MAY 2016 "Land of the Free Because of the brave!" Hatch-a-Long Hosted by, Mike & Sally

[Jessimom]

@Jessimom sorry about the losses but it sounds like a lot of new eggies coming in!!

I want sebrights someday

Best to ask the pro about serama
@Sally Sunshine

Thanks for linking Sally, I forgot she is the Serama queen!!!

Sorry to hear of the losses too!

Sebrights are gorgeous.

I can see a few eggs being brought in here to outcross...so I'm interested in hearing info too!

Thank you!!!

I just hatched 22 out of 22 of TJchickens MFDs, she said that the Sebrights are a little harder to hatch than the MFD, but the Seramas were really tough to hatch. Said that they run at a higher humidity the first 18 days. I think those 6 are going to get a big Brinsea 40 all to themselves!! I'll let you know how they all do. I am especially looking forward to the Gold Neck Sebrights. They are incredibly beautiful!!

 

[butterfliesdoku]

Here she is with her new baby! The broody is my Black Sumatra "Yin" and the baby is from a Rosecomb bantam/La Bresse mixed hen and Easter Egger rooster. I've named the baby "Twix".

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I hadn't collected eggs in a few days because I was running out of room in the fridge and in the incubator. And yesterday I caught her sitting on the eggs and she got very verbal when I went to get them. So I left them and her. I didn't check to see if she was sitting on them before bed because I ended up hurting my knee and was resting all evening. But she was on them all day today but I just saw her out so in not sure what she's doing. Maybe just a quick break. Guess I will see in a little bit. She's a leghorn so I didn't think she'd ever go broody.

Good luck! Fingers crossed!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: I know she is in great hands! good luck can you tag me in her updates please as she grows I would appreciate it!

Hi! I have about 20+ eggs set to hatch Thursday! Cross your fingers! They are blue English Orpington over speckled Sussex mixes. And I believe some silver penciled rock over white rock mixes and maybe over Dominique I can't see in her eggs. I'm going to check everyone soon and pull out any non developers which I believe will leave me with maybe 3? Less eggs lol. I wish I could post videos on this site I have some very wiggly barnyard mix chicks in these eggs!

WELCOME!!!! you have to upload to youtube or vimeo first then post link here

One of our serama pullets. Her name is Maria


and our serama roo Manolo. the kids named them from the movie "The Book of Life"
We ended up with 2 frizzled birds. The other frizzled is a pullet "Sunny" (DD said she looks like a sunflower) she is the one that can't walk well. She is getting better though!


I have Sunny in her own box in the brooder. I woke up last night to check on her and seen one of the Polish chicks perched on the box passed out! I had to grab my phone and snap a picture. Too cute! It's seems like it didn't want Sunny to be alone.

getting big!!

Ok, i look terrible but the photo in general is too funny not to share.

awwwww sweet!!!

Quote:

[COLOR=0000FF]with your donations![/COLOR]​

​

​

No item too small!​

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Hatching Egg Donations,​

Poultry themed items:​

[COLOR=FF0000]new/used in good shape,[/COLOR]​

BYC GFM's,​

Amazon Gift Cert,​

BYC Certs,​

[COLOR=FF0000]ANY TYPE OF GIFT CERTIFICATES,[/COLOR]​

[COLOR=FF0000]THESE COST LITTLE TO MAIL TO THE WINNER![/COLOR]​

all great items to donate! What some of us do is purchase an item from Amazon and send it directly to the winner, just make sure they have plenty of the item in stock, example chicken rooster fowl mugs are always cool!​

​

I can donate 2 hen saddles

Awesome!! thank you Jess!!! He may have caught this already but send him images to use and info!! THANK YOU TONS!! @mlm Mike
@Auroradream26

My peafowl eggs came in

They all made it! Need to check their air cells still but they're resting at the moment, I'll be popping them into the incubator tomorrow. So I guess that means if there's a June hatch-a-long I'll be in that one too, lol.

Eeeeek!! I've got a first time broody!!

