June hatch-a-long!

[MadChickenMama]

View attachment 1420188 Total count is 14 eggs hatched! I’m all all hatched out.

Woohoo!! They're all so cute!

Also, @KittyCat13 , I checked on her and she'd sat back on them, but she comes off far too easy now. I'll keep a closer eye on her from now on. Was just checking her twice a day (once to turn the light on and check feed and water and once to turn light off at night).

 

[KittyCat13]

Woohoo!! They're all so cute!

Also, @KittyCat13 , I checked on her and she'd sat back on them, but she comes off far too easy now. I'll keep a closer eye on her from now on. Was just checking her twice a day (once to turn the light on and check feed and water and once to turn light off at night).

That's good news that she's gone back on them fingers crossed she stays put!

 

[KittyCat13]

View attachment 1420188 Total count is 14 eggs hatched! I’m all all hatched out.

So much fluffiness!!

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

I have had hens be off nests for a few hours and the eggs hatched out fine. Now granted it was during a time of 90 degree heat...but my broodies kept swapping nests and sometimes they went to sit on the wrong nest - I had a few times that the eggs were downright cold to the touch but they seemed to do OK regardless so... I think they are more durable then we think. Especially in the mid to end points of incubation.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Here is my Spitz hen with her mixed flock of babies. 2 mixed ducks, a call duck and two marans, out for a stroll.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

and my EE hen with her olive egger and marans babies

 

[ButteCA]

baby ducks are so cute!

 

[MadChickenMama]

I have the door cracked some to allow some air in there and it also allows me to peek in from a distance so I don't bother her. If I don't see her then I know she's on the eggs.

Just checked and she's off them again and has eaten all the food I gave her this morning. She's barely eaten since I got her last Saturday and now she can't seem to stop.

I don't know. I know I've see. Chicks hatch fine even after a 24 hour power outage and whatnot, but how does constant fluctuation in temps affect them?

Imjust especially on edge because these are Serama chicks which have been known to give people a difficult time when it comes to incubating and hatching.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Well she just kept getting off the eggs a bunch today and being off for long enough periods of time that the eggs never got much warmth. Which also said she wasn't on them very much.

Due to her behavior today and seeing her actually sitting in the bedding in front of the nest box I made the decision to take the other 2 eggs I'd given her. She was sitting on them, but not well and I didn't even have to lift her off them. She stood up and allowed me to take them. They were just barely warm which means she'd only been back on them a few minutes and that means she was off them over over an hour.

So I took them, candled them to check for movement (there was), marked the air cells, which weren't much progressed since day 14, and put them back in the incubator. Hopefully they'll survive. *fingers crossed*

 

[KittyCat13]

Well she just kept getting off the eggs a bunch today and being off for long enough periods of time that the eggs never got much warmth. Which also said she wasn't on them very much.

Due to her behavior today and seeing her actually sitting in the bedding in front of the nest box I made the decision to take the other 2 eggs I'd given her. She was sitting on them, but not well and I didn't even have to lift her off them. She stood up and allowed me to take them. They were just barely warm which means she'd only been back on them a few minutes and that means she was off them over over an hour.

So I took them, candled them to check for movement (there was), marked the air cells, which weren't much progressed since day 14, and put them back in the incubator. Hopefully they'll survive. *fingers crossed*

It's so annoying when they give up on being broody! Fingers crossed that these two make it

My favourite hen, Flea, was one who's egg was abandoned by one of my broodys. It was freezing cold when I found it ( I think she'd left it overnight). But I got it to a friends incubator and she hatch fine, so don't give up hope!