Met my babies

[pamperedamber]

Here are a couple of pics of the chicks.

 

[pamperedamber]

Here is rooster # 1. Going to watch him as he grows in feathers to see if the barring continues or if it was just a fluke.

 

[pamperedamber]

So it has been awhile since I have posted on here. Sorry about that. I will try to be better about posting a lot more often.

So updates: Our hen house was reduced, some we sold and some passed on due to predators.

We have 8 hens, 2 of which are from the originals (Buttercup and Sunlight), Start (Delaware), Red (PR), Midnight (Australorp), 2 Blue Ameraucanas (still to be named), 1 Black Ameraucana (still to be named). We have 1 Blue Cockerel (still needs a name), and 1 Lavender Ameraucana (Still needs a name).

I gave my mom 6 eggs to hatch out under her broody. So far 2 have hatched out. 1 is a black ameraucana and the other looks like it is a dark blue Ameraucana. We have 1 blue egg yet to hatch and 3 brown eggs to go. The dad to all these eggs is the Blue Ameraucana.

I guess we need to give him a name since he is producing some nice chicks so far. The non-ameraucanas are going to a friend so she can start her chicken obsession. She wants 2 so she will get 3-4. She can not have roosters where she is at so that's why she need 3-4 just in case one or more turns out to be a boy.

 

[pamperedamber]

I forgot to tell you all that Sunday afternoon I put 37 eggs in the incubator. 12 Lavenders, 7 BBS, 3 Easter Eggers, 15 Olive Eggers. They are due on May 13, 2017. Just in time for Mother's Day. Too bad it is after the kid's 4-h event. We are going to be doing a hatch for their Father's day event as well. I think we will list the olive eggers on the chicken meet. All the money from the chickens (eggs and chicks) goes to their 4-h account so they can go to camp.

Tonight will be candling to see if they are coming along I will also be marking air sacs. Sunday we will be weighing to see if the humidity is good or if we need to up the water.

 

[pamperedamber]

So candled the eggs. And we have 22 viable of the 37. So a 60% rate right now. Need go up the humidity to 40. On Tuesday will recandle to check air cells again.

 

[pamperedamber]

I am so glad to have this thread back!! Over the weekend I hatched out my fertility and hatch rate tests eggs. Fertility is great but the incubator is a cheap one. We will be upgrading to a better one after the Turkeys are sold at fair in October.
We hatched out 1 EE and 5 Olive Egger, and 5 BBS Ameraucanas (one was deformed and it died). Here are the little ones picture from today. I can't wait to see how they grow out because they all look so much alike.
We will be selling most of the Olive Egger chicks.

 

[pamperedamber]

Our little ones are growing out nicely! We also have a broody sitting on 20 eggs that will hatch on June 16th. We will be keeping some for our breeding program and selling the rest at the 4-H father's day lunch fundraiser.

 

[pamperedamber]

We have 11 hatched so far! one hatched half way then looks like it got stepped on and didn't make it. There are still some eggs that need to hatch. I will be candling them tonight to see if they are good. There might be a couple that will need to go in to the incubator as they do not have a mark on them so I don't know how far along they are. She is not a mean broody at all and has let me pick up the ones that are out and about.

 

[pamperedamber]

Well since I don't know how to edit my post above, I will put the correction here.
The little one that was squished that I thought was dead ended up hatching and is doing well. It is a Black Ameraucana. It is smaller than the rest of them but is able to keep up with everyone. I will be posting the babies for sale. I do not ship as of yet and may never ship. I don't think I got a single splash in this bunch. We shall see.

The kids event went well and we did sell 2 of the 6 weekers (a splash and an olive egger). The lady is very excited to get blue and green eggs. I am selling the cockerals from all the babies as they pop up. So far in the 6 weekers I have 2 for sure. One blue Ameraucana and an olive egger. I will get updated pictures today and post them tomorrow.

 

[pamperedamber]

Well I had two eggs that I knew had chicks in them but was not sure if they were going to hatch. Last night we had one hatch and is doing well with mama and the other babies. The other hens have decided to lay in mamas nest when she is outside with the babies, so I will have to pull eggs when i get home to ensure that there are no more incubating under her at night.
So now she has 13 babies!!