She's 4 and as far as I know has never went broody a day in her life!! Now I'm all excited and have no idea what to do

BROODY HENS

Encourage Hens to Hatch Eggs http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/encourage-hens-to-hatch-eggs.aspx
SHOULD I move my BROODY mamma? discussion begins post #28264 post #28269
Broody Hens CLICK HERE
Letting Broody Hens Hatch & Raise Chicks CLICK HERE
Encouraging or Discouraging Broodiness CLICK HERE
Broody Hens versus Incubators CLICK HERE
"The Call of the Hen". virtual book https://archive.org/details/callhenscience00hogarich
Battling a Broody Chicken Click HERE

Other than the 20 perfect eggs

I have one with a small crack in the shell in the air cell... That might be an issue I think only in that bacteria could get in? I didn't notice early and then well now it's now and the bird seems fine and maybe it's fine. I also have one with a wonky air cell. I guess it's possible that it sat upside down for a few days before going in because my husband was Incharge of collecting at a point and has a hard time telling pointy end from well the other... So I will post a pic of that, perhaps some of you have thoughts on it?

you can try to use candle wax and seal it, some use nail polish... it very easily could get bacteria in it.

 

[Jessimom]

Today was Day 10 for me, so I candled mine again (6 LF Cochins, 6 EE, 6 Ameracaunas). I *think* they're developing ok (this is my first time doing this!). All except one (which didn't look good on Day 7) had a larger air cell than last time (though some not that much larger?), blood vessels, and were dark on the pointy end. And they all felt heavier than the 'bad' one. Should I leave the bad one in to see or chuck it?

Anything else I should be doing? Next day for candling will be Tuesday (day 14).

Quote:
X2. I leave everything in until lock down, unless they smell bad. Good luck

 

[RoodyRodchester]

[COLOR=000000]BROODY HENS[/COLOR]

[COLOR=008080]Encourage Hens to Hatch Eggs[/COLOR] http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/encourage-hens-to-hatch-eggs.aspx [COLOR=008080]SHOULD I move my BROODY mamma? discussion begins[/COLOR] post #28264 post #28269 Broody Hens CLICK HERE Letting Broody Hens Hatch & Raise Chicks CLICK HERE Encouraging or Discouraging Broodiness CLICK HERE Broody Hens versus Incubators CLICK HERE [COLOR=008080]"The Call of the Hen". virtual book[/COLOR] https://archive.org/details/callhenscience00hogarich [COLOR=008080]Battling a Broody Chicken Click HERE[/COLOR]

Thank you Sally! I will do lots of reading! I'm afraid maybe I jumped the gun. Even though she's been sitting for 2 days she is not now so I guess she may if changed her mind.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Two Langshan eggs hatched by our broody (Ruby Begonia). First one looks as I expected it would- black with feathered feet.
The second also has feathered feet, but it's not black (as advertised, lol), so would this one be considered blue, or do I need to wait until it grows a bit to determine the color?

Either way, I'm loving both of them already!

awwwwwww

Quote:

So I went out and bought 3 new multi color packages of Sharpies "just" for marking eggs. I had the primary marker colors Black, blue, red and green. But I've been using colored zip ties to mark each hatch different, so I bought markers that matched the zip ties. But now I have markers that don't have zip ties to match all the colors in the markers...lol. So I'm looking for colored zip ties that match the new markers...lol.

What is everybody's best way of marking chickens to keep track of individual birds within a hatch, yet keep track of that hatch as well?? Something with numbers and different colors or something that one can write numbers/letters in different colors??

I'm really missing the way I was able to use to keep track of my sheep. Because they were registered purebreds, they had to be double tagged with tags that had your farm letters, the number and the letter of the year. But I wasn't going to catch each animal just to look at the tag and match it to records...so I used the father's color for the back of the tag, the mother's color for the front and all my numbers started with the number of that year. 2004 animals were numbered 401-499. (Who can remember the letter of the year 5 years back...not me...lol) I could see at a glance which line was the offspring was from and know the year instantly.

I'm looking at different leg bands...not interested in wing bands that puncture. Was thinking of wide plain elastic that could fit over the wing and fit nice at the base of the wing....information could be written on the band. Haven't found what I'm thinking of yet...

@ChickenCanoe

Paddler has a great system.

