Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[champer]

Congratulations to those who have some early hatchers! Now I'm looking at my eggs and thinking "you slackers". lol I don't know how I missed it, but 1 egg was weeping and oozing and firmly stuck in the turner; had to remove the rail it was in and take it to the back forty to dispose of it....yuck! Was left with 67 of 76 eggs set. A good 2 dozen of those were too dark too candle, so who knows how many are actually viable and if I had any others that were questionable, I left those in too.

In the amusing anecdote category: I was sitting with the 6-week old chicks and as usual Tucker my young cattle dog was with me. When I first got chickens a year ago, Tucker killed a few of them, but has learned that's a no-no and is now pretty trustworthy. As he was laying there, the chicks got curious about that fur and several went up to him and started plucking out some fur. Well, Tucker was affronted and hopped up to go stand a few feet away, 1 little Wellie followed and soon I saw her craning her neck to look up at Tucker's back and within a second she had jumped up on his back. His head spun around and the look on his face was priceless, but bless him, he didn't make a move to hurt her and she jumped off and Tucker decided to go nap in a chicken free zone.

 

[ronott1]

Congratulations to those who have some early hatchers! Now I'm looking at my eggs and thinking "you slackers". lol I don't know how I missed it, but 1 egg was weeping and oozing and firmly stuck in the turner; had to remove the rail it was in and take it to the back forty to dispose of it....yuck! Was left with 67 of 76 eggs set. A good 2 dozen of those were too dark too candle, so who knows how many are actually viable and if I had any others that were questionable, I left those in too.

In the amusing anecdote category: I was sitting with the 6-week old chicks and as usual Tucker my young cattle dog was with me. When I first got chickens a year ago, Tucker killed a few of them, but has learned that's a no-no and is now pretty trustworthy. As he was laying there, the chicks got curious about that fur and several went up to him and started plucking out some fur. Well, Tucker was affronted and hopped up to go stand a few feet away, 1 little Wellie followed and soon I saw her craning her neck to look up at Tucker's back and within a second she had jumped up on his back. His head spun around and the look on his face was priceless, but bless him, he didn't make a move to hurt her and she jumped off and Tucker decided to go nap in a chicken free zone.

 

[Gvnam]

All 30 out of my 40 eggs went into lockdown today! Can't wait for Saturday!

 

[countrygirl911]

Hi everyone i am in the middle of one last candling before lock down just takinf a break have 2 incubators full. i have a question i set all my eggs on sat like i am suppose to with the exception of 12 that went in 2 days later do i go ahead and lockdown with the 11 eggs that are developing of the 12 they look like they are 3 days behind insteat of the 2 days. Also the ones i set on sat most are completely full of chicks and u really have to look to see movement but it is there and very cute but the rest are developing and the chicks are moving like crazy but they look like they are at least a day or 2 behind you can still see alot of the vessels and see the movement really good even make out the claws and but the chicks do not take up the whole egg like the others do that were placed in the incubator at same time and i checked twice to make sure i see movement in all and there is movement in all. do i still lockdown today or give it till tomorrow to lockdown

 

[JulieNKC]

Locked down 7 out of 8 shipped tureky eggs. Seems like these have taken forever, and they've been rocking for a week now. Hoping I hatch at least 5.

Happy hatching everyone!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Congratulations to those who have some early hatchers! Now I'm looking at my eggs and thinking "you slackers". lol I don't know how I missed it, but 1 egg was weeping and oozing and firmly stuck in the turner; had to remove the rail it was in and take it to the back forty to dispose of it....yuck! Was left with 67 of 76 eggs set. A good 2 dozen of those were too dark too candle, so who knows how many are actually viable and if I had any others that were questionable, I left those in too.

In the amusing anecdote category: I was sitting with the 6-week old chicks and as usual Tucker my young cattle dog was with me. When I first got chickens a year ago, Tucker killed a few of them, but has learned that's a no-no and is now pretty trustworthy. As he was laying there, the chicks got curious about that fur and several went up to him and started plucking out some fur. Well, Tucker was affronted and hopped up to go stand a few feet away, 1 little Wellie followed and soon I saw her craning her neck to look up at Tucker's back and within a second she had jumped up on his back. His head spun around and the look on his face was priceless, but bless him, he didn't make a move to hurt her and she jumped off and Tucker decided to go nap in a chicken free zone.

