March 2017! Hatch with us!

[Birdydeb]

They're here! A wonderful, wonderful first hatching adventure! They came right on time and hatched one after another. Though I was nervous, they all did what they needed to for textbook pipping, zipping, and hatching. 4/4 hatched, and it was a magical experience!

Congrats! Adorable!

 

[dan26552]

Chicks These are for a friend, although I'm setting more ducks this week.

Ah. Well good luck with both! What kind of ducks?

I HAVE A PIP!!!! I just looked into the incubator now, and saw it

Yay!!!! My pips are starting to widen e

 

[Birdydeb]

Yay! Nail biting time!

 

[orrpeople]

Lockdown Day!  EEs, OE, Marans and fancy Orpingtons. 

My young Silkie is not sitting on her possibly fertile eggs, so I am putting all four that she's laid so far in the incubator with the LF that are due to hatch this week. Thanks for the advice on this.

Yesterday, I re-homed two Brahma cockerels,and last weekend I gave up a gorgeous Silkie pair, so there will be plenty of room for more hens. Yes, Chicken Math does involve subtraction, as well as addition.

So excited for new chicks by Friday! 

We did some subtraction yesterday as well. Our naughty rooster, two homegrown OE cockerels and 3 BR/BCM cockerels. Was able to sell them basically for what it cost us to feed them to this point, but lost $ on the naughty one. It's sad how attached we get to them. My daughter and I cried, then had to go out and love on all the others and remind ourselves that it was the right thing to do (a few of them were going to be processed in a couple of weeks anyway, and the lady who answered our CL ad for the one OE came out and did some chicken math of her own!)
Oh, and of my thirteen chicks in the brooder, left from this March hatch, it looks like 10 are cockerels....

 

[Birdydeb]

Sitting here playing catch up on all the hatches. If I missed you....GOOD LUCK! How exciting....so many little cuties hatching all over!

 

[Birdydeb]

We did some subtraction yesterday as well. Our naughty rooster, two homegrown OE cockerels and 3 BR/BCM cockerels. Was able to sell them basically for what it cost us to feed them to this point, but lost $ on the naughty one. It's sad how attached we get to them. My daughter and I cried, then had to go out and love on all the others and remind ourselves that it was the right thing to do (a few of them were going to be processed in a couple of weeks anyway, and the lady who answered our CL ad for the one OE came out and did some chicken math of her own!)
Oh, and of my thirteen chicks in the brooder, left from this March hatch, it looks like 10 are cockerels....

I SHOULD do some subtraction. :/ but deciding who is the question. Already down to one rooster because the other two were HORRIBLE. Don't miss them but it twinged my heart knowing they were going to a stew pot. To make room for all the chicks I want it would probably be good to let a few laying hens go....nah! Maybe in a month....

 

[lilwildrabbit]

My subtraction comes in waves first subtract from the flock the abundant Roos ( freezing vacation for them! ) then I watch the hens lay ban the ones that produce the nice big eggs one color then the others the other then sit back and watch which ones produce the most eggs and who gets broody the most I want about 4 broody sitting hens and nice big egg layers! The rest can be sold or frozen for later

 

[WVduckchick]

I can only CONFIRM 1 live chick in the pile of broodies, but they won't let me check for eggs. It appears that my family has added a few brooders to the pile, clearing out the other favorite nesting box. So, we are back up to 7 broodies, in this pile. But the other nesting box just filled back up = there are at least 5 broodies in it now. The pile with the fertile eggs want NOTHING to do with me lifting them up. I keep finding that 1 chick in between birds, under nobody. It's staying plenty warm, without being crushed. It's head keeps popping up, looking around.

For my incubator - I left my house around 7 last night with 3 chicks in the 'bator, but LOT of pips. I stayed at my friend's place, and the message I got this morning is that there are 13 or 14, it's hard to count. Not a chance I could get anyone to attempt to figure out which eggs have been hatching.

I have to work all day - maybe run home at lunch????? 20 min home, 20 min playing with chicks, 20 min back? I should stop for gas sometime in that hour as well.....

Tomorrow is lockdown for my next set of eggs. I did not plan that batch well at all. I hate hatching mid-week.

