Moon’s first time incubating eggs, and also Hatch-Along!

[MoonMoon]

They are very, very cute chicks! You may want to consider a brooder heat plate as opposed to a heat lamp since you are going to buy something anyway. I have mostly Titan brand but there are many brands and they all work about the same. It mimics the mother hen a bit better than a heat lamp would and tends to be safer.

I have seen on this site that some have made mama heating pads too. If you need something fast and happen to have a heating pad try searching that term here.

I would've bought a brooder plate if it was a little cheaper, but the only option where I checked was 56€ for a 20x30cm brooder plate!

A heating lamp was 7€ which was what I bought(oh yeah I purchased and use the new lamp now btw. Temp is so hard to control but 31-36°C, I will try again to set it to exactly 35°C later when I am home but for now, the chicks will have to endure 32°C
When it was morning anyway. Because I don't have auto radiator room temp always change according to weather, it was 10°C this morning but it's now 18°C at noon so room temp should be 23° instead of 20°.

In retrospective, I could've bought brooder plate online. 22-33€ for one brand and even 10€ for a small 20x20 no brand(chinese's maybe?) brooder plate, but I already purchased a lamp and wasn't planning to waste it so...

Heating pads dirty too fast to be considered an option.
I have a heating fan and this lamp. Honestly just gotta hold out for 4 weeks so I trust this is enough. Thanks for the input anyway though!

Although it does look very sad when the newborn chicks search to huddle under the heat

 

[MoonMoon]

Man I am so tired from work then spending time with the chicks instead of taking pictures and not counting the fact we still have 48 ducks and chickens outside to take care of. Barely mustered the energy to take pictures and post about them haha but I really can’t recall much information without revisiting my BYC posts :|

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The dubious looking white egg didn't hatch. It’s egg number 5 with the huge space and decayed veins but it had movement. Not sure shrink wrapped or what else killed it.

Pulled the plug on three 30th eggs that didn't hatch after several days, on 22nd May, 19:00.

Also pulled out an egg set 2nd or 3rd of May(I don't remember) that when candled just didn’t look good. Full of chunks and space. Also no movement as least as I can see? Could’ve been alive but rip I already removed it. It’s in the fridge(we eat quitters...well, actually only dad do)

Kept the last two eggs, which is still good but one has air cell almost half the size of the egg I don't think that looked good but today it pipped(news from sibling at home I’ve yet to be free from work)so I’m glad I kept it anyway. It also had movements, both eggs did, so like...fair chance nonetheless. Checked 22nd of May 7 pm btw.
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The dirty 29th April egg hatched! Later than everyone(set on the 29th) compared to the 30th April pipper but I am happy it survived the odd regardless dunno who it is now though I already lost track LMAO

Got a weak splayed leg at birth but fine now chick who was born with yet to detach umbilical cord but it’s fine now.

I have yet to get pictures of everyone it has been a long while but so far we got 15 chicks out of 33 eggs. In my opinion, after counting all variables, I think that’s a great hatch rate and will be using this incubator again this year

We still have 2 eggs in the incubator but after 25th of May I will wipe, then disinfect(with isopropyl alcohol) the incubator for next batch which have already been decided for 28-29th of August(not stagger hatching that time)

Quite a few of these chicks will undoubtedly be meat unfortunately as our closed flock can never be sold as pets or next breeder, only raised meat bird which will be sold to our Vietnamese community, but it is what it is

I will raise these as pets regardless. My goal is to get at least some cuddly friendly birds as permament keepers and friendly cockerels to replace my rooster who occasionally spurs me. Good rooster but I don't like him, already resent him.

The goal is to get chicks I bond with anyway. Buying day old chicks is much cheaper than an incubator but the experience and result is valuable regardless, but this culling season, I may see some of these off to a dinner plate

 

[MoonMoon]

Wow I really yapped there. Anyway pictures of all of the chicks this evening probably.

 

[MoonMoon]

Alright roll call.
Days old chicks. Sorry everyone is a bit sleepy due to it being evening. They’re active in the day unfortunately I am always at work. Nobody is getting names yet till they grow feathers so about one or two weeks old, then official names.
“Firstborn”

It seems most of the chicks inherited the father’s silly amount of feathering. The rooster only has at most a dozen leg feathers though so I have no idea why so many chicks are getting fluff on legs. Sorry on a lot of these their leg fluff will be wet, someone put the waterer tilted and the chicks were able to step on them.
“Splayed leg”(still have cord stuck to it and belly button yet fully closed but it’s fine)

“Tuxedo”

“Pointed”

“Secondborn”

“Chipmunk 1”

“Chipmunk 2”

“Triangel”(it hatched from a confirmed Tricolor egg and I love puns)

“Pupol”(slightly lavender color irl)

“Unnamed 1”

“Unnamed 2”(early feathering...)

“Blondy”(look at that eye marking!like lashes!)

“Goldie”

“Unnamed 2”

“Unnamed 3”

“Lastborn” I am thinking of naming it Dasun.

“Triangel” and “Dasun” were from the 2-3 days staggered eggs so staggered hatch in fact, worked but too much work I will not do it again next time. Anyway this is probably the final post of this for quite a while until the chicks get names and bigger I guess. The finally hatch rate is 17 chicks out of 33 eggs.
(Mayhave missed 1 chick but it’s fine.)

