November Hatch-A-Longs 2017

[chonsey]

Lil one is out of it's egg, but it has a tiny bit of yolk still not absorbed. It's just laying there, so I hope it gets more active after the yolk is completely absorbed.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Kind of mostly pretty much the end of day 21. Nine chicks have hatched and at least two more have nice pips in them.

Our new coop is coming along nicely and our four-week-olds got to try it out tonight. The coop is *almost* secure. A couple small fixes tomorrow and we can start work on the run. Poles are dug and placed, but they need concrete and the wire run, then netting over the top. Not a moment too soon: THIS is our spare bedroom!

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Kind of mostly pretty much the end of day 21. Nine chicks have hatched and at least two more have nice pips in them.

Our new coop is coming along nicely and our four-week-olds got to try it out tonight. The coop is *almost* secure. A couple small fixes tomorrow and we can start work on the run. Poles are dug and placed, but they need concrete and the wire run, then netting over the top. Not a moment too soon: THIS is our spare bedroom!

 

[chonsey]

My lil chick is sitting upright! Hope to move him to the brooder with the other three chicks before I go to work.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

It's 6am on the morning of day 22 and I woke up to four new babies, which makes a total of 13. I didn't move them or check the other eggs thoroughly because it's dark and they are all still sleeping and I have so many other things to do before I can allow myself the luxury of staring at chicks for an hour! There are at least two more pips that I noticed when I peeked quietly, as much as one can peek quietly into a bedroom with 25 chickens.

 

[Molpet]

well she has 9/13 ..4 yellow(CX mix?) and 5 blk( BR or BJG mix) .. 2 quitters and 2 not fertile..pretty good for getting off the nest at the coldest part of everyday LOL..

 

[Harmony Fowl]

It’s a little over halfway through day 22 and I’m up to 16 chicks out of 20 eggs locked down and I think we’re done. None of the remaining eggs are pipped. I’m really pleased. Rotating the eggs to counteract the inconsistency inside the incubator made a big difference in having them all hatch close together. I don’t know what to pin the better hatch rate on, but I will be turning just days 4-14 next time, too. And MPC is officially forgiven in my book: out of 14 eggs they shipped, one was infertile, I broke one and ten of the remaining 12 hatched. Just counting those that made it to lockdown, that’s an 83% hatch rate on shipped eggs! Sweet!

Our little naked neck, lol.

 

[BlueBaby]

Mine have started hatching. I had 6 green eggs from an NN/EE hen with my Blue Australorp rooster as the daddy. 3 of the 6 have hatched. The first one looks a real dark gray color and neck is fully feathered. The 2nd one is black with a naked neck. The 3rd one is also a naked neck, and it is a blue. I just held the blue nn-Australorp chick in a good light and seen that it has a bowtie on the front of it's neck.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Mine have started hatching. I had 6 green eggs from an NN/EE hen with my Blue Australorp rooster as the daddy. 3 of the 6 have hatched. The first one looks a real dark gray color and neck is fully feathered. The 2nd one is black with a naked neck. The 3rd one is also a naked neck, and it is a blue. I just held the blue nn-Australorp chick in a good light and seen that it has a bowtie on the front of it's neck.

I don't know anