This past holiday weekend was my New Hampshire's hatch date (sorta). We began with 22 eggs in the incubator and finished with 14 total chicks when it was all said and done. When I woke up on the morning of the 20th day, I discovered that we had 12 eggs pipped with one showing his entire beak!
The funny thing...the first one born and ready to rock was from an egg that wasn't part of the group of pipped eggs. He pipped, zipped and fluffed before the guy with his beak exposed even thought about freeing himself! Needless to say, we believe this speedy guy will be the king rooster of the coop, a feisty bright yellow puff ball of a bird. He's definitely the alpha of them all...
Given this is our first hatch ever, I guess I should be satisfied with a 63% hatch rate although I was aiming for more of a 70% result. Of the 8 that didn't make it, 6 had either passed sometime between day 14-20 or were mis-candled and misread. I had one egg that was yolk in the center but had veining everywhere?! A couple were blobs of mass, but no chick to be found. I'm reluctant to count on the accuracy of the final hatch stat because I've got one that has a torqued beak and missing eye that I don't think will make it. We've witnessed him/her try to feed and drink water, but we're not sure how successful the attempts are.
I've already begun to enjoy the responsibility of caring for them and have had to "deal" with sticky-poopy butt. Some of the birds were so docile while getting their rear ends buffed and waxed, while others didn't want anything to do with the free service! These guys can really raise a racket when they aren't getting their way!
The family and I are getting a kick out of watching the way they interact with one another. Love the olympic track star hamstring/glue/calf stretching routine. Makes me laugh every time I see the do it. We always chuckle when they go from 0-70MPH with better response time than a drag racer. When they all flop face first down for a snooze in orchestrated unison...you just can't help but wish you could just do the same sometimes!
I'm very excited to share my coop with the site and forum readers. I might have gone overboard, but it wasn't difficult given the expertise and well document designs featured here. I hope when I finally post the photos, that the webmaster finds them worthy of inclusion with the others. Until then...we're proud caretakers of a new flock and because this is our first go-round urban chicken rearing, everything is new and exciting!
Dj
Given this is our first hatch ever, I guess I should be satisfied with a 63% hatch rate although I was aiming for more of a 70% result. Of the 8 that didn't make it, 6 had either passed sometime between day 14-20 or were mis-candled and misread. I had one egg that was yolk in the center but had veining everywhere?! A couple were blobs of mass, but no chick to be found. I'm reluctant to count on the accuracy of the final hatch stat because I've got one that has a torqued beak and missing eye that I don't think will make it. We've witnessed him/her try to feed and drink water, but we're not sure how successful the attempts are.
I've already begun to enjoy the responsibility of caring for them and have had to "deal" with sticky-poopy butt. Some of the birds were so docile while getting their rear ends buffed and waxed, while others didn't want anything to do with the free service! These guys can really raise a racket when they aren't getting their way!
The family and I are getting a kick out of watching the way they interact with one another. Love the olympic track star hamstring/glue/calf stretching routine. Makes me laugh every time I see the do it. We always chuckle when they go from 0-70MPH with better response time than a drag racer. When they all flop face first down for a snooze in orchestrated unison...you just can't help but wish you could just do the same sometimes!
I'm very excited to share my coop with the site and forum readers. I might have gone overboard, but it wasn't difficult given the expertise and well document designs featured here. I hope when I finally post the photos, that the webmaster finds them worthy of inclusion with the others. Until then...we're proud caretakers of a new flock and because this is our first go-round urban chicken rearing, everything is new and exciting!
Dj
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