Hahaha! I can picture that so well. Especially since I lived not too far from you when I was a kid in Morgan Hill. We lived at the base of Morgan Hill Mountain (back then we called it El Toro Mountain) on Three Oaks Farm. It's now a huge housing tract but 2 of the three oaks that gave the farm it's name are still there. Or were the last time I checked about 8 years ago.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Hi everyone i am in the middle of one last candling before lock down just takinf a break have 2 incubators full. i have a question i set all my eggs on sat like i am suppose to with the exception of 12 that went in 2 days later do i go ahead and lockdown with the 11 eggs that are developing of the 12 they look like they are 3 days behind insteat of the 2 days. Also the ones i set on sat most are completely full of chicks and u really have to look to see movement but it is there and very cute but the rest are developing and the chicks are moving like crazy but they look like they are at least a day or 2 behind you can still see alot of the vessels and see the movement really good even make out the claws and but the chicks do not take up the whole egg like the others do that were placed in the incubator at same time and i checked twice to make sure i see movement in all and there is movement in all. do i still lockdown today or give it till tomorrow to lockdown

Tough call. I would split the difference but I would be sure the humidity was up since it is a day late for the bigger ones. I usually wait a week between staggered hatches for this reason. Good luck!

 

[emvickrey]

Here are my entries for the Flapper Contest.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

I spot candled a few of the ones that I had marked "good" a week ago. None of them look dark like the pic Cynthia posted. I bet none of mine hatch. I'm not giving up on them, just losing hope that I will hatch any fuzzy butts.

Do you mean me, or someone else? My name is Heather, actually.

If you were to estimate how much of your egg looks dark, about what percentage would you say? It's also possible that your temps are running a bit low and they are a bit behind. Don't give up hope yet!

I liked your paper towel ring idea, but test them first. Put a normal refrigerator egg in one and give it a good hard knock with a finger. Can you knock it over? If so, the hatched chicks tearing around the incubator (yes, "tearing around" - they are quite rough) might knock them off and to the floor. If they sit nice and low in them and their center of gravity is below the line of the tube, it will probably work great.

Looky Looky Looky!!!!!

Heres some pictures of my first time incubating!!

Awesome!

Good job! I had some blood rings and weird air cells, too. Good luck with your hatch!

Made a Big Blocks divider (kids leggo) for the incubator to partition off the pure Plymouth Rocks, laid down paper towels, took eggs out of cartons to lay flat and have two tumblers of water in (each side of divider to hold in place) to see what the humidity will settle at. I'm 5 hours early on lock down but this is to have time to adjust humidity before it's hands off and fingers crossed.

Cool idea!

I'd love to see a picture of that if you get a chance.

My entries for the egg art contest (https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/easter-hatch-egg-art-contest)

Entry #1:

(Why can't I click on a picture and adjust the size anymore?

) Anyway, I love this!!!! Hilarious. Great idea, great execution!

(Love the banner in the background, too!)

FIRST THREE CHICKS OUT!

Congratulations! Healthy chicks are all that matter!

In the amusing anecdote category: I was sitting with the 6-week old chicks and as usual Tucker my young cattle dog was with me. When I first got chickens a year ago, Tucker killed a few of them, but has learned that's a no-no and is now pretty trustworthy. As he was laying there, the chicks got curious about that fur and several went up to him and started plucking out some fur. Well, Tucker was affronted and hopped up to go stand a few feet away, 1 little Wellie followed and soon I saw her craning her neck to look up at Tucker's back and within a second she had jumped up on his back. His head spun around and the look on his face was priceless, but bless him, he didn't make a move to hurt her and she jumped off and Tucker decided to go nap in a chicken free zone.

I love cattle dogs.

Tucker sounds awesome!!! What a good boy!

 

[featherz]

Everyone had me scared about early hatchers so I had to go check mine out. No pips yet, but I see em wobble now and then.