November/December "Hatch-a-Long"

Quote: oh NO!
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now I need me a few of those!
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how beautiful...so fluffy and their tails
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Hi, hatch-along,
I sort of dropped out because I got overwhelmed, but I wanted to give an update now that my hatch appears to be complete.
Out of 8 shipped eggs (2 legbars, 2 EEs, and 4 marans) that all looked fertile at the start, only 2 marans chicks. I had team broodies who loyally sat on them, but also moved them around probably too much between them. I lost one legbar egg to an infected crack, and the other was crushed when a local dog took a wander into my yard and gave my hens a scare through the coop. At candling at Day 15, it looked like I had at least 2 viable marans and 1 viable EE, but I kept them all in the nest to make sure.

Marans #1 hatched at day 20 and #2 at day 21. The broodies' setting became more sporadic at that point, and one of them kept teaching the little ones to scratch in the nest, knocking the eggs around. So, I tried to make a homemade incubator with a heating pad in a baking dish to keep them safe, but it was hard to keep the temp consistent and it may have done more harm than good. Now, at Day 25 exactly, we still just have the two chicks, but they're well-loved! The family of 4 has integrated well into the rest of the coop, and the two non-broody aunties are behaving themselves, for the most part, though Grace can't resist a peck or two to show she's in charge.

In the end, the only thing I think I'd do differently is to buy local eggs. When you see the family portrait, you can see why it was so important to me to keep the two moms together.

The happy family:

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Hi, hatch-along,
I sort of dropped out because I got overwhelmed, but I wanted to give an update now that my hatch appears to be complete.
Out of 8 shipped eggs (2 legbars, 2 EEs, and 4 marans) that all looked fertile at the start, only 2 marans chicks. I had team broodies who loyally sat on them, but also moved them around probably too much between them. I lost one legbar egg to an infected crack, and the other was crushed when a local dog took a wander into my yard and gave my hens a scare through the coop. At candling at Day 15, it looked like I had at least 2 viable marans and 1 viable EE, but I kept them all in the nest to make sure.

Marans #1 hatched at day 20 and #2 at day 21. The broodies' setting became more sporadic at that point, and one of them kept teaching the little ones to scratch in the nest, knocking the eggs around. So, I tried to make a homemade incubator with a heating pad in a baking dish to keep them safe, but it was hard to keep the temp consistent and it may have done more harm than good. Now, at Day 25 exactly, we still just have the two chicks, but they're well-loved! The family of 4 has integrated well into the rest of the coop, and the two non-broody aunties are behaving themselves, for the most part, though Grace can't resist a peck or two to show she's in charge.

In the end, the only thing I think I'd do differently is to buy local eggs. When you see the family portrait, you can see why it was so important to me to keep the two moms together.

The happy family:

love.gif
beautiful
 
In the hatcher I have 2 pipped eggs - 1 CCL x GLW and 1 MArans cross. I also have 3 more that just went into lockdown.


And in the incubator... OMG, I am trying so hard not to get my hopes up... but... Day 10 of my amazingly colored Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana eggs and I have 1 clear, 1 (I think) early quitter and 16 with little chicks moving around inside. Squee!! Never gotten this far with shipped eggs before - so I am ecstatic to have them get this far :D :fl I also couldn't help myself - I set my Lav/Black Ameraucana split's first egg. She started laying with a full sized egg and I can't wait to see what is inside :D
 
Hi, hatch-along,
I sort of dropped out because I got overwhelmed, but I wanted to give an update now that my hatch appears to be complete.
Out of 8 shipped eggs (2 legbars, 2 EEs, and 4 marans) that all looked fertile at the start, only 2 marans chicks. I had team broodies who loyally sat on them, but also moved them around probably too much between them. I lost one legbar egg to an infected crack, and the other was crushed when a local dog took a wander into my yard and gave my hens a scare through the coop. At candling at Day 15, it looked like I had at least 2 viable marans and 1 viable EE, but I kept them all in the nest to make sure.

Marans #1 hatched at day 20 and #2 at day 21. The broodies' setting became more sporadic at that point, and one of them kept teaching the little ones to scratch in the nest, knocking the eggs around. So, I tried to make a homemade incubator with a heating pad in a baking dish to keep them safe, but it was hard to keep the temp consistent and it may have done more harm than good. Now, at Day 25 exactly, we still just have the two chicks, but they're well-loved! The family of 4 has integrated well into the rest of the coop, and the two non-broody aunties are behaving themselves, for the most part, though Grace can't resist a peck or two to show she's in charge.

In the end, the only thing I think I'd do differently is to buy local eggs. When you see the family portrait, you can see why it was so important to me to keep the two moms together.

The happy family:

love.gif
What great expressions on their faces. Just perfect
 
Beautiful chicks.  I'm looking forward to seeing those grown up.  Did you buy those from someone on here?  I've seen a few people selling them.

I got the silkied ameraucana from EdenCamp on here. I got the mottled ameraucana from a breeder off of the ameraucana breeders directory. I have 2 of those that are out of the incubator. I'll have to post pics of them they are super cute
 

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