March Hatch-A-Long

[wabbit1964]

A surprise! That can always be fun.

I bought some mystery bantams today... I can't wait to figure out what I have got. I bought 4 so that the lonely healthy turkey poult I hatched would have some company.

 

[cppeace]

I don't remember if I posted in this thread before. I tried hatching turkey eggs this month. Here is my update Of the turkey eggs it was not a big success... I have 1 who appears to be healthy and doing well pretty blue color. Another yellow turkey who is weak (legs) and has a clicking noise. There was another that hatched that was weak and did not make it and one died after pipping before zipping and so I'm kind of bummed.

Sorry it didn't work out too well. I've heard geese and turkey are too of the hardest to hatch well.

 

[Lins_BE]

I have set 48 eggs on the 12th of march. 2 araucana x campine crosses, 3 maran x campine crosses, 13 golden campine eggs and 22 silver campine eggs from a fellow breeder and 8 of my own campines. I have golden, lemon and silver campines roaming free together so no idea what colors are goung to be hatching from them.

On day 5 candling i was 100% sure of 28 of the eggs developing, i will candle again today at day 7 and hopefully it will be more now.

I have had 100% hatch rates of my own eggs in all my hatches untill now, but don’t have so much good experience with eggs that i bought or got from other breeders, so i hope this will be a good hatch despite only 8 being my own eggs, plus the 3 marans are my own too. Pretty hard to candle those ones tough...

I should be expecting the peeps on the 1st of april, fools day.

So after candling on monday, it seels that 36 of the 48 are developping. 12 weren’t fertile, no blood rings, just no development. All of these 12 are deom the same breeder so i guess his rooster is just not up for it yet. A petty, would have liked more to be developing. I hope the rest of them hang in there untill the end.

Thursday day 10 candling...

 

[Ms Biddy]

@plum14 your broody is gorgeous

@Ranchwithaview Ouch! The easiest thing for me is to wear long sleeves, like a denim jacket or sweatshirt, when reaching under an aggressive hen. I don't react at all to the fussing and pecking to try to show her there's no point in attacking me.

 

[SA Farm]

I don't remember if I posted in this thread before. I tried hatching turkey eggs this month. Here is my update Of the turkey eggs it was not a big success... I have 1 who appears to be healthy and doing well pretty blue color. Another yellow turkey who is weak (legs) and has a clicking noise. There was another that hatched that was weak and did not make it and one died after pipping before zipping and so I'm kind of bummed.

I’m sorry I know how difficult it is to hatch turkeys. Losses are, sadly, common They tend to be so exhausted by hatching they just...fade away.
I always add organic apple cider vinegar to the water for all my birds, but for the turkeys I also put in some honey and garlic to give them an extra boost. It’s not a guarantee, but it did bring down my mortality rate when I started doing it.
Something to try, if you’re so inclined
*stole the idea from a YouTube farm vid that I can’t remember the name of at the moment*

 

[Spartan22]

Unfortunately, my lighter d'uccle seems to have trouble staying upright, and I can't figure out why. I thought it had something to do with it not spreading its toes, but I'm not sure that's it. Either way, it doesn't fully stand up or extend its legs, so it might just be weak. I'm not expecting it to survive though I really wish it would. Especially since I'm curious why it's lighter than the rest.

Now that you mentioned that, one of my Black Copper Marans that hatched couple of days ago I’ve just noticed today that when she’s standing and walking she looses her balance. She can Walk and move around standing but seems very drunk, never seen that before and I’d been raising chicks for 5 yrs almost 2x a year.

 

[Ranchwithaview]

I forgot to post earlier about our iffy egg. I took it out this morning after I was sure it was not moving for days. My kids and I cracked it open. It seems to have died around day 10 (at day 17 today). It was much cuter than the pictures of embryos, poor little thing.

The other eggs are all still good.

More good news, I moved my broody hen out of the nesting box. It felt like my fingers were in peril, but I succeeded. I marked and put her egg in the out of favor nesting box, and after we went away, she went into it. Since she is determined, I gave her two other marked, fertilized eggs. She is sitting on three eggs total.

 

[HeritageHenNut]

Well, my hatch is now complete. First 100% hatch ever.

For all the more experienced hatchers that preach the value of patience, you guys are absolutely right. Its about 3 hours from day 23, and the last chick just hatched. I resisted the urge to open my incubator and 'help', and just left the others in there to do their thing and fluff out. Everyone looks great, bright and lively. No sticky chicks or any trouble zipping once they got going.

I promise lots of pictures once they are all in the brooder.

So for everyone wanting to open that incubator to 'just pull out the dry chicks' or 'help'....just give it a little more time. It'll be ok. Promise.

 

[two j farm]

@plum14 your broody is gorgeous

@Ranchwithaview Ouch! The easiest thing for me is to wear long sleeves, like a denim jacket or sweatshirt, when reaching under an aggressive hen. I don't react at all to the fussing and pecking to try to show her there's no point in attacking me.

I wear potholders when reaching under a broody hen. Works every time

 

[Ms Biddy]

@wabbit1964 I'm very sorry about your turkeys. I'm incubating turkey eggs right now and I'm very nervous about it. I started with 12 and only have 3 left with a week to go on them.

@SA Farm if I get any to hatch, I'll try your solution.

@HeritageHenNut Congratulations, that's amazing!