June Hatch A Long

[starri33]

My friend has one, we just call it the China Bator, lol. I see you have a fancy humidity contraption attached to it! I'm intrigued, please do share what that is!

it's a humidikit, ended up having to take it off as it just wasn't keeping the humidity stable, the "china bator" ( I like that name ) seems to do better if I add the water to it. I've not figured out the controls on the thing yet.. would hate to have spent 130.00 +/- for something that is useless. it's past the return time.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hawks. they’re my only predators. I use a barn that was for horses previously but I moved them. There’s two 1/4-1/2 acre fields that are fenced with anti climb wire. I lost my sweetest birds about a year ago, and I think it was an inexperienced hawk. They went after my biggest birds and trapped them in the field fencing. They tried to pick up my buff Orpington and dropped her outside the fence on the other side of the field of the attack. She survived!!! She is a trooper.

I’ve been so nervous ever since. They’re SO much happier out... and it’s so hot here I want them to be able to seek out where they want to be. I just feel HORRIBLE for being responsible for their safety with a predator attack.

I don’t know why, it’s probably my anthropomorphizing that I’m working on. I can eat my meat birds, but I am WRECKED if they are living their best life and taken by a predator.

I keep them in now until lunchtime when theyve usually mostly laid for the day. Then I let them out and watch the skies as long as I’m home.

I lost my first two birds during rain with the hawks, so I keep a coop/run that’s big enough for 24/7 enclosure when needed and always lock them up in inclement weather. I have hawks and owls all over right after rain because there’s so many crawfish that come out.

It's very hot here too and I share your feelings on letting them find a nice cool spot themselves. We have plans to build an extended run within our fenced in yard and will be putting netting over it but it's at a complete standstill right now because it's just too hot to work out there!

My chickens dig up the crawdads and eat them!

 

[Kris5902]

Well I’m all done with this hatch... of my last three Marans eggs I lost the one I oiled... from now on I think if I have to I will try water instead first... it seemed to be doing ok and even though I couldn’t find the beak, I was hopeful, so I put it in a little cup so it’s two siblings wouldn’t accidentally injure it in the incubator... with the Humidity cranked right up they came out a little soft on the navel, but dried out fine and fluffed up fairly quickly.

I passed out some time between 3-4 am... when I woke with a start at 6 the chick had passed. Those veins were just too large for me to open it up enough when I fell asleep, though they had completely receded and the yolk was fully absorbed when I woke. I pulled it’s head out and eventually found the beak tucked right down towards the belly, not under the wing, and pointing away from the air sack end completely. I think you all were right in the badly mal positioned diagnosis. I’m telling myself that a lot of it was probably due to mama and daddy being just 7 month old.

So I’m going to consider it as two separate hatches really... 34 mature eggs, and the 7 pullet Maran eggs. That puts my hatch rate at 85% on the main batch, and 29% on the eggs I probably shouldn’t have even tried 2 incubate (they were mostly mid stage quitters from the looks of it). Of the five eggs that didn’t make it in the main hatch one was in the first couple days of incubation and I pulled it before lockdown, two were shrink wraps, there was the cup baby that hatched, on its own!, way too soon randomly, and one that was just inexplicably DIS.

My main focus now is that I’ve got 31 lovely new baby chickens to care for. I’m just a tad disappointed that I didn’t break the 100 chicken mark on this hatch, 98 for the next week and a half until I take my broilers in... I suppose I could just go all the way and rescue the 5 remaining chickens from the farm’s coop to get there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take on that many more sick chickens right now.

So on my list of stuff that “absolutely needs” done today I now have: drain the water belly on one rescue, pedicure for another, bum bath for a third. Set up the proper brooder for these little fluff balls, cleaning the barn and organizing my tools at the same time (necessary to move and clean out the brooder due to impending hay!) but first and foremost, the biggest thing by far, is NAP!!! Yeah, I don’t care that it’s almost 9 am... I’m going back to sleep, everyone is fed, watered and fine. My turn now! Still going to follow along with everyone, and maybe I will get some more eggs later this month, July Hatch along too?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I did a quick candle of my 12 shipped marans eggs and 7 home bred BCM x CCL OE eggs last night. I wasn’t trying to make decisions, just get a feel for things since I’ve 1) never gotten shipped eggs and 2) bred the BCM x CCL over only a half hour supervised speed dating... I’ve read contradictory things on the time it takes after breeding until you get fertile eggs but I’m happy to report that the eggs were fertile from the third day after breeding on. The last egg I collected I did not allow to cool before setting - big mistake, displaced aircell! I’ve posted on this on another thread; there aren’t small bubbles any more, but the air cell rolls around with position. It’s dveloping but I’m not very hopeful... As for the BCM eggs, I still can’t see into them well, but now I can see that most are developing and that a decent number (1/3?) have saddle shaped air cells. I intend to candle again in one more week and toss clears...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well I’m all done with this hatch... of my last three Marans eggs I lost the one I oiled... from now on I think if I have to I will try water instead first... it seemed to be doing ok and even though I couldn’t find the beak, I was hopeful, so I put it in a little cup so it’s two siblings wouldn’t accidentally injure it in the incubator... with the Humidity cranked right up they came out a little soft on the navel, but dried out fine and fluffed up fairly quickly.

