it!

Well it can't be anytime too soon though. I've got my last 2 chicks in a dog cage in my garage till I can safely mix them in with the 4 bigger girls and I have my 18 new chicks in their brooder in my kids bathroom. I have no where else to put chicks right now!

Go for it Renee, Join in with me---LOL. I got almost 600 eggs incubating as I type this----with 500+ chickens already. I do not want To be alone!! LOL

my hubby would kick me out if I asked to hatch some more right now! We will see how well culling the roos and selling the extra hens goes in a few months and then maybe hubby will let me hatch more to sell at least!

 

[Purpletie3]

Well, After stressing about the Hovabator having a 5 degree differential inside...6 out of 9 hatched!!! Best hatch to date! 50% humidity day 1-18 and 70% by accident at hatch.

The Brinsea Mini has two silkies that hatched...5 silkies and an orpington unhatched at this point. Still holding humidity fine in there.

I had to re-purpose the Hovabator because I have a hatch due 11 pm Thursday and 7 am Saturday. So, lockdown a day late and a day early.

So, thursday's crew is 6 silkies (1 iffy), 2 crele orpington, 1 buff orpington, 3 farmer brown mystery eggs.

Saturday's hatch is 13 Farmer Brown Mystery eggs...

Pics to come later...gotta run to class.

 

[Renee572]

Well, After stressing about the Hovabator having a 5 degree differential inside...6 out of 9 hatched!!!  Best hatch to date!  50% humidity day 1-18 and 70% by accident at hatch.

The Brinsea Mini has two silkies that hatched...5 silkies and an orpington unhatched at this point.  Still holding humidity fine in there.

I had to re-purpose the Hovabator because I have a hatch due 11 pm Thursday and 7 am Saturday. So, lockdown a day late and a day early.  

So, thursday's crew is 6 silkies (1 iffy), 2 crele orpington, 1 buff orpington, 3 farmer brown mystery eggs.

Saturday's hatch is 13 Farmer Brown Mystery eggs...

Pics to come later...gotta run to class.

yay, I'm glad 6 of the 9 hatched for you... it's only day 21 for them today isn't it? Maybe the other 3 will hatch. I hope some more silkies hatch for you.

Sounds like you are super busy with hatches. I don't think I could ever do one right after the other. I'd seriously never get anything done. I got very little done on Friday and Saturday while my babies were hatching... I spent a great deal of that time in front of the incubator cheering them on and really wanting to open the lid to help them out.

It's sad to see the counter empty where the incubator was. I guess I should return it to its owner!

And my babies will be going tomorrow to live next door until they are a bit bigger and we can mix them in with the big girls.

I'm still a bit unsure on how to go about this. I have 4 hens that are about 40 weeks, 2 that are 6 weeks and now the babies. I'm thinking about putting the 2 6 week olds near the 40 week olds so they could see and hear each other but not get at each other. I plan to let them see each other every day for like 4 weeks and then put them in the coop one night after dark. And then do the same process with the babies once they are about 6 weeks. Will this work? Better suggestions/methods?

 

[blackgoat]

I'm still a bit unsure on how to go about this. I have 4 hens that are about 40 weeks, 2 that are 6 weeks and now the babies. I'm thinking about putting the 2 6 week olds near the 40 week olds so they could see and hear each other but not get at each other. I plan to let them see each other every day for like 4 weeks and then put them in the coop one night after dark. And then do the same process with the babies once they are about 6 weeks. Will this work? Better suggestions/methods?

When I had to do this, I put the chicks outside in an enclosure so that the older chickens could see them. I did this for several weeks before putting the chicks in the coop. The chicks were between 6-8 weeks when I put them out with the others. The older chickens still chased the little ones. I put some boxes with holes cut out in the coop that only the little chicks could fit into so that they could find a hiding place. The younger group is almost 4 months old now, and they still hang out separate from the older ones. Some of the older ones still chase them. The EEs have been the only ones that I see with them sometimes. In short, I have no idea how to integrate new members into a flock, lol!

 

[mattsinger]

Well, After stressing about the Hovabator having a 5 degree differential inside...6 out of 9 hatched!!! Best hatch to date! 50% humidity day 1-18 and 70% by accident at hatch.

The Brinsea Mini has two silkies that hatched...5 silkies and an orpington unhatched at this point. Still holding humidity fine in there.

I had to re-purpose the Hovabator because I have a hatch due 11 pm Thursday and 7 am Saturday. So, lockdown a day late and a day early.

So, thursday's crew is 6 silkies (1 iffy), 2 crele orpington, 1 buff orpington, 3 farmer brown mystery eggs.

Saturday's hatch is 13 Farmer Brown Mystery eggs...

Pics to come later...gotta run to class.

Sounds busy ober there.. congrats!

 

[blackgoat]

Oh dear, after the longest day ever, my first pip is right in the middle of the egg! I have the eggs in cartons, I wonder if I should put that one sideways instead. Hrmmm hrmm hrmmm

 

[Purpletie3]

Oh dear, after the longest day ever, my first pip is right in the middle of the egg! I have the eggs in cartons, I wonder if I should put that one sideways instead. Hrmmm hrmm hrmmm

Mine did great in their cartons...some pipped outside the air cell and I was worried but they just kept zipping right around. So, just watch him. He may be just fine! Of course it may be another 12 hours...!