March 2023 hatch-a-long

[FBMcrazy8]

Took some individual pics. Going to try , and follow how each one grows/changes, especially since I don't know what breeds they are/come from (mostly mixes I believe).
View attachment 3430947View attachment 3430948View attachment 3430950View attachment 3430951View attachment 3430952View attachment 3430953This one's got fuzzy legs and 5 toes.
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View attachment 3430960View attachment 3430949And finally, Zombie.

They are so cute!!

 

[Iluveggers]

Oh wow! Quite a variety of possibilities! It will be really fun to see what you might have

Agreed! How fun!

2 days before lockdown and 5 days before my husband divorces me….er I mean hatch day for 10 more chicks!
I’m so nervous and excited and less prepared for these ones to hatch. I think I’m going to take Monday off from work since day 21 is Sunday at 7:30.

For better, or worse, for richer & poorer. More chicks is better for you & worse for him, you’ll be rich with chicken math and poor with feed & coop costs. He made the vow! lol

 

[pinewoodacres]

Several of the babies are here now. All mixed up because the breed fences are too short.

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Oh noooo! This is my fear for moving away from the bags. I like the idea of a hardware cloth “lid” type deal so they can’t hop out.

Do you think you can tell them apart when they start feathering?

 

[FBMcrazy8]

2 days before lockdown and 5 days before my husband divorces me….er I mean hatch day for 10 more chicks!
I’m so nervous and excited and less prepared for these ones to hatch. I think I’m going to take Monday off from work since day 21 is Sunday at 7:30.

I have eggs waiting to go into an incubator and I’m pretty sure I see papers in my future too. just kidding but I do know what’s going on in his head…”we have a zoo…we don’t need a zoo…what is this crazy chicken/duck lady thinking!”

 

[Backyard Divas]

2 days before lockdown and 5 days before my husband divorces me….er I mean hatch day for 10 more chicks!
I’m so nervous and excited and less prepared for these ones to hatch. I think I’m going to take Monday off from work since day 21 is Sunday at 7:30.

Maybe you will get some early hatching on Sunday! Excited for you!

Yeah, I understand that divorce joke. Boyfriend tried to decree no chicks this year. We'll see how that works out. I figure I can soften him up by fall.

 

[ivy_huan]

I let them ride atleast two days, have you candled them and do you see movement?

I haven't candled them after lockdown. I'm thinking about doing it tonight or tomorrow night
There are three that were questionable . When I put them all in lockdown. One really dark but very small air sack

 

[3KillerBs]

They're not all hatched yet, which is good because I've just found that the 250 heat lamp bulb I put away a month ago has gone out and my spare is also out.

It's going to be just below freezing in the morning -- when I *was* planning on putting them into the brooder before I left for work -- so they're going to have to hang out in the incubator until I get home.

DS#2, who still lives at home, will go to the farm store and buy me a new Big Red Bulb to get me through this last cold snap. (I'm having trouble convincing him that it's as simple as going to the local farm store and telling them "I need the big red heat lamp bulb for chicks". He wants brands and model numbers. )

That’s too bad about the fences. Was it an Etsy one?

No, homemade, but apparently the dimensions I found -- I've forgotten where -- are too short.

For those wondering about the egg cartons and/or separating different lines of breeders, here is how I currently do it. It is easiest with two incubators if you have this many eggs but I’ve done it in one with a smaller batch. Just need to make sure only one line is available to run around and keep the others bagged separately. I put the smallest number of eggs possible into the bags since it is harder to monitor what’s going on. One of these is a lingerie bag and one is just some mesh material had from a random purchase at Joann’s a long time ago. Lol I have seen using a produce mesh bag, and then they are basically disposal whereas I do wash and reuse these. I prefer to hatch in paper cartons versus styro but I’ve not noticed any differences in practicality.

31 are in lockdown! I will be getting a mishmash of phenotypes as all but one set are third generation in my project and from here I will be more choosy in my hatching.

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I have been so nervous about the mesh bags because I'm afraid of them getting tangled. They're OK in there for 12 or 24 hours while all of them finish hatching?

Oh noooo! This is my fear for moving away from the bags. I like the idea of a hardware cloth “lid” type deal so they can’t hop out.

Do you think you can tell them apart when they start feathering?

I can tell the two CW crosses because I saw them before they got out of the fence -- both are dominant white (as best I could tell through the plastic).

I have no idea what the OE crosses will look like. I hope they inherit their mother's pea comb and/or beard. The FCM cross will be the hard one -- unless it's male, in which case it will be barred.

The problem is that even though my FCMs *are* feather-footed, they are apparently not pure for it and have previously thrown clean-legged chicks. A female FCM cross will be either black or blue and if it doesn't have feathered feet I'll have no clue that it's a cross until it lays a darker egg.

 

[pinewoodacres]

I have been so nervous about the mesh bags because I'm afraid of them getting tangled. They're OK in there for 12 or 24 hours while all of them finish hatching?

I can tell the two CW crosses because I saw them before they got out of the fence -- both are dominant white (as best I could tell through the plastic).

I have no idea what the OE crosses will look like. I hope they inherit their mother's pea comb and/or beard. The FCM cross will be the hard one -- unless it's male, in which case it will be barred.

The problem is that even though my FCMs *are* feather-footed, they are apparently not pure for it and have previously thrown clean-legged chicks. A female FCM cross will be either black or blue and if it doesn't have feathered feet I'll have no clue that it's a cross until it lays a darker egg.

I have never had one get stuck. I initially used a different lingerie bag that was way tighter mesh and sort of shiny and that was so difficult to see through that I just tossed it when it was over. But I get the concern bc I was at first, too. I do try to pull them 1-2 times a day once we are past the first couple that always seem to be much earlier than the others. Seems they can find trouble anywhere, though. I had a new hatchling mangle a leg in the brooder overnight (I brood outside) and get stuck just outside the heat plate. She was cold but alive when I found her but the foot was almost severed and it was an immediate cull. So, things can happen at any time, really.

At least you have a couple you know for sure and you can possibly tell them apart from various things later! I am sure it is very frustrating for now, though!

 

[pinewoodacres]

I haven't candled them after lockdown. I'm thinking about doing it tonight or tomorrow night
There are three that were questionable . When I put them all in lockdown. One really dark but very small air sack

Candling late in the game can be sorta cool if you catch one with a beak into the air cell! I had one like this and he hatched the next day, he was sorta sickly and I culled him around 7 or 8 months finally. I did not help him hatch but he came out with his belly not fully closed, and he was pretty resilient for a long time, small but handling himself well, till pox went around last fall. Hopefully you will have another healthy chick or two, but my experience is that they were malpositioned or late quits that wouldn’t make it out either which way.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have never had one get stuck. I initially used a different lingerie bag that was way tighter mesh and sort of shiny and that was so difficult to see through that I just tossed it when it was over. But I get the concern bc I was at first, too. I do try to pull them 1-2 times a day once we are past the first couple that always seem to be much earlier than the others. Seems they can find trouble anywhere, though. I had a new hatchling mangle a leg in the brooder overnight (I brood outside) and get stuck just outside the heat plate. She was cold but alive when I found her but the foot was almost severed and it was an immediate cull. So, things can happen at any time, really.

At least you have a couple you know for sure and you can possibly tell them apart from various things later! I am sure it is very frustrating for now, though!

Yes. This was supposed to be my main replacement hen hatch for the year. I can't separate birds to get for-sure pure Australorps for my Easter hatch.