June Hatch-A-Long

[mollybuck]

My sons school just threw away 19 duck eggs that were from my calculations 3 days late. I was so upset they they just tossed them!! I def. will be more patient.

what!!?? oh no.. that is a shame. maybe they looked first? or didnt they just throw?

 

[Meca]

what!!?? oh no.. that is a shame. maybe they looked first? or didnt they just throw?

I don't know if they did or didn't. I have just gotten to the point that I won't ask anymore questions.

 

[mollybuck]

ugh. my sister just called. she went to the school to pick up the chicks they hatched this week, they only gave her 1... she was like.. uh.. they should have a buddy... but they told her they got rid of all the eggs that hadnt hatched as of the end of the school day yesterday. My neighbor is one of the teachers and she told me she had some hatch yesterday.. i will have to ask her why they didnt give them more time... i'm pretty certain she told me at noon she had 8 total and 8 to go.. with a few pips.. but she only ended up with 8...

thats kind of infuriating.. and to think i was THINKING about giving her some of my BLRW eggs to hatch next year...HA.

im pretty sure since there are 3 classrooms that do this.. that they didnt want to be bothered taking care of them over the weekend and had the people pick them up this morning. and I get upset over a bloodring,

 

[Meca]

ugh. my sister just called. she went to the school to pick up the chicks they hatched this week, they only gave her 1... she was like.. uh.. they should have a buddy... but they told her they got rid of all the eggs that hadnt hatched as of the end of the school day yesterday. My neighbor is one of the teachers and she told me she had some hatch yesterday.. i will have to ask her why they didnt give them more time... i'm pretty certain she told me at noon she had 8 total and 8 to go.. with a few pips.. but she only ended up with 8...      thats kind of infuriating.. and to think i was THINKING about giving her some of my BLRW eggs to hatch next year...HA.

  im pretty sure since there are 3 classrooms that do this.. that they didnt want to be bothered taking care of them over the weekend and had the people pick them up this morning.   and I get upset over a bloodring, 

They gave her chicks away? Am I understanding that correctly??

 

[Mypeeps2013]

ugh. my sister just called. she went to the school to pick up the chicks they hatched this week, they only gave her 1... she was like.. uh.. they should have a buddy... but they told her they got rid of all the eggs that hadnt hatched as of the end of the school day yesterday. My neighbor is one of the teachers and she told me she had some hatch yesterday.. i will have to ask her why they didnt give them more time... i'm pretty certain she told me at noon she had 8 total and 8 to go.. with a few pips.. but she only ended up with 8...

thats kind of infuriating.. and to think i was THINKING about giving her some of my BLRW eggs to hatch next year...HA.

im pretty sure since there are 3 classrooms that do this.. that they didnt want to be bothered taking care of them over the weekend and had the people pick them up this morning. and I get upset over a bloodring,

Having incubated chickens I understand how you feel but it's a great learning experience for the kids. I still remember when I was in first grade and my teacher brought in an incubator with about a hundred eggs in it. All of the students got an egg with a number. I remember mine pipping right before I left school and me running into class the next day eager to see if it had hatched. It is what started my chicken addiction

 

[mollybuck]

Having incubated chickens I understand how you feel but it's a great learning experience for the kids. I still remember when I was in first grade and my teacher brought in an incubator with about a hundred eggs in it. All of the students got an egg with a number. I remember mine pipping right before I left school and me running into class the next day eager to see if it had hatched. It is what started my chicken addiction  

Ok. So I talked with her. She said that she candles the pips this morning and they were dead. The other ones were early quitters.

I candles the ones I set Tuesday evening... and there doesn't seem like there is anything. I will give them their full week but how disheartening. There were 2broken ones so I didn't have much hope...we will see. I should be getting duck eggs Monday. They are local mutts but it meant matter to us!

 

[missnu01]

Are leg and foot abnormalities usually genetic or something done incorrectly during incubation?? I had a lot of temperature fluctuations during incubation (the highest being 110 and the lowest being 87). Would breeding ducks with abnormalities due to incorrect incubation increase the chances of having deformed ducklings, even if incubation is perfect?? Thanks!

It would depend on what did cause the abnormality. If it was genetic then it might transfer to young. If it was something else that caused it then most likely won't. Although some vigor or fertility may be effected. Problems like mounting and other movements can do a lot to birds.  Most people wouldn't try breeding an abnormal bird. If it is genetic it could cause a whole hatch of abnormal birds, that may be most humane to cull them, unless you have the time to raise them by hand 100% of the time.
  If you KNOW it was from a post hatch injury that would be different. But if unsure it could be a bad idea.

that crooked toe thing chickens get is caused by the temp during incubation being too high...so a chicken with crooked toes won't make chick's with crooked toes... you would just have to see if the deformities you are seeing are a result of incubation or not. But a deformity caused by improper incubation would not pass on

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Just set 15 meat project, 12 BSL 3 RIR and 1 WLH. So the 7th we will hopefully have more chicks, on top of those already due and those already hatched. Might be taking a break from setting for a couple weeks so I can play swap the breeders, and let the current penned birds range awhile. They have dropped of production as pen time passed, except CX which still give average 2/4 a day all week. Others RIR/BSL/WLH all dropped drastic production amount since penning. Maybe I will try a 4 in and 4 out for breeding birds. Once they get on range they go on strike when penned again for weeks.