Happy Hatching everyone!!!!

Are any of those girls still laying? Adding to the pile?? I have a new broody cochin, and only 3 more girls and the roo share that pen with her. I'm debating leaving her not blocked off from the rest, because they do like to go in and lay for a while with her. But how do I keep from adding to the egg pile? Mark the oldest ones and remove new ones daily??

I hate blocking them off, then they can't get out when they want/need to. But I hate letting others bother the Momma hens too.

We did some subtraction yesterday as well. Our naughty rooster, two homegrown OE cockerels and 3 BR/BCM cockerels. Was able to sell them basically for what it cost us to feed them to this point, but lost $ on the naughty one. It's sad how attached we get to them. My daughter and I cried, then had to go out and love on all the others and remind ourselves that it was the right thing to do (a few of them were going to be processed in a couple of weeks anyway, and the lady who answered our CL ad for the one OE came out and did some chicken math of her own!)
Oh, and of my thirteen chicks in the brooder, left from this March hatch, it looks like 10 are cockerels....

Seems like every time I sell chicks, the ones that I end up keeping turn out to be cockerels, or at least a very large percentage.

 

[Jessimom]

Are any of those girls still laying? Adding to the pile?? I have a new broody cochin, and only 3 more girls and the roo share that pen with her. I'm debating leaving her not blocked off from the rest, because they do like to go in and lay for a while with her. But how do I keep from adding to the egg pile? Mark the oldest ones and remove new ones daily??

I hate blocking them off, then they can't get out when they want/need to. But I hate letting others bother the Momma hens too.

Seems like every time I sell chicks, the ones that I end up keeping turn out to be cockerels, or at least a very large percentage.

The coop has a very low ceiling. This area is at the very back in a wooden coop structure, and the door only opens a short way. In order for me to check for eggs, I'd have to pull 4 or 5 birds off. From the area of the second broody site, we are getting zero eggs. Everyone that is laying is being banned by the brooding hens. When I locked down the first pile of broodies, I only marked a few of the egg, but not all of them. There were a couple of birds that figured out how to squeeze in. Those eggs were not removed because I couldn't tell which ones were fertile and which ones were the new ones. I'll take a photo of the whole area today. These chicks have an opening from their coop and a small area to eat and drink, and let us know they are done brooding....

I do not have any roosters at my house. The roosters were housed at a friends place, along with some hens. These eggs are the ones I gave to the first pile of broodies. Any new eggs that were added to the mix, will not hatch. So, in a few days, I have to clean out the eggs. I just hatched 14 chicks in my incubator (probably at least 5 or 6, maybe 10 more will be out tonight). Can I slip a few of these chicks under the pile when I clear out the eggs?

 

[WVduckchick]

The coop has a very low ceiling. This area is at the very back in a wooden coop structure, and the door only opens a short way. In order for me to check for eggs, I'd have to pull 4 or 5 birds off. From the area of the second broody site, we are getting zero eggs. Everyone that is laying is being banned by the brooding hens. When I locked down the first pile of broodies, I only marked a few of the egg, but not all of them. There were a couple of birds that figured out how to squeeze in. Those eggs were not removed because I couldn't tell which ones were fertile and which ones were the new ones. I'll take a photo of the whole area today. These chicks have an opening from their coop and a small area to eat and drink, and let us know they are done brooding....

I do not have any roosters at my house. The roosters were housed at a friends place, along with some hens. These eggs are the ones I gave to the first pile of broodies. Any new eggs that were added to the mix, will not hatch. So, in a few days, I have to clean out the eggs. I just hatched 14 chicks in my incubator (probably at least 5 or 6, maybe 10 more will be out tonight). Can I slip a few of these chicks under the pile when I clear out the eggs?

Oh, that makes sense!

You could try giving the chicks to them, just be prepared for them to possibly be rejected, and even killed. From what I've read, I think the majority of hens will accept them. But there are always "those" hens that don't. So its really up to you and your girls. I tried it with chicks that I wasn't too worried about, and all went well. Good momma hens. But I also gave one to a hen that had only been broody for a few days, and I found it dead the next morning. I have a few chicks right now that I would love to turn over to one of the girls. I think timing is a big part of the success or failure.