June Hatch a Long

[lizm1221]

my other hens didn't bother my broody one. some went in the box with her (we have pretty roomy boxes) and laid their eggs in there so we were always pulling out infertile eggs. So glad we marked the fertilized eggs first or she would have ended up with dozens of eggs lol. I would def go with the blue laced red wyandotte - they are GORGEOUS!

 

[lizm1221]

I placed a regular sized bic lighter in for scale

OMG! THEY ARE SO TINY!! adorable!

 

[Alibabe]

How's it going Sonia?
Go big or go home, eh Alibabe? That's amazing! Such a fun project! Wish my husband could understand my plexiglass complex. Lol!

Ok, I've got 7 active chicks, 1 alive in the shell that's exposed down the length of it, almost out. 1 is zippering. A bunch of pips left & a few no signs. Looks like things are going well, despite plucking the dead one out. Phew!

Yep, gotta go big

Congrats on the new babies, sorry for the one you lost.

Awesome news & great pics! Love the broody with baby pic! And those quail, OMG! Too cute!
Looks like I may be joining the July hatch folks. When I pick up my ducks later today, I'll also be getting some hatching eggs for my broody. Yay!

Can I get some advice, please? How to keep other hens from booting the broody off her nest every day! Argh! So frustrating! Also, if you had to choose, which breed of chicken & why from this list I get to choose from: 1) Barnevelders. 2) Anconas. 3) Blue laced red Wyandottes.

Love the broody pic and what a beautiful hen, I want a broody. I personally would go for barnevelders because of their colour and feathering but not sure about how they are with egg laying and or being broody.

I totally diyto that!!! Soooooo tiny!!!! Are they real???

x2 They are gorgous but oh so small. Too cute

WOW!!!! A HUGE congrats to everyone! What wonderful news to read! My official count for my hatch was 23 chicks out of 28 eggs. Four of the last five were formed but never internally pipped and 1 of the five looked like it stopped growing around day 15 or so. All 7 of my lavender ameraucana eggs hatched! So with those I had 100% success

I am beyond happy with my first eggs hatched from my own chickens. And I just loaded up the bator this morning again! I set 16 lavender ameraucana eggs and 26 others mixes!!!! I'm only keeping my lavenders from this hatch and giving the rest to my veterinarian/friend. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the next batch but I think it's time to start building again!!!

I will take some pictures today too

Wow, brilliant hatch.

I am still waiting for my next 12 eggs to arrive and I will be right behind you in the July hatch. How long can I have eggs waiting to go into incubator as I already have half of my next batch of eggs ready to go but still waiting for the other 12. I only have 1 incubator so not sure how I would do a hatch with 2 hatching dates which could be quite a few days apart. Should I put the first 12 in tomorrow (they would have stood for 48 hours from arrival, shipped eggs) and then not turn for the last few days between hatches?

 

[Alibabe]

Soooo, DH wanted a nice relaxed Sunday, so I suggested we 'quickly' make a bigger brooder and then we can spend the rest of the day being lazy. So off to the local DIY place to get some wood to throw together a brooder box. Once the brooder was built, we then had to rearrange the room where it was going so we ended up doing a mini spring clean. So much for a relaxing Sunday - me bad.

Here are some pics. Just for interest, it is 1.20 meters long, 0.8 m wide and .6m high and is heavy.




The feeding and watering area is slightly raised so that they cannot get shavings in their food and water.


The little RIR who is right in front of the picture was the third chick born and he has earned the name Cheeky Chops.

 

[1stTimeChikMama]

Soooo, DH wanted a nice relaxed Sunday, so I suggested we 'quickly' make a bigger brooder and then we can spend the rest of the day being lazy. So off to the local DIY place to get some wood to throw together a brooder box. Once the brooder was built, we then had to rearrange the room where it was going so we ended up doing a mini spring clean. So much for a relaxing Sunday - me bad.

Here are some pics. Just for interest, it is 1.20 meters long, 0.8 m wide and .6m high and is heavy.




The feeding and watering area is slightly raised so that they cannot get shavings in their food and water.


The little RIR who is right in front of the picture was the third chick born and he has earned the name Cheeky Chops.

What BEAUTIFUL little chicks and I love your brooder!!! I think we are going to build another coop pretty soon.. lol I guess that's what happens when I get a few chickens... hehehehe

 

[1stTimeChikMama]

Yep, gotta go big

Congrats on the new babies, sorry for the one you lost.

Love the broody pic and what a beautiful hen, I want a broody. I personally would go for barnevelders because of their colour and feathering but not sure about how they are with egg laying and or being broody.

x2 They are gorgous but oh so small. Too cute

Wow, brilliant hatch.

