May 2023 Hatch-a-long

[Lydia Huizenga]

9/10 for me. Perfect babies. I can’t wait to get more pictures of them all dry. It’s crazy. I got 8 black/black and white and only 1 yellow chick. Both dads were black when they were born so I have no clue who the father is. I love seeing their true colors pop up once all their gunk is dried.

 

[FeatherProfessor]

Oooohhhh Acorn!!!
Don't be a jerk!!!

He literally has given three other chicks bloody noses. I’ve never seen a little booger so aggressive so early on. I am concerned a little for when puberty hits and he turns into an even bigger jerk

 

[Waterfaery]

It hadnt...
I decided to step in.
I candled it earlier chick was moving its beak...
I candled prior to safety hole..no movement...
I poked safety hole...
Still no movement...
I waiting a little bit ...
No movement...everything looked the same..
I decided to open the egg slowly already knowing the chick had passed

He had severe scissor beak with the top beak shorter than the bottom....which to me ...explains why he couldn't pip...


I have 5 chicks from this hatch.
My heart is saddend by the losses but I know the ones I lost had something wrong...

8/16 went into lockdown
5/8 hatched.

First ever hatch....

Fingers crossed for a roo or 2 please

Congratulations on your first ever hatch! It's always hard to lose some but I'm so glad you got 5 lovely, happy chicks.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Ugh... Hatch day worked out for me....being as it fell during my 3 days off...

Now everyone is hatched, I just wanna watch them play and learn and I am at work this wkend....sooooo I took a pic if thier sleepiness to get me by
Not much to see but 5 very tired hatchlings

 

[Waterfaery]

Well, update on mine- 7 have hatched and 1 more is unzipping as I type.
1 of the 7 keeps holding its head up and then falls over on its back, not sure why but we read that offering vitamin e will help? Is that true?
Circled chick is the one I'm talking about.
View attachment 3518334View attachment 3518336

How is it doing now?

I had one do that before. It kept falling onto its back every time it tried to walk. It was a few hours after it hatched that it stopped doing that and then it was a bit unsteady on its feet compared to the others for the next day or so. I never did anything and it was fine. I do always give one off dose of a general chick multivitamin at some point in the first week.

If yours is still falling backwards the vitamin E would do no harm anyway. Vitamin B complex as well. They also say selenium but I'd be careful with that because they can overdose on it. Eggs have a good amount of selenium and you definitely can't go wrong with raw egg yolk for all of them.

 

[lilwanderer]

How is it doing now?

I had one do that before. It kept falling onto its back every time it tried to walk. It was a few hours after it hatched that it stopped doing that and then it was a bit unsteady on its feet compared to the others for the next day or so. I never did anything and it was fine. I do always give one off dose of a general chick multivitamin at some point in the first week.

If yours is still falling backwards the vitamin E would do no harm anyway. Vitamin B complex as well. They also say selenium but I'd be careful with that because they can overdose on it. Eggs have a good amount of selenium and you definitely can't go wrong with raw egg yolk for all of them.

The vitamin e must of helped- its fine now and was actually one of the first to get up and around and start eating in the brooder.

 

[lilwanderer]

Just moved 15 chicks out of the incubator and into the brooder, they are doing well.
Have 5 more pipped and should hatch maybe tonight or sometime in the middle of the night, not sure.
-
But, i had 5 more eggs, 4 had internally pipped but i didnt hear any sound or see any movement, opened them up to perfectly formed, fully absorbed dead chicks. The remaining 1 hadn't internally pipped but i didnt see movement in it and it kind of stunk so i didn't bother to look at it.
-
Once these 5 pipped eggs finish (whether they die in the process of unzipping, I don't know, but i wont try and jinx it. (Duh)) The first batch of eggs will be finished. Then I'll have 8 eggs (which are on day 18 right now which will be next. I see some wiggling going on in them already.
After that I'll have 5 eggs (day 17 right now) which will come after that.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Mom, what are THESE?!?!?

 

[Honora]

Does anyone ever feel like keeping chickens is a constant battle against predators and pests? For those of you who were in the April hatch with me, maybe you remember how I had a chick go missing from the shed overnight?

Well, 2 of my May chicks have also disappeared from the shed now. I am thinking it has to be a rat because if it was a stoat it would have killed more than one at a time.

So I am going to start putting them in a plastic bin overnight with a screen over the top, hopefully they will be safe from the rat in there. I am down to 12 chicks from my original 16, as I had another chick die and I had to cull one that was having seizures. Just hope I have a lot of pullets in this group, cause it looks like only 2 of my April hatch are female!

Going to hatch again since I really need more hens, so I’ll probably see some of you in the June HAL.

 

[Honora]

He literally has given three other chicks bloody noses. I’ve never seen a little booger so aggressive so early on. I am concerned a little for when puberty hits and he turns into an even bigger jerk

I love the name Acorn. If I get a brown pullet I will totally steal that name