March 2017! Hatch with us!

[yeye5]

I have tons of pics with chicks on broodies backs. Usually turns out to be males that do it. Lol!

Really? I'm seeing this for the first time with Mima's adopted chicks, mostly the Brahmas. They hop right up and waitfor their food refills with a great vantage point on the coop and this human grandma.
Mima doesn't seem to mind at all. But OMG those Brahma babies are getting big!

 

[yeye5]

Now for the cute chick pics. I am so charmed by this little splash Orpington. It's a roulette wheel what you will get from a B/B/S pen, but look at this cutie's "eyelash" paint!

Gorgeous!!!

 

[yeye5]

Ok, since you asked ... Guess what?? I left the incubator for a bit, came back and there was a new bird! And another! I had to call my daughter for another pair of eyes, because I could only see one more egg cracked open. We even got out our checklist and checked off every bird that had hatched and compared this with eggs still left. None of it made any sense. Where did this other bird come from? I opened the incubator and confirmed that the other eggs were either whole or pipped with a beak sticking out. So, the "Meg" egg gave me twin Easter Eggers!!

You have TWINS!?! Isn't that a super rare occurrence in chickens? Double congratulations!!!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

Well march is gone now but I'm glad I was here to experiance all the great hatches and get all the encouragement with mine. My hatch was a bust but my rescue wasn't! Thanks to you guys I'm glad I didn't give up on my bantam eggs! I still have 10 of the 10 that hatched from 11 almost frozen eggs. That was the most unexpected hatch I have had that kep me up on my toes for 3 days! From a Miracle came the little bantams and I have all of you guys and God to thank for! It was less than 14 hours between putting them in the incubator and the first one hatching!
With your help and support I have my flock returning to what it was before my devistation and more!
With your help I can go outside and enjoy my birds again they have become a rock that I stand on and n my older age. Something that keeps me going, makes my days bearable, worthgetting up for! I love just sit and watch them interact with each other one pick something up and run while the others so courious they give chase like a rugby match or a soccer game all the tuck and running they do it's so fun to watch. I can again grab my coffee and sneak outside and watch them come out for the start of the day stretching of the night air. The roosters crowing to tell the others around this is my flock and I'm here to protect it! The hens clucking around not a worry in the world scratching in the dirt to find the occasional worm or treat that got away last night just to be consumed that morning. Me walking into the run watching all of them run up to greet me some even wanting to be petted or picked up! Working during the morning hours with an audience watching my every move as I cut the wood for the new nest boxes or the door to a new section of coop I'm building. Listening in as a hen clucks out she has laid an egg and other hens cackling on with her. It's great to just st enjoy the little things in life that for all the years have missed in your life and to have all of that makes this old man happy to be a part of this group. And for all that I thank you all and letting me share through your eyes your stories of hatching your own little wonders

 

[yeye5]

Many of the mallard-derived breeds don't fly well enough to leave your property.  Pekins, Swedish, Welsh Harlequin, Khaki Campbell, Runner ducks etc.  And wing-clipping is an option too.  Visit The Duck Thread here, if you are seriously considering ducks, and get a feel for which ones would suit you better.

Thanks, I will check out that thread. I want them to suit me but it's very important that I can offer them a happy place to be. I don't believe in taking hostages just bcs I want them!
Curly and Mo were white and Larry was a mallard I think, with the green black shiny feathers.

Should be fine.  I swear, after watching how broodies handle eggs....  we are wayyy to cautious as hatchers!  LOL   Just let them re-stabilize and candle again. 

I do think there are days that temp drops have more effect, but I can't remember what "they" say about that.  Broodies get off the eggs multiple times a day, even in very cold temps.  It takes a while before the inside of the egg temperature actually drops.  But I hope yours are all ok! 

 

[yeye5]

Well, I was serious, but the chickies pulled a prank on me!   I retract my post, and humbly admit I've been the naive victim of an early April Fool's joke. One of my chicks seems to have pipped and zipped on the underside of the egg and slipped out while I wasn't in the room, making sure her egg looked perfectly intact from the top view.  When I went to clear out the incubator, I discovered my silly mistake. No twins! This makes a lot more sense. I couldn't figure out how two big chicks had come out of that one egg. 

Now that's a good one! They should have names descriptive of that stunt!