 

[Loghousemom]

Hi Everybody! I haven't hatched chicks since my batch last summer. Today I set 48 mixed eggs in my incubator, expected hatch date is 6/1/14.
Here's my story.. Last night I came home from work and went out to check on my animals. There were no chickens to be found. There were some feathers outside the coop so I knew that something had gotten to them. I was hoping that some of my flock were just hiding but that wasn't the case. My fiancé walked back to where the foxes den is on the back of our property and he found the bodies of my lavender Orpington and my mixed rooster in the tunnel leading to the fox den. I'm sure the foxes got all 16 of my outside chickens. My only chicken left is Fred, my silver sebright who lost his feet to frostbite this past winter so he lives in my house.
This morning when I accepted the fact that my chickens are gone, I decided to set some eggs from my gang. I got a bit overzealous and set 48 eggs, as many as my incubator will hold. My last hatch rate was 100% with about 25% being roos. While I'd like a decent hatch, I don't need 48 chickens! I set eggs that were collected in the past week so I'm not sure if my hatch rate will be quite as high as last time.
And the countdown begins.. HERE WE GO!!

I am sorry to hear about your flock. I lost quite a few birds to my own puppy last fall and was devastated. I can only imagine loosing every one.

I am getting ready to set some guinea eggs later today and some chicken eggs shortly after that and I would love to hatch with you!

 

[Loghousemom]

ugh. my sister just called. she went to the school to pick up the chicks they hatched this week, they only gave her 1... she was like.. uh.. they should have a buddy... but they told her they got rid of all the eggs that hadnt hatched as of the end of the school day yesterday. My neighbor is one of the teachers and she told me she had some hatch yesterday.. i will have to ask her why they didnt give them more time... i'm pretty certain she told me at noon she had 8 total and 8 to go.. with a few pips.. but she only ended up with 8...      thats kind of infuriating.. and to think i was THINKING about giving her some of my BLRW eggs to hatch next year...HA.

  im pretty sure since there are 3 classrooms that do this.. that they didnt want to be bothered taking care of them over the weekend and had the people pick them up this morning.   and I get upset over a bloodring, 

That is sad. Poor babies.
I have had very good luck working with teachers on hatching projects. It is too late to help these babies, but I can tell you what I do.

I use these classrooms as platforms to teach "city kids" about farms, animals, and farm life. Many people these days are not in tune with the value of lives of livestock and this is our chance to ensure they realize that we care for the lives we are entrusted to the best of our ability.

I have the teachers start by giving me their plan of what they will do after the chicks hatch. I also ask them to plan for a Monday hatch day. (I learned that this works well because it gives the eggs extra time in the incubator), and help them calculate backwards to figure the "set date". I bring a "chick kit" to each classroom that does a hatch. It includes a large ziplock of chick food, food and water dishes, the heat lamp, a digital thermometer with hygrometer for humidity, and I will provide a tote bin to use as a brooder if they do not have one. There is also a great episode of the magic school bus on chicken hatching that I tell them to show to the class. (Especially for a class of younger kids)

I send an email to the classroom teachers with lots of information from here on BYC about the hatching process. I include links to pages on candling as well. When I bring the eggs I spend some time teaching them how to check the temp and humidity. I make a plan to check once a week with each classroom. Often I do this when kids are at recess so I don't have to stay and answer too many questions, but I will make a trip once at about 10-15 days of incubation to show the class what the eggs look like while candled and to talk with the kids. I also like to bring pictures of the farm, of the parents of the eggs they are hatching, ect. I also like to come by again on hatch day to see progress.

If the teachers do not have a plan for what to do with the chicks after the end of the week I explain I will take them. I sometimes keep them and raise them, and if I do not have room then I put them up for sale locally.

I find that doing all of these things prevents the ignorance of some people from destroying the young lives of these little babies before they get the chance. I get lots of thank you cards for coming and doing these little "classes" and the kids and teachers learn a lot. I began with one classroom doing a hatch 3 years ago, and this year we did 4 hatches in different classrooms and even 2 different schools. 2 teachers even did things all on their own this year! The staff usually learn so much that they feel like they can manage most of it on their own the following year and it makes it easier on me.

If you decide to attempt it again, maybe some of this information will be helpful. Again, sorry about the lonely little babies.