June 2015 Hatch A Long HAL

[MesMama]

So here' are my two little survivor chicks Still can't believe they survived being pecked so badly, but they are fighters apparently! Feeling blessed <3

 

[MesMama]

I do have a question if anyone has a chance to give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it As you can see in the upper left corner, Sweetie has quite the clutch...started at 5 the other day and we have these 3 penned up (we put Sweetie in with the mamas/chicks because they all were mothering the chicks and wanted them separated a little from the rest of the flock and just keep the chicks safer) but the others are able to fly in there if they want, so I don't know whether someone flew in and laid eggs in the pen and Sweetie gathered them into her nest or can broody's/new mama's be laying eggs? I know that 5 of them have been incubated for several weeks now, two are due to hatch Sunday and the other 3 were the mean hen's that we had to cull and those are due to hatch next Friday. I know I should have marked them as we moved Sweetie into the mama pen but with all the chaos it just slipped my mind :/ Anyway, I'm planning on seeing how the hatching goes and just hang back from pulling eggs until next weekend?? Anyway wondering about those 2 extra eggs, can broody's still lay? How long after eggs hatch do mamas start laying again?

P.S. It's so interesting and really cute, all 3 of those hens nest there in the corner with the eggs and the chicks. Honestly I don't know which one Sweetie is anymore because she mothers the chicks right along with the actual mamas

It did my heart good this morning when I walked into the coop and saw the picture above that I posted I needed that!

 

[frenchiegirl21]

Everyone ready for more cuteness??? I've got 28 chicks now!

Here are some more pictures

Chicks 6-12



Chicks 13-23 (Bad pic, sorry! I took them out of the incubator before I swam at 6:00 this morning)



Chicks 24-28

 

[MesMama]

Congrats! Love it

 

[Pyxis]

I do have a question if anyone has a chance to give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it As you can see in the upper left corner, Sweetie has quite the clutch...started at 5 the other day and we have these 3 penned up (we put Sweetie in with the mamas/chicks because they all were mothering the chicks and wanted them separated a little from the rest of the flock and just keep the chicks safer) but the others are able to fly in there if they want, so I don't know whether someone flew in and laid eggs in the pen and Sweetie gathered them into her nest or can broody's/new mama's be laying eggs?  I know that 5 of them have been incubated for several weeks now, two are due to hatch Sunday and the other 3 were the mean hen's that we had to cull and those are due to hatch next Friday.  I know I should have marked them as we moved Sweetie into the mama pen but with all the chaos it just slipped my mind :/ Anyway, I'm planning on seeing how the hatching goes and just hang back from pulling eggs until next weekend??  Anyway wondering about those 2 extra eggs, can broody's still lay?  How long after eggs hatch do mamas start laying again?

P.S. It's so interesting and really cute, all 3 of those hens nest there in the corner with the eggs and the chicks.  Honestly I don't know which one Sweetie is anymore because she mothers the chicks right along with the actual mamas   It did my heart good this morning when I walked into the coop and saw the picture above that I posted I needed that!

Broodies don't lay, so someone else flew in and laid them. You're gonna want to be careful too - Friday and Sunday are far enough apart that she might abandon the Sunday eggs to take care of the Friday chicks.

 

[MesMama]

@Pyxis I wondered about that :/ Do you think since she's in with the other two mamas that someone will go ahead and sit on those eggs if she gets off of them? I have noticed them playing musical nest since we moved them, like the mamas still want to sit on eggs maybe? Idk maybe I need to get an incubator just in case? What would you do?

 

[frenchiegirl21]

Well, my total right now is 32 chicks. I don't think anything else will hatch, but I'm leaving the eggs in the incubator for a few more days. I ended up with a 66% hatch rate, which isn't that great, but considering how many problems I had it's awesome lol

 

[cppeace]

Anything better than 50% is good when incubating has issues

 

[Texas4T]

Anything better than 50% is good when incubating has issues

x2!!!

 

[Texas4T]

I thought my little bantam would never go broody, so I set a dozen of her eggs in my incubator 19 days ago. Today, out of 9 eggs (the others candled clear on day 14) I have 7 external pips!

The chicks will be sexlinks...barred hen and wheaten roo. Can't wait to see them.
And by the way, the Bantam hen went broody 4 days ago with 2 eggs under her, and I slipped three developing guinea eggs under her today.

We shall see what happens.

Well...out of the 9 eggs that were left (out of 12 total, 3 were clear) all of them hatched!!! And that is a very exciting hatch rate for me, and will offset the fact that I got 2 hens and 7 roosters.

A friend wants mama hen and papa roo and the two female chicks, but she lives in the city and can only have one rooster.
(Now, to find someone for 7 baby bantam roos...plus three adult bantam roos that I already need to rehome...suggestions anyone?!?!?)


In the Brinsea...


In the brooder...


Edit...thought I would let you guys see mama and papa!