 

[yeye5]

So...just bcs I could, I de used to slide under the March wire too yesterday. I became possessed by the spirit of More Chickens Please...
Called TS and they had black sexlinks. I thought I'd get 5 pullets and 1 cockerel. Then found out they had all pullets. I still got my 5pullets.
I also was told they had Asian blacks. I pulled up a thread on TS and Asian blacks which had turned out some to be BR, others to be Asian...a very mixed chance of getting who knows what. I know they'll be chickens so that's a good start.
I picked 2 that have all black k heads. ( I was sort of imposing a rule on them although I didn't know if it applied) and then pi med one with a white spot on his head but I second guessed myself and asked the employee!other t hold all 3of the white spots so I could compare. One had a docile sweet personality...since I couldn't choose and couldn't leave anyone being I just got all 3 of them too.
This is my very first time being the broody!

 

[Mylied]

How long a drive? Um...err...hmm...

Well, to Jacksonville from here is 3 1/2 hours. But I'm having a problem with some new chickens, so I am going to hold off on sending anything anywhere until I get them checked out. They're in the backyard and all the rest are in the front yard, but I want to be careful. I feel like a seller scammed me. But anyway, that's for another topic.

 

[orrpeople]

Well march is gone now but I'm glad I was here to experiance all the great hatches and get all the encouragement with mine. My hatch was a bust but my rescue wasn't! Thanks to you guys I'm glad I didn't give up on my bantam eggs! I still have 10 of the 10 that hatched from 11 almost frozen eggs. That was the most unexpected hatch I have had that kep me up on my toes for 3 days! From a Miracle came the little bantams and I have all of you guys and God to thank for! It was less than 14 hours between putting them in the incubator and the first one hatching!
With your help and support I have my flock returning to what it was before my devistation and more!
With your help I can go outside and enjoy my birds again they have become a rock that I stand on and n my older age. Something that keeps me going, makes my days bearable, worthgetting up for! I love just sit and watch them interact with each other one pick something up and run while the others so courious they give chase like a rugby match or a soccer game all the tuck and running they do it's so fun to watch. I can again grab my coffee and sneak outside and watch them come out for the start of the day stretching of the night air. The roosters crowing to tell the others around this is my flock and I'm here to protect it! The hens clucking around not a worry in the world scratching in the dirt to find the occasional worm or treat that got away last night just to be consumed that morning. Me walking into the run watching all of them run up to greet me some even wanting to be petted or picked up! Working during the morning hours with an audience watching my every move as I cut the wood for the new nest boxes or the door to a new section of coop I'm building. Listening in as a hen clucks out she has laid an egg and other hens cackling on with her. It's great to just st enjoy the little things in life that for all the years have missed in your life and to have all of that makes this old man happy to be a part of this group. And for all that I thank you all and letting me share through your eyes your stories of hatching your own little wonders

I love this! You painted the perfect picture of chicken "parenting"! They are such fun... and even when I'm out cleaning poop boards, I never resent it! I look forward to hearing about your incubator construction project in the future!!

 

[WVduckchick]

Well, I was serious, but the chickies pulled a prank on me!   I retract my post, and humbly admit I've been the naive victim of an early April Fool's joke. One of my chicks seems to have pipped and zipped on the underside of the egg and slipped out while I wasn't in the room, making sure her egg looked perfectly intact from the top view.  When I went to clear out the incubator, I discovered my silly mistake. No twins! This makes a lot more sense. I couldn't figure out how two big chicks had come out of that one egg. 

Don't feel bad. I'm gullible too.

LOL  now that is MUCH better than what I did.....

I just finished a hatch on Monday, and they were still hatching when I locked down this hatch.  I left the eggs in the Monday bator - just in case I had a late hatch., but I stole the humidity pump for the new hatch.

After the clean up of viable eggs this morning, I had to help one of the Seramas hatch when I got home from work.  It's doing great, already in with the rest of the crowd.

As I was going to bed, I went to check and I hear peeping.  Loud peeping.  I opened up the bator since I didn't see any pips.  Nothing.  The noise was coming from the MONDAY hatch bator.  NO WATER SINCE TUESDAY!!!  It was STUCK.  I had to PEEELLLLL the shell off that baby.  It's now all alone drying off inside the 'bator.  It was ONLY wet because I was adding water to my peeling of the shell.  Other than that, it's body was dry.

Final count for me is 9 bantam EE, 4 Serama and 4 Olive Egger.  Unless my life check on the eggs in the bator was totally wrong.  I obviously was wrong about Monday's hatch.

I've got more eggs on day 15 and even MORE eggs on day 7.  Then I'm done for a while.....LOTS of babies!!!

Wow! Nice save, and that's a bunch of babies alright! Congrats on a great month.

Really? I'm seeing this for the first time with Mima's adopted chicks, mostly the Brahmas. They hop right up and waitfor their food refills with a great vantage point on the coop and this human grandma.
Mima doesn't seem to mind at all. But OMG those Brahma babies are getting big!

I've seen every broody hatch have ones that hop on their mommas backs. It's so stinkin adorable