July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[SnapdragonQ]

 

[SnapdragonQ]

How I managed to get a chick pic without poop in it somewhere is beyond me....

 

[AgnesGray]

@SnapdragonQ I think as I hear your observations as well, that the unabsorbed yolk issue might be a case of a super robust chick hatching too easily and too early from the egg while positioning. I could NOT get my little girl to sit still with that yolk.

@FortCluck I second all the advice about acreage with guineas. We had them on 15 acres. They were bordered by a gorge on one side a property boundary on another and a road for the the last (triangle shaped). They had pasture, forest and yard to wander through. They were at the one neighbors quite frequently and also in the road almost everyday. My experience. If others hadn't said anything I would have thought maybe it was just my experience too lol. Guineas are really cool looking IMO. But they are a handful to keep safe and also to keep your sanity.

I am so super excited about our new guineas! My husband not so much... lol Our only neighbors are in their 80s and can't hear our birds or so they've said, but let's see if guineas are an exception. Haha...

 

[AgnesGray]

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Great mix of girls and boys! So cute!

 

[TheBajan]

I'm sorry. Sometimes snuggles are the best medicine we can offer our little fuzzy friends.

Yes. Thank you. He passed away quietly on my chest about an hour and a half after I found him this morning. It was all I could do for him. I was a dog breeder for many years and I understand the two sided sword of bringing babies into the world with hope and happiness but also having to watch as they sometimes leave us. Part of what makes us human is compassion. I don't even want to imagine a life without a compassionate heart. I can't help but feel guilty because I'm a novice and I wonder if there's something I could have done.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Yes. Thank you. He passed away quietly on my chest about an hour and a half after I found him this morning. It was all I could do for him. I was a dog breeder for many years and I understand the two sided sword of bringing babies into the world with hope and happiness but also having to watch as they sometimes leave us. Part of what makes us human is compassion. I don't even want to imagine a life without a compassionate heart. I can't help but feel guilty because I'm a novice and I wonder if there's something I could have done.

I think we will always wonder. Former breeder here too (not dogs though) and the ups and downs of it are heart wrenching yet so rewarding. I think if you did not question yourself or wonder what if then you would not be doing justice to the animals in your care.
Sometimes a gentle end is the best show of compassion we can give them.

Recently I put June's pre-teen chicks outside in the grow out tractor. A few hours later, between my hourly checks, something had ran by and spooked the chicks (assuming the resident fox or neighbor dog) and one chick took a traumatic panic hit of some sort and was barely conscious and barely breathing when I found her. I scooped her up immediately and took her to the house assuming she would pass quickly and wanted her to have the comfort of my lap, like so many animals have had before her in my lifetime.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thank you! This is only my second go around with the new incubator and my first real hatch problem. Bound to happen sooner or later I suppose. It was a little easier to take since it was the last one and the other 6 zipped and popped perfectly.

Sometimes I think it's easier when things happen under a broody hen because then you can blame nature instead of oneself.

For our last broody chicken hen hatch, we had one that was particularly sought after by my daughter, who is trying to breed her own line of olive eggers. Unfortunately, it hatched with a small amount of unabsorbed yolk, something that would have been no big deal if hatched in an incubator, but mama hen pecked at it, ruptured blood vessels, and we lost that chick: unabsorbed yolk is just a problem!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

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Look at those adorable babies!!!

 

[FortCluck]

I am hoping my broodies eggs hatch soon. I have no idea when she started sitting on them.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

In addition to the broody guinea hatch, we have keets hatching in the incubator. We’ve gotten a ton of Royal purples in this clutch, but here is a pearl grey that just hatched! This was my attempt at getting “action shots”!