November/December "Hatch-a-Long"

[Heidisgran]

I have hens pushing eggs out of a shared nest. They are newly laying, not broody. They push out any egg that wasn't one of theirs. I caught on of my hens doing it and she looked guilty. Any one have this happen?

if mine are acting broody they steal the eggs from the other nest...
haven't seen them push any out, hmmm!

 

[LoveToFarm]

I have hens pushing eggs out of a shared nest.  They are newly laying, not broody.  They push out any egg that wasn't one of theirs.  I caught on of my hens doing it and she looked guilty.  Any one have this happen?

Lol I was just going to ask that my duck hens are doing the same thing! But its the old eggs they push out!

 

[malndobe]

All my eggs went into lockdown earlier this week. Today is day 27/20 (ducks/chickens). When should I start seeing movement? Does that happen before the internal pip, or is it mainly after the internal pip and during the zip?

 

[DeannaA]

if mine are acting broody they steal the eggs from the other nest...
haven't seen them push any out, hmmm!

Lol I was just going to ask that my duck hens are doing the same thing! But its the old eggs they push out!

I put ceramic eggs in all of the nests to let them know where to lay. They pushed all of those out too. But it seems they do not need any help. They are laying pretty regularly now. Still waiting on a few to start but he ones that are, are machines.

 

[mstricer]

Those are usually my best hatched eggs

Which ones, the ones you set just after lay or the ones you let rest?

The ones I set after they lay. I just collect and pop them in. Always seems like the ones I want to hatch never lay until the incubator is set with eggs, then they all start to lay

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I am using the flip test and wing feathers. I do the flip test like 3 or 5 times in a row lol, it seems inaccurate. But the boys REALLY freak out on their backs past 1 day old so its repeatable...

the wing feathers have to be on day 1, so small window, and then you doubt yourself later.

here are pics of their wings with my guess.. what do you all think?


and then I can check it against a welsummer who I know is female..



yes! I believe there is some illustration showing exactly what you describe. if the egg were upright, the lowest dip in the aircell, that's where they will probably pip. so try to put that one facing upwards. I think that's exactly what you meant

the only time you don't is in the case of shipped eggs (in a carton, large end up for lockdown. with ventilation)

*L* OK, so I looked at the chicks' wings this AM. They all look fuzzy/sprouty like girls. Or is that not what I'm looking at? Kinda hard to see with the all-white on yours that you call a boy?

 

[Varglet]

He's getting some of the Delaware coloring in his wings. Just over a week before more babies are due.

 

[Manningjw]

Well my hatch is complete. I had 12 out of 13 hatch, the 13th stopped/died in the shell somewhere between lockdown and hatch day. #12 pipped and started to zip but was stuck most of the day until I finally decided it was time to intervene. I helped it hatch and the blood vessels were completely absorbed. Problem is I think he/she was malpositioned for hatch and now cannot walk.

The little chick has it's left leg out behind it and has trouble bringing it under her. I tried the taping legs together method for splayed leg which didn't seem to do much. She is now in a cup but generally is very weak in addition to having the joint issue. Should I keep trying or is it time to cull and stop her from suffering? She isn't eating/doesn't have the strength or coordination to eat or drink, I can help her to drink but she even struggles with that. I don't want to prolong her suffering but if there is a chance of survival I want to save her if I can.

 

[Farmer Viola]

*L* OK, so I looked at the chicks' wings this AM. They all look fuzzy/sprouty like girls. Or is that not what I'm looking at? Kinda hard to see with the all-white on yours that you call a boy?

ok so on the girls, they will have 2 layers of feathers at 2 different lengths. the boys will have all 1 length on feathers on their wing-tips. once you have a male and female to compare against each other, it gets really easy and obvious good luck!!

this pic is better than mine: http://www.extension.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/sex-linked-crossings-Figure7.jpg

 

[Varglet]

Renee's eggs continue to be infertile, so I checked the egg she laid yesterday to see if Leon went back to work. It was fertile, so hopefully the egg from today develops. One of her eggs in the incubator seems to have a bad air cell, I'll probably toss that one rather than see if anything develops.

The rest of the eggs are coming along nicely, except one, which I can't tell if it's developing or not, though one set the same day clearly has a little bit of development. I thought I saw something, but I'm not sure; it's only been a few days though. The ones due in just over a week are looking good with a lot of movement. Going to have a lot of banties...

As long as my sister leaves my eggs alone, that is...