March 2023 hatch-a-long

[LhickenChicken]

I'm sorry! I hope the other one makes it!

Me too

 

[gimmie birdies]

If I have a weak or late chick,

I put into a separation cage, or a side brooder with a window,

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Today is lockdown!!!! Started with 45, ai have 34 in the lockdown, but not sure about 3 of them, so saying I have 31. First time doing this, now trying to get my humidity where it needs to be.

Good luck!

 

[pinewoodacres]

Well dang, I got busy with life and I come back and there's like 40+ unread pages of posts! I will try to go through them to show some love!

Just wanted to update real quick, I started with 39 and have removed 8 so far. Some are a little harder to see through so I'm playing it safe on those and leaving them in.

Lockdown is tomorrow! I will candle again tonight to see if I can tell for sure if any more have died. I'll get the second incubator up and running and divide them into paper egg cartons based on mother, two per incubator (four total mothers) and put one carton per incubator into a mesh bag to keep them separated from one another. I dislike the bags because it's hard to see into them to check if someone is pipping, but until I figure out a better way, this is what it is for me. I'll post a pic when I get that set up in the morning.

 

[pinewoodacres]

One thing I did that may have been stupid was take my incubator to our 4-H meeting to candle for the kids on day 14. The incubator was unplugged maybe 15 minutes each way (plugged in for over two hours while there) so I'm not concerned with that part, it's the jostling along our limerock road that is my worry in retrospect. I have never hatched shipped eggs, but I did have a poor hatch rate with some I picked up two hours away, although that's different since there's no development yet. So, I hope these were far along enough to be in the clear to not scramble them but early enough to not jostle them into being malpositioned.

 

[Kikilu]

How many do you have left?

10 still a couple dark eggs hard to see but pretty sure I see something going on!

 

[Kwoka]

Here are the first three chicks from my own flock! The little orange fluff might be from my only red hen, and the yellows might be pure Bresse. I won’t know until their legs start turning blue, but I’m pretty sure my Bresse boy is the father of these.

We’ll see what kind of combs and colors the others come out with as the hatch dates get later…could start seeing some Wyandotte mixes

 

[Waterfaery]

Here are the first three chicks from my own flock! The little orange fluff might be from my only red hen, and the yellows might be pure Bresse. I won’t know until their legs start turning blue, but I’m pretty sure my Bresse boy is the father of these.

We’ll see what kind of combs and colors the others come out with as the hatch dates get later…could start seeing some Wyandotte mixes

View attachment 3430318

They're lovely. I have Bresse as well that I hatched in July and now the next generation is on the way in the incubator! They are a lovely breed, aren't they? Maybe I had low expectations because I started them for meat and was trying not to get too attached to them but I've been surprised at how interesting their personalities are.

 

[Waterfaery]

I'm very excited to join the thread. My eggs are on day 7 but I guess I waited until now to join because I wasn't sure if any would develop.

It's my third time hatching but my first ever with eggs from my own flock. I set 17 Bresse eggs and 7 Light Sussex. I really didn't know what to expect but I candled them today and I'm so delighted with them!

All of the Bresse eggs are developing. Of the 7 Light Sussex there was just one clear but I wasn't completely confident when I put it in that it was actually an egg from my Light Sussex hen. There is a good chance the only clear one was actually an Australorp egg that couldn't possibly be fertile. So I'm quite happy with that fertility rate! Let's hope the eggs continue to do well.

I'm really hoping for the Light Sussex ones to do well because I ended up with just the one hen and 4 cockerels out of 12 shipped eggs I incubated last year so I'm keen to increase their numbers. I've been removing her from the layers' flock to give her an hour or so with my Light Sussex cockerel every couple of days. It's a small bit of hassle but I don't think it would be fair to take one hen out of the flock on her own long term. I'll be keeping this up and putting a week's worth of her eggs in with any other incubations I do this year.

Otherwise, I've tried to catch up and did my best to read most of the 94 pages! Congratulations to everyone on the hatches so far!

Does anyone else have a hatch date close to mine (26th/27th)?

 

[RUTHIE258]

Hey, i have chicks hatching now in a brinsea mini. The incubator is all starting to fog up. Will they have enough air?? There are 2 out and more pipped.