June Hatch-A-Long! (Blue Ameraucanas for me!)

[oesdog]

IT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!We have at least one chick I know is out as there is churping and an empty shell - but darn I can't see anything as the hen is in the way! One down 11 to go?

 

[PolishPeepers]

I have had a lot of experience with saddled eggs. It seems like no matter what I do (resting them well, slowing turning them) they stay saddled. Now, by some miracle, some have righted themselves by the end, but mostly they still hatch well. I usually try to candle them and put the area with the most air cell facing up at lockdown. I have had great hatch rates and haven't felt like it affects the outcome as much as it makes me a crazy nutcase. Shipped eggs get a bad reputation, but when you trust your breeder it makes a world of difference.

Thank you! That puts my mind more at ease. I candled them day 18, marked biggest air cell area up and laid them accordingly. Temp hovers at 98 - 99, humidity 65-75. But usually by day 20 in the past they will have moved, rolled a bit by now but they are all exactly as I set them! I don't like this bator, one side I have my thermometers and hygrometers lined up against clear sides to monitor so have to go around back side and shine a light into it to see, as only side walls are clear! Ordering a new bator today!!

 

[livhatcher]

Thank you! That puts my mind more at ease. I candled them day 18, marked biggest air cell area up and laid them accordingly. Temp hovers at 98 - 99, humidity 65-75. But usually by day 20 in the past they will have moved, rolled a bit by now but they are all exactly as I set them! I don't like this bator, one side I have my thermometers and hygrometers lined up against clear sides to monitor so have to go around back side and shine a light into it to see, as only side walls are clear! Ordering a new bator today!!

Yeah. My Polish eggs (mostly what I hatch) are not big rock and rollers. I would not worry about that too much, to be honest. I love my Brinsea bators---I have bought them with coupons as well as the eco glow brooder plate and really have high confidence in them. I have had 80%+ hatch rates on shipped eggs using the Brinsea Maxi II Advance. I use a very small back-up hygrometer (calibrated before every hatch) inside it and feel good about it. The saddling did worry me greatly (and still concerns me) mainly because the could pip externally on either side. The other thing that I think is more prevalent with saddling is malpositioning. I have done a few assisted hatches---just enough to assure myself that the bird is breathing & then can push out on its own. I know a lot of people say the weaker birds would otherwise be culls, but I disagree. You wouldn't say your child was weaker or a bad risk if you were in labor & delivery and the child was breach.

thank you for distracting me today...yesterday I lost 2 birds (a WC blue polish chick & a crele orp pullet) to a hawk. That was awful enough but my crazy 78 year old lady neighbor screamed at me relentlessly as I tried to shepherd the other birds to the coop. I have been so rattled and upset. Anything I can talk about that gets me out of my head is a blessing.

 

[PolishPeepers]

O

Yeah. My Polish eggs (mostly what I hatch) are not big rock and rollers. I would not worry about that too much, to be honest. I love my Brinsea bators---I have bought them with coupons as well as the eco glow brooder plate and really have high confidence in them. I have had 80%+ hatch rates on shipped eggs using the Brinsea Maxi II Advance. I use a very small back-up hygrometer (calibrated before every hatch) inside it and feel good about it. The saddling did worry me greatly (and still concerns me) mainly because the could pip externally on either side. The other thing that I think is more prevalent with saddling is malpositioning. I have done a few assisted hatches---just enough to assure myself that the bird is breathing & then can push out on its own. I know a lot of people say the weaker birds would otherwise be culls, but I disagree. You wouldn't say your child was weaker or a bad risk if you were in labor & delivery and the child was breach.

thank you for distracting me today...yesterday I lost 2 birds (a WC blue polish chick & a crele orp pullet) to a hawk. That was awful enough but my crazy 78 year old lady neighbor screamed at me relentlessly as I tried to shepherd the other birds to the coop. I have been so rattled and upset. Anything I can talk about that gets me out of my head is a blessing.

H I'm so sorry for your loss. I know about crazy neighbors, I have one who got out of his car screaming at me when I yelled please slow down as he flew past my house. We're on a dirt road, so I was upset all day after his screaming!!

 

[livhatcher]

O

H I'm so sorry for your loss. I know about crazy neighbors, I have one who got out of his car screaming at me when I yelled please slow down as he flew past my house. We're on a dirt road, so I was upset all day after his screaming!!

I feel like you are living my life. We are on a dirt road as well. We have been so good to these people so it is just shocking---the man is over 80 and the woman is in her late 70s. She was injured earlier this year & we mowed/blowed their lawn, brought them food, etc... Yesterday she was screaming irrationally at me bc my birds were hiding under a bush in her yard and I was trying to get them home. She called me a b in front of my young children and starting making insinuations about my family. Then she turned to yelling at my mom who was trying to help. I mean, getting the birds back would've taken 5 minutes except that she screamed at us for 30 minutes. I mean, I accept that predators will get your birds here and there. That was bad enough. But to have this woman screaming and berating me was too much. I kept begging her to stop yelling at me and my hands were shaking. She LITERALLY motioned with her hands like they were shaking and made faces mocking me. It was an encounter with pure evil.

 

[mama duckie]

Aw...thank you! We are in love with them!!!

I know I couldn't eat my roosters...I've always said that if I had to kill to have meat, I'd become a vegetarian. I know that sound hypocritical...but we all aren't cut out to do that.

Dozer is super cute! You should go with a muppets naming theme! Is he a frizzle or is it his pin fearhers coming in?

Yep frizzle, a mix of pekin bantam, australorp and silver laced wyandotte. And his name is Pug - I was thinking of his father whose name is Dozer...

Dozer lives in a very large run with a garden and other chickens, while there are 2 hens who get to free range around a few acres. One of these hens, our wyandotte, is top dog! This morning Dozer and her were found going for it through the chicken wire!!! Both were bloodied up!! What a silly pair of chickens!!

 

[mama duckie]

IT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!We have at least one chick I know is out as there is churping and an empty shell - but darn I can't see anything as the hen is in the way! One down 11 to go?

Awesome...so fun!!

 

[mandk2309]

Just scraped mine, no babies

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

Just scraped mine, no babies

I'm sorry...

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

IT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!We have at least one chick I know is out as there is churping and an empty shell - but darn I can't see anything as the hen is in the way! One down 11 to go?

Woo hoo!!!! How exciting!