I passed out some time between 3-4 am... when I woke with a start at 6 the chick had passed. Those veins were just too large for me to open it up enough when I fell asleep, though they had completely receded and the yolk was fully absorbed when I woke. I pulled it’s head out and eventually found the beak tucked right down towards the belly, not under the wing, and pointing away from the air sack end completely. I think you all were right in the badly mal positioned diagnosis. I’m telling myself that a lot of it was probably due to mama and daddy being just 7 month old.

So I’m going to consider it as two separate hatches really... 34 mature eggs, and the 7 pullet Maran eggs. That puts my hatch rate at 85% on the main batch, and 29% on the eggs I probably shouldn’t have even tried 2 incubate (they were mostly mid stage quitters from the looks of it). Of the five eggs that didn’t make it in the main hatch one was in the first couple days of incubation and I pulled it before lockdown, two were shrink wraps, there was the cup baby that hatched, on its own!, way too soon randomly, and one that was just inexplicably DIS.

My main focus now is that I’ve got 31 lovely new baby chickens to care for. I’m just a tad disappointed that I didn’t break the 100 chicken mark on this hatch, 98 for the next week and a half until I take my broilers in... I suppose I could just go all the way and rescue the 5 remaining chickens from the farm’s coop to get there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take on that many more sick chickens right now.

So on my list of stuff that “absolutely needs” done today I now have: drain the water belly on one rescue, pedicure for another, bum bath for a third. Set up the proper brooder for these little fluff balls, cleaning the barn and organizing my tools at the same time (necessary to move and clean out the brooder due to impending hay!) but first and foremost, the biggest thing by far, is NAP!!! Yeah, I don’t care that it’s almost 9 am... I’m going back to sleep, everyone is fed, watered and fine. My turn now! Still going to follow along with everyone, and maybe I will get some more eggs later this month, July Hatch along too?

Congrats! 31 chicks is a fantastic hatch and you did a great job!
Love on those babies and then take a well-deserved nap!
And yes, I think a July hatch-a-long is inevitable for me at least!

 

[jolenesdad]

it's a humidikit, ended up having to take it off as it just wasn't keeping the humidity stable, the "china bator" ( I like that name ) seems to do better if I add the water to it. I've not figured out the controls on the thing yet.. would hate to have spent 130.00 +/- for something that is useless. it's past the return time.

I’ve seen lots of people on FB hatching out of these with great results!

I think most of us on here could be good with about any incubator because we all seem to watch them intensely!

Still going to follow along with everyone, and maybe I will get some more eggs later this month, July Hatch along too?

You better! Someone just posted mottled orpingtons hatching eggs in a local group. I may not be able to refuse, thanks to @LilyD! SEE WHAT WE DO TO EACH OTHER?!?

I did a quick candle of my 12 shipped marans eggs and 7 home bred BCM x CCL OE eggs last night. I wasn’t trying to make decisions, just get a feel for things since I’ve 1) never gotten shipped eggs and 2) bred the BCM x CCL over only a half hour supervised speed dating... I’ve read contradictory things on the time it takes after breeding until you get fertile eggs but I’m happy to report that the eggs were fertile from the third day after breeding on. The last egg I collected I did not allow to cool before setting - big mistake, displaced aircell! I’ve posted on this on another thread; there aren’t small bubbles any more, but the air cell rolls around with position. It’s dveloping but I’m not very hopeful... As for the BCM eggs, I still can’t see into them well, but now I can see that most are developing and that a decent number (1/3?) have saddle shaped air cells. I intend to candle again in one more week and toss clears...

Oh I would be hopeful!!! To me it seems like the reason displaced air cells are so bad is because of the damage that’s been done to the egg to CAUSE the displacement. It the displacement itself. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be able to hatch them at all often.

I would just be careful candling and is it being turned upright? I would imagine in about 7 more days, that air cell will be big enough to have taken over the whole displaced area and be solid as a rock!!!

Jealous of those marans/ccl OEs. Are the going to be sex linked??

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I’ve seen lots of people on FB hatching out of these with great results!

I think most of us on here could be good with about any incubator because we all seem to watch them intensely!



You better! Someone just posted mottled orpingtons hatching eggs in a local group. I may not be able to refuse, thanks to @LilyD! SEE WHAT WE DO TO EACH OTHER?!?



Oh I would be hopeful!!! To me it seems like the reason displaced air cells are so bad is because of the damage that’s been done to the egg to CAUSE the displacement. It the displacement itself. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be able to hatch them at all often.

I would just be careful candling and is it being turned upright? I would imagine in about 7 more days, that air cell will be big enough to have taken over the whole displaced area and be solid as a rock!!!

Jealous of those marans/ccl OEs. Are the going to be sex linked??

Hi Jolenesdad, as I understand it, the OEs should be sexlinked, with all chicks being black but boys having a white head spot for barring. Whether I’ll do anything with that information is a whole other question...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hi Jolenesdad, as I understand it, the OEs should be sexlinked, with all chicks being black but boys having a white head spot for barring. Whether I’ll do anything with that information is a whole other question...

Ok...I'm stumped, what's an OE? Old English Game?? I get kind of lost with chicken abbreviations sometimes. It's like learning code, lol! I know Black Copper Marans, Crested Cream Legbar, but wasn't sure of OE.

 

[jolenesdad]

Ok...I'm stumped, what's an OE? Old English Game?? I get kind of lost with chicken abbreviations sometimes. It's like learning code, lol! I know Black Copper Marans, Crested Cream Legbar, but wasn't sure of OE.

“Olive egger”

 

[CluckNDoodle]

“Olive egger”

lol! Thanks!