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

[kelseyk]

I have some blue ribbon babies as well that hatched this spring. I got a cool green egg with brown speckles from her that sadly didn't hatch that I'm still trying to identify.

I wonder if your green egg with brown speckles was an Isbar/Silverudd Blue.

 

[kelseyk]

Amazing how much they can change in a week! I am absolutely loving these 2 Buff Orpington/Partridge Silkie(?) crosses colorings!

 

[AgnesGray]

It's a "him" actually.

Whoops! I've bought so many ebay eggs, many with nice notes included, I sometimes confuse who is who. That green speckled egg is in my spreadsheet with blue ribbon's name on it though, so that part should not be wrong.

 

[AgnesGray]

I wonder if your green egg with brown speckles was an Isbar/Silverudd Blue.

Awww man! And yay!!! That's it! Thank you for solving the mystery for me! There it is!

 

[FortCluck]

Had an emergency today... Blue Footed Booby decided she doesn’t want to be a mom and left the nest. The eggs were cold when we got home. 2 I cracked the air cell open and they are alive (barely). 1 egg was pecked all over and the chick unfortunately passed away when I tried to help it.

Hoping those two hatch!

 

[kelseyk]

So after a month to a month and a half with no rain, pastures bone dry and brown....it has rained 6 out of the last 7 days! The last 2 days have been gulley washers! Somewhere between 4-6 inches (hard to tell where it was coming down sideways). We went out for a walk right after todays rain and I took some pictures. Got out early enough to see a very small waterfall where the water was running off between 2 hills. It has been 13 years since there was water in the creek.

 

[Vantic]

Had an emergency today... Blue Footed Booby decided she doesn’t want to be a mom and left the nest. The eggs were cold when we got home. 2 I cracked the air cell open and they are alive (barely). 1 egg was pecked all over and the chick unfortunately passed away when I tried to help it.

Hoping those two hatch!

See it is stuff like this that makes me wonder if I want to let a broody have her eggs. There are more reports here of fails than success.

 

[AquaDuck]

See it is stuff like this that makes me wonder if I want to let a broody have her eggs. There are more reports here of fails than success.

I don't like my ducks hatching their own ducklings, they have a tendency to mess things up. Had quite a few squash either the eggs or the hatchlings, or simply not been able to brood the eggs properly and the eggs have died during incubation.

I think it has a lot to do with location. They usually find cramped and bad nesting-places inside the house. The floor is hard, cold and slippery, and 3 unmovable walls around. That's not how it's done in nature, everything is more flexible and the babies would be able to move around more. (unfortunately they blatantly REFUSE to be moved, and toss out any bedding I give them.)
Often times the nest is inside a crowded and noisy coop too, with lots of distractions. Wild birds will leave the nest permanently if they're distracted too much. Many failures probably aren't due to the broody hen herself, but the environment.
I like this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/

 

[Shahann]

Thanks

Love the names and your birds!

. I often name them because of their colors. Sometimes I name them after Disney characters. I learned the lesson the hard way NOT to name them after people I have loved that have passed away. It was a hard lesson to learn when I lost "Harold" the rooster and "Irene" named after my late uncle and aunt.

"Meredith" hatched in the past 24 hours. She is a grey chick. I have a feeling that others in this hatch will have a Grey's Anatomy theme.

 

[Shahann]

See it is stuff like this that makes me wonder if I want to let a broody have her eggs. There are more reports here of fails than success.

Glad you were able to save some. My broody was off the nest the other day. It was day 18! She was laying lifeless near the fresh water. I opened the door to the coop and reached to touch her. Whew... she jumped up and hopped back on the nest. I didn't mess with the eggs to see if they were cold or not. It was so close to the 21 days that I didn't want to mess with anything. Fortunately she was just on "break" when I caught her. Whew...