I am still waiting for my next 12 eggs to arrive and I will be right behind you in the July hatch. How long can I have eggs waiting to go into incubator as I already have half of my next batch of eggs ready to go but still waiting for the other 12. I only have 1 incubator so not sure how I would do a hatch with 2 hatching dates which could be quite a few days apart. Should I put the first 12 in tomorrow (they would have stood for 48 hours from arrival, shipped eggs) and then not turn for the last few days between hatches?

Sorry I just saw this! Well SUPOSIDLY you want to get eggs into the incubator within 7 days of being laid. But my last batch had some about 12 days old and they all hatched for me. My fridge eggs hatched too! But a week or less for best odds. This batch, a few will be 3 weeks old. It will be interesting to see how that goes! I will put eggs in with others UP TO two days apart. But not more than that as you need to up the humidity for hatch time and don't want to drown the younger eggs.

Some of my lil ones:

 

[Alibabe]

Sorry I just saw this! Well SUPOSIDLY you want to get eggs into the incubator within 7 days of being laid. But my last batch had some about 12 days old and they all hatched for me. My fridge eggs hatched too! But a week or less for best odds. This batch, a few will be 3 weeks old. It will be interesting to see how that goes! I will put eggs in with others UP TO two days apart. But not more than that as you need to up the humidity for hatch time and don't want to drown the younger eggs.

Some of my lil ones:

Aww, they are so cute, just love 'em.

What are these 2, beautiful colours especially 1st one?

 

[Shellz]

Great setup Alibabe! Gorgeous chicks 1stTime! I did a staggered hatch once, for my first ever back in January. They were 3 days apart & I still had a decent hatch rate. Don't think I want to do that again though. A standard hatch is stressful enough for me!

Had another Malines hatch earlier. Yay! All pips & zips still alive. I fear one is stuck. It pipped the centre of egg & now there's a big window for its leg to kick out, but his head is stuck to the top of the shell. Maybe he'll hold on until hatch is completed.

 

[Alibabe]

Great setup Alibabe! Gorgeous chicks 1stTime! I did a staggered hatch once, for my first ever back in January. They were 3 days apart & I still had a decent hatch rate. Don't think I want to do that again though. A standard hatch is stressful enough for me!

Had another Malines hatch earlier. Yay! All pips & zips still alive. I fear one is stuck. It pipped the centre of egg & now there's a big window for its leg to kick out, but his head is stuck to the top of the shell. Maybe he'll hold on until hatch is completed.

Thanks Shellz, I love my chicks and my new brooder.

I think I am going to try and borrow a 'bator so I can do 2 hatches using the one incubator as a hatcher as I don't want to take the chance of my eggs getting 'old'.

Congrats on your hatch, sounds like it is going to be a good one. I had one chick that took ages to come out after it had broken a large piece of shell off but had not started zipping, maybe he will be fine.

 

[NinetreesMom]

Sorry I just saw this! Well SUPOSIDLY you want to get eggs into the incubator within 7 days of being laid. But my last batch had some about 12 days old and they all hatched for me. My fridge eggs hatched too! But a week or less for best odds. This batch, a few will be 3 weeks old. It will be interesting to see how that goes! I will put eggs in with others UP TO two days apart. But not more than that as you need to up the humidity for hatch time and don't want to drown the younger eggs. Some of my lil ones:

What adorable little faces. so cute!!! I agree about storage age. After 10 days the hatch rate really goes down

Thanks Shellz, I love my chicks and my new brooder. I think I am going to try and borrow a 'bator so I can do 2 hatches using the one incubator as a hatcher as I don't want to take the chance of my eggs getting 'old'. Congrats on your hatch, sounds like it is going to be a good one. I had one chick that took ages to come out after it had broken a large piece of shell off but had not started zipping, maybe he will be fine.

Nice new brooder Alibabe! I can't wait to move out to our farm this fall when I get to build the coop and brooder of my dreams! I agree, staggered hatches are really hard. Getting a second bator to use as a hatcher allows you to have as many hatch dates as you want, as long as there are about 4 days between in case you have a slow hatch. I LOVE double laced pattern on the barnevelders, and their dark egg color, but they are not the most prolific layers. Anconas are flightier, but from what I hear probably the least flighty of white egg layers. I probably wouldn't want one unless I was going for white eggs. The BLR wyandottes are gorgeous. Our is the prettiest chicken in the flock, and they are a very good layer. What a choice! Have fun whatever you decide!