LEG BANDS ideas for ID chicks: post #5609
Chickencanoes chick/chicken Identification practices post #25833

@Sally Sunshine @ChickenCanoe

Wow, the whole queen bee ID thing is very cool! I love the stuff I learn on here.
I never thought about needing to I.D. queens!

Thanks for all the information! I will take that under advisement. I have a major assortment of rubber bands for hatch chicks, and of course the zip ties I already mentioned, plus marking paint. (many of my girls look the same...lol)

I am wondering/thinking/considering about trying the below types of elastics to sit at the base of the wing IF I can find a size of band that fits and isn't irritating to the bird. ID/info could be written on the elastic. It'd be like a tag, sort of.

pretty cool right? hatcheries use some sorta paint on their head dont they? Ideal does if you ask them to mark males wonder what they use

Hello everyone!! Cute photos!! Great saves!! Sorry for the DIS and after lock down deaths. Sounds like a lot going on!!!

In this house, we had 2 sets of locked down eggs that didn't do so well.

The set that was mine, the dozen eggs that made a side trip from WA to AL, back to CA had 10 that didn't hatch. For the two other sets of eggs, I ended up with 6 blue eggs, 5 Cochin eggs that didn't hatch. I was able to find some of the hatched egg shells that were legible. I had 3 Maran, 1 Gold Laced Brahma, 2 Blue Partridge Brahma, 2 Blue Birchen Brahma, 2 Biefelders, 1 dark green egg and 6 silkies - along with 6 others I didn't have shells for. A total of 23 chicks out of 54 originally set.

For Gotro17's eggs. The 60 eggs we set, only 40 made it to lock down, but only 17 hatched. 9 Lavender Orpington and 8 Cochin. Of the 40 that made it to lock down 15 of 20 of the eggs that started life in my Brinsea hatched and only 2 of 20 that started in the Hovabator. I did eggtopsies on 10 of the eggs. The Marans that I couldn't see in, about half were infertile or died within days of incubation, the other half were late DIS - they didn't absorb ANY yolk. A couple of the questionable ones that I left in at lock down were earlier DIS. In the Hovabator, the temp jumped around day 15. I think it must have done more damage than I thought.

I have Fly Tyer eggs (shipped) and a bunch of my eggs - silkies and backyard EE mix eggs. I just got 30 eggs from TJchickens (6 Seramas,4 bantam EE, 6 Silver Sebrights, 5 Golden Sebrights, 5 Golden Neck D'uccle and 4 Mille Fleur D'uccle. I will set these with 16 silkie, and 30 backyard EE mix eggs.

Can anyone tell me the best way to hatch the Seramas?

55% to start candle every two days from day 10 adjust as needed HOWEVER keep in mind that serama will suddenly drop weight quicker the last four days before lockdown!!! so dont get the air cells TOO SMALL!! and 75 for hatching. I would get serama local in CA there are some great breeders closer to you, serama polish and silkies suck for sending in the mail, not sure why if the membrane is naturally thinner or what but they do terrible shipped.

Today was Day 10 for me, so I candled mine again (6 LF Cochins, 6 EE, 6 Ameracaunas). I *think* they're developing ok (this is my first time doing this!). All except one (which didn't look good on Day 7) had a larger air cell than last time (though some not that much larger?), blood vessels, and were dark on the pointy end. And they all felt heavier than the 'bad' one. Should I leave the bad one in to see or chuck it?

Anything else I should be doing? Next day for candling will be Tuesday (day 14).

if it doesnt stink let it be!

Quote: I think they are lovely too, I heard they can get fighty with other breeds did you hear that too?

Here she is with her new baby! The broody is my Black Sumatra "Yin" and the baby is from a Rosecomb bantam/La Bresse mixed hen and Easter Egger rooster. I've named the baby "Twix".

she is beautiful momma!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:
maybe she just wanted to poop and eat I will hope she gets back on the stinker!!! Letting Broody Hens Hatch & Raise Chicks CLICK HERE

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote:
Ohhhhhh...lol. She's got eggs under her...that's cool! My eggs are green, blue, off white and a couple days in I could see the changes in the yolk in the darker eggs even if I there's no spiders yet. Instead of being a nice glow like a regular egg, the yolk appears more like a ball or a concentrated, thicker mass than the glow. Is that a good way to explain it? LOL!!!

