June Hatch a Long

[Alibabe]

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 would love to move to a farm / smallholding but they are as scarce as hens teeth or are so expensive that you have to win the lottery to afford one. But I can't say never going to happen because that is what we are working towards - as self sustaining as possible.

 

[1stTimeChikMama]

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

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

Thank you! I love them! The first one is out of my buff orpington hen and the second chick is out of my lavender ameraucana hen. My only roo is a lavender ameraucana. So the first chick is my own special mix lol

 

[Alibabe]

Thank you! I love them! The first one is out of my buff orpington hen and the second chick is out of my lavender ameraucana hen. My only roo is a lavender ameraucana. So the first chick is my own special mix lol

I love them both, absolutely gorgeous.

I would love that mix, would they lay blue/green eggs or will they be brown eggs? Not sure what buff orpingtons lay in terms of egg colour but it will be very interesting to see.

 

[1stTimeChikMama]

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.

Hopefully it will make it out just fine I had to help one out two days ago. It did the same thing, made a big hole then no progress 12 hours later. So when I finally decided to open the bator to pull the first half of the chicks out and zipped the rest of the egg for him. Then I realized the membrane had dried to it's back so I helped it out. It's completely fine now.

 

[1stTimeChikMama]

I love them both, absolutely gorgeous.

I would love that mix, would they lay blue/green eggs or will they be brown eggs? Not sure what buff orpingtons lay in terms of egg colour but it will be very interesting to see.

It should be an olive egger

 

[Alibabe]

It should be an olive egger

Here in UK they appear to call them Columbines and they lay blue or green eggs. I have 1 of them who has just started laying green eggs. She is very pretty and I am looking forward to my legbars getting to POL as they lay the prettiest sky blue egg. I also plan to let the legbar cockeral have conjugal visits to my columbine to make more babies so eventually I hope to land up with rainbow boxes of eggs.

 

[NinetreesMom]

I would love to move to a farm / smallholding but they are as scarce as hens teeth or are so expensive that you have to win the lottery to afford one.  But I can't say never going to happen because that is what we are working towards - as self sustaining as possible.

I agree! We have been working toward this for 7 years now. We found acreage in E WA, which makes us happy climate-wise, and our families in MT are much closer. We hope to be almost self-sufficient, raising hay, chickens, cattle, lambs, and a market garden, with lots of canning and freezing going on. I don't want the commitment of a dairy animal, so that and a few staples is all we should have to buy

It should be an olive egger

How exciting!!!
I am hoping my cream Legbar roo over my welsummer hen will give us some nice olive eggs too. And, green eggs from CL over a light Sussex. Can't wait to see my egg basket next year

 

[Alibabe]

I agree! We have been working toward this for 7 years now. We found acreage in E WA, which makes us happy climate-wise, and our families in MT are much closer. We hope to be almost self-sufficient, raising hay, chickens, cattle, lambs, and a market garden, with lots of canning and freezing going on. I don't want the commitment of a dairy animal, so that and a few staples is all we should have to buy
How exciting!!!
I am hoping my cream Legbar roo over my welsummer hen will give us some nice olive eggs too. And, green eggs from CL over a light Sussex. Can't wait to see my egg basket next year

I wish you everything of the best; 7 years of working towards your goal is an amazing achievement and I only hope that I can say after 7 years that I have achieved that much.

Unfortunately after helping kids out and generally just being soft hearted, my DH and myself found ourselves in a world of hurt regarding money. But I am counting down the next 15 months of paying back everybody and then we will finally be in a position to save everything towards our new home and life. Whoohoo.

Luckily for us we have a reasonable size back garden and our landlord has agreed to allow us to breed chickens.

We have also started our veg garden and hopefully we are on our way to not only be self sustaining but also a better, happier life. It has been a long hard and sometimes very lonely journey but we count our blessings, large and small, everytime they come our way.

It is so weird that my DH and myself are whispering every time we go near the brooder so we don't disturb the chicks. We are like two children sneaking towards the christmas tree on christmas night to see if Santa has been.

I think this experience of hatching chicks and having hens has been the best thing that ever happened to us. Hens give such pleasure and the chicks - well can't describe what it has been like except to say it is similiar to when we used to sneak into my Granddaughters room to watch her sleep.

I cannot wait to hatch the next lot and hubby was talking today about when we hatch in winter (only in summer now) so, guess what I am going to be doing for a while.

 

[sharol]

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. The hatch is complete except for one egg that I SWEAR I see movement in. I'm leaving it in the incubator for another day or two (tomorrow will be day 28, so the chances are almost 0 that there is a live chick in there.) I got two healthy chicks, both of whom pipped at the wrong end and had to be helped after 36 hours of struggle. I have opened 6 of the eggs. 1 was a fully formed chick with the yolk completely absorbed, it just never pipped. One appeared to be about 16 days or so based on the pictures of chick development. 2 were almost clear with a small start of development. The other two appeared to have quit at about 2 weeks or a little less.

Not bad for a dying rooster. Butch lives on.

My next project is to acquire some eggs for my broody 2 year old Buff Orpington. July hatch? If she abandons them halfway though, I'm going to be VERY irritated.

 

[Alibabe]

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. The hatch is complete except for one egg that I SWEAR I see movement in. I'm leaving it in the incubator for another day or two (tomorrow will be day 28, so the chances are almost 0 that there is a live chick in there.) I got two healthy chicks, both of whom pipped at the wrong end and had to be helped after 36 hours of struggle. I have opened 6 of the eggs. 1 was a fully formed chick with the yolk completely absorbed, it just never pipped. One appeared to be about 16 days or so based on the pictures of chick development. 2 were almost clear with a small start of development. The other two appeared to have quit at about 2 weeks or a little less.

Not bad for a dying rooster. Butch lives on.

My next project is to acquire some eggs for my broody 2 year old Buff Orpington. July hatch? If she abandons them halfway though, I'm going to be VERY irritated.

Congrats, enjoy the new babies.