 

[MoonMoon]

Misc pictures. Honestly why not.

 

[catsndogs4us]

Lovely batch of chicks! Thanks for sharing your hatching journey .

 

[MoonMoon]

We lost a chick. I was free ranging them to get them used to our way of keeping chickens. Yes, they were days old and retrospectively I look back with the most dissapointed eyes I can ever make for even willing to put all 17 of them out there when they can get the zoomie and I barely can keep up with them. It was fine for a few hours. I saw magpies flying overhead an hour before the incident. It seems like bad omen but I'm watching them(the chicks), right?

For information, my father arrives home from work usually around 5:10 pm, and often free range all of the chicks at that time while on his phone and often not watching them. I free range them today from 10 pm to 12 pm, when I took them in from loss.

The chicks were so scattered and speedy, and they weren't following me or coming when called except one. I wanted to bring them back in at this point but they avade capturing so I let them be and goes into the adult area to collect eggs, watch the adults goes about and tend to a broody. All of that time away and all was fine. I goes to the outdoor bed to sit down, drink my med and count eggs. I looked up and all chicks were fine. I look down at the eggs I collected, counting those, then writing down the count on my phone. I was looking at my phone for a bit but then I heard distressed sound of the chicks. I look up, saw magpie, ran to chase them away, speedily got a cardboard box to collect all of the chicks, no matter at this point if I spook them or not or I am stepping on my valueable plants. Scrambled to count the chicks over and over before I realized we short one chick. I opened my phone gallery and keeps recounting and identifying who is who and whenever or not we really lost one(because I can be delusional right? Haha...)





After a very long while, I have since figured we lost a white chick and it is definitely gone. I kept digging into my memory to see how it occured and how fast those magpies was. I'm glad we only lost one even though there were two magpies, but really sad we lost any chick at all. It was so lucky the chick "yelled" at all and I responded to the sound rather quickly, as I could've been so deep in counting eggs, ID who laid those, and lost more. But we really lost a chick.

I’ll give grace that this is my first time in this scenario and face-to-face to magpies, but I gave myself negative points for knowing we have magpies, we lost a chick to magpie(while I was away though)before. Saw magpies flying overhead. Heard corvids(unsure if it’s magpie or hooded crow) get distracted and didn’t watch the chicks like a hawk and didn't take the chicks in beforehand when I know I want to stop watching them already. Seems like the bird didn’t leave the body like last time and took the chick whole, live even. I didn’t get to see the second magpie, the one I chased didn’t take anyone yet. Both birds flew when I rushed at them.

Cried a little but honestly writing this down helped dry those tears. Really sad we lost a(likely)leghorn’s chick. Felt awful cos I am sick and was pressured to leave the house soon(have business to do). Now I learned my lesson and probably not going to let out many chicks at the same time if at all again. But literally, this was a fear I have when I let broodies incubate their own eggs(magpies taking their chicks while they weren’t attentive, so I was going to not let broodies free range)yet this happened. So disappointed I can’t yap enough about it

The chicks when I took back in started sleeping right away. I wonder if they’re as mentally exhausted as I am. After all, they were just face to face with magpies, scattered yet curious then lost a sibling, or were tired from free ranging for a few hours. I’m not sure, but they were active before. Also they panicked hard when I rushed to collect them so the behavior whiplash is not lost on me. I will be sighing in the corner.

 

[MoonMoon]

Such a foreshadowing when I keep losing count of the chicks and missed picturing one chick coz now I am unsure who we lost and if we even lost one because of this or not or had they been gone for a while now, but I trust we had 17 chicks, just so unsure how we lost the one chick.

I practically wrote this tragedy by losing count repeatedly and not ringing everyone. This is probably why next batch I should incubate fewer eggs. 17 chicks are a huge pain to headcount.

 

[MoonMoon]

We lost another one. This time a named one to be specific. “Triangel”, and many are injured from unknown corvids as I was away with mom for a haircut. It had been months since I got a haircut...so it took longer than I thought.

I repeatedly had bad feelings and always ran out to sight of crow or magpies before, but the chicks were in a cage. My mother told me to put two cages together for maximum security but I didn't listen. I wish I did. I felt a bad feeling and wanted to go home early as my hair is already done but mom told me to wait for me. Came home to what I can only describe as organs, ribcages and a decapitated head just in front of the cage. I shouldn’t have trusted the cage or myself.

Anyway ideas about two cages, putting it in the adult’s yard, in the adult’s runs, to be more secure, all dashed away as I came home to a bloody mess omg I have pictures but holy hell I don't wanna post it

This is a lesson that I am an idiot. Anyway naming day and pictures is canceled even though it was supposed to be today. I don't think I even have the mood to think about names. I hate myself.

Sorry for the dark as hell news guys but I wanted to get the chicks used to free ranging soon, as they aren’t fully pets and were going to the yard as soon as the previous batch, but shit hit the fan. Even though many of these wasn’t even going to be kept as surely many will be cockerels but at least let them survive till sexable damn it. I wanted to raise them to adulthood with a happy life till I ship them out to tables around 14 weeks old but 2 weeks in and already losing 2. So disappointed in myself. I will be remodeling a storage room for brooding(the bathroom, bird cage and cardboard box were too small) and I think I’ll keep them indoor till adolescence since now. Feel free to yell at me, I need it