But even by day 4-5 you'll see spiders in the eggs if she's serious about setting. My first broody hen sat during the day and then gave it up at night at first. So that's why I used the golf ball method to make sure, because I really didn't know if I was recognizing what I was supposed to being new to the broody thing. And all of my EE's get verbal with me if I try to gather eggs. But none of them have went broody...yet.

If it was me, I'd leave the eggs under her...the eggs will be started. And I'm drowning in eggs so if I lose a couple it's no big deal. You sound like you may be in the same predicament if you're fridge is full.

Each broody was different...but Louise would go out every day to dust and mosy around. She's just a tiny OEGB but she just hatched 7 chicks. (What a girl!

) While I only saw the bottom broody out twice...lol. They still all hatched their eggs. They were all first timers...won't be a year old until July.

Quote: I said Sebrights didn't I??

I LOVE Sebrights but I was also wanting to hear about Serama's too. Oh boy!

Here she is with her new baby! The broody is my Black Sumatra "Yin" and the baby is from a Rosecomb bantam/La Bresse mixed hen and Easter Egger rooster. I've named the baby "Twix".

So lovely!!!

 

[mlm Mike]

Hi! I have about 20+ eggs set to hatch Thursday! Cross your fingers! They are blue English Orpington over speckled Sussex mixes. And I believe some silver penciled rock over white rock mixes and maybe over Dominique I can't see in her eggs. I'm going to check everyone soon and pull out any non developers which I believe will leave me with maybe 3? Less eggs lol. I wish I could post videos on this site I have some very wiggly barnyard mix chicks in these eggs!

Good Luck with your hatch!

One of our serama pullets. Her name is Maria


and our serama roo Manolo. the kids named them from the movie "The Book of Life"
We ended up with 2 frizzled birds. The other frizzled is a pullet "Sunny" (DD said she looks like a sunflower) she is the one that can't walk well. She is getting better though!


I have Sunny in her own box in the brooder. I woke up last night to check on her and seen one of the Polish chicks perched on the box passed out! I had to grab my phone and snap a picture. Too cute! It's seems like it didn't want Sunny to be alone.

Awwww. Cute little things.

Had to toss 5 splash silkie eggs last night as I set them..rolling air cells. I've tried before with them. They never start. So, away they went.

Sorry.

I candled eggs on Tuesday night and removed many clears and quitters. I noticed that the 10 Brown Leghorn eggs looked like they were more developed that the others. Sue took them from a broody hen, so we knew they had started to develop, but we weren't for sure how long she had been sitting & broody may have still been adding other hens eggs to her nest.
As Bill & I were tucking in chickens & chicks last night, I finally got to witness the chick crow- Bill saw & heard him do it at 3 weeks old, but I never did. That finally got our 4 mo old BCM roo going, and now he's crowing too!
So, I went to check on the bator as it was beeping due to low humidity. I lifted the lid to find 2 fluffy Brown Leghorns staring at me! Yikes! We quickly unplugged the turner as it began to tilt with one little guy's head between the rails- just in time! Candled all eggs quickly, moved CLBs, OEs and a few less developed eggs to another bator which was already going and had just enough room.
So, surprise, we have BLHs! There were 7 out this morning and the others are pipped! Pics when I get home tonight! Shortest incubation ever- thanks to the broody!

LOL the young guy teaching the older one to crow. Glad you were able to get the turner out before some chick was injured, and move the eggs too.

Ok, i look terrible but the photo in general is too funny not to share.

Awwwwww

Quote: Thank You!

Two Langshan eggs hatched by our broody (Ruby Begonia). First one looks as I expected it would- black with feathered feet.
The second also has feathered feet, but it's not black (as advertised, lol), so would this one be considered blue, or do I need to wait until it grows a bit to determine the color?

Either way, I'm loving both of them already!

Nice!

My peafowl eggs came in

They all made it! Need to check their air cells still but they're resting at the moment, I'll be popping them into the incubator tomorrow. So I guess that means if there's a June hatch-a-long I'll be in that one too, lol.