July Hatch-A-Long

[StarMeKritten]

I candled some of my eggs again today. 3/4 of the eggs from my 2 newly laying pullets are fertile and developing. Those 3 will be an interesting surprise! Both of the pullets are mixed breed and I'm not sure which of the young boys is actually mating with them. I have a 5 month old easter egger, a 5 month old silkie (who's half the size of the girls!), and an almost 4 month old australorp that matured very quickly. The other 4 month old boys aren't showing much interest in the girls yet. I added 3 eggs from 2 bantams that I got a few days ago. I'm not sure which hen laid them and I have no idea what they would be mixed with if they are actually fertile. So far, I'm not seeing any development in those, but it's still early. The rest of my eggs (wyandottes, australorps, and olive eggers) appear to be growing and thriving. They have one week to go! I need to get started on a new brooder that will hold all of these chicks!

 

[chickieluver26]

Call me crazy but I just went out to discover that my favorite silkie/winner of the most devoted broody award, was broody so I took one of my serama eggs from my incubator and stuck it under her! Is there anything I should know about using broody hens?

 

[chippysmom327]

Call me crazy but I just went out to discover that my favorite silkie/winner of the most devoted broody award, was broody so I took one of my serama eggs from my incubator and stuck it under her! Is there anything I should know about using broody hens?

I'd watch her for another day to be positive she's broody, but if you're positive, go ahead.

How far along are the eggs? Give em' all to her (unless you wanted to incubate them in the bator for some reason, or there's too many for her to cover)!

I'd say just make sure she gets off the nest at least once a day to eat, drink, poop, etc. My broody takes a quick dust bath every few days and then sprints back to the nest.

 

[chickieluver26]

I'd watch her for another day to be positive she's broody, but if you're positive, go ahead.

How far along are the eggs? Give em' all to her (unless you wanted to incubate them in the bator for some reason, or there's too many for her to cover)!

I'd say just make sure she gets off the nest at least once a day to eat, drink, poop, etc. My broody takes a quick dust bath every few days and then sprints back to the nest.

I'm positive she is broody, the eggs are only day one I just have always wanted to give her the chance to be a mommy she has been many times before on un-fertilized eggs and we always have to walk her into the run because she just hops back on the nest when we put her at the door! I figured I would give her more of the eggs if she does well I just wanted to test her out with the 1 first

 

[chippysmom327]

I'd watch her for another day to be positive she's broody, but if you're positive, go ahead.

How far along are the eggs? Give em' all to her (unless you wanted to incubate them in the bator for some reason, or there's too many for her to cover)!

I'd say just make sure she gets off the nest at least once a day to eat, drink, poop, etc. My broody takes a quick dust bath every few days and then sprints back to the nest.

I'm positive she is broody, the eggs are only day one I just have always wanted to give her the chance to be a mommy she has been many times before on un-fertilized eggs and we always have to walk her into the run because she just hops back on the nest when we put her at the door! I figured I would give her more of the eggs if she does well I just wanted to test her out with the 1 first

I gave mine golf balls for about a week and when I saw that she didn't poop on them, leave them too long, or try to eat them I gave her a half dozen of guinea eggs since I've been wanting guineas for a while now and it was the perfect time.

ETA: Best of luck on the hatch!

 

[boyswillbeboys]

24 hrs in tonight. this morning I come in from the coop to see the bulb for my bator burnt out, I put in a temporary 50watt bulb, and headed to town for a bigger one, (and a spare) the little bulb was able to get the temp to 99 while I was gone, and all day since I changed in the 100 watt bulb, it's been holding steady between 100 and 101.
I now have 20 eggs in there, as I ended up
Collecting another egg from 2 of the hatchery hens, one silkie, and one BA. I had to toss one silkie egg, as I noticed there was a hole in the shell, near the air cell, I cracked it, and it was fertile, and had a large blastocyst, not just a bullseye. So I'm at 5 silkie, 5 BA and 10
Barn yard mix (when I pulled the silkie egg, I didn't know they would lay today, so I put in an egg from my original flock.

 

[kristianhope18]

I would not stop turning my eggs days before they are due to hatch! They need turned until the last 3 days! If not your basically setting yourself up to fail! Eggs are super sensitive! You gotta do everything right! You gotta constantly check the humidity and tempature! I check mine at least twice a day to make sure everything's going right! I also plan on hatching eggs year round as many as I can get lol I have eggs due to hatch all July!

 

[Deb B]

So, here's the final count for eggs that were due to hatch today.... They all hatched yesterday! (My last hatch was a day late, so my average is right on time!)
Out of the 19 eggs I set, 12 developed and made it to lockdown. The other 7 were laid by the same two hens and seem to have been infertile.
Of the 12 that made it to lockdown, they all hatched and are doing well.

I have 3 more eggs in the bator that are due to hatch Friday.....so the excitement isn't over.

So here's my question. Two of the three chicks from eggs laid by my Barred Rock were "slimy" when they hatched. When they dried, their down dried in clumps and isn't the fluffiest. Do I worry about that? Should I give them a quick bath in warm water? Does is even matter? Mainly, they just don't look as cute that way, but I'm also concerned they they won't be able to stay as warm as they need to be.

 

[StarMeKritten]

So, here's the final count for eggs that were due to hatch today.... They all hatched yesterday! (My last hatch was a day late, so my average is right on time!)
Out of the 19 eggs I set, 12 developed and made it to lockdown. The other 7 were laid by the same two hens and seem to have been infertile.
Of the 12 that made it to lockdown, they all hatched and are doing well.

I have 3 more eggs in the bator that are due to hatch Friday.....so the excitement isn't over.

So here's my question. Two of the three chicks from eggs laid by my Barred Rock were "slimy" when they hatched. When they dried, their down dried in clumps and isn't the fluffiest. Do I worry about that? Should I give them a quick bath in warm water? Does is even matter? Mainly, they just don't look as cute that way, but I'm also concerned they they won't be able to stay as warm as they need to be.

Congratulations on your new chicks! I'm not sure what the *best* thing is when you have gooey chicks.. but I usually give them a quick bath and then stick them back in the incubator/ hatcher until they are dry again before I put them in the brooder.

 

[ChickyChickens]

My brodies eggs hatched!! Yay....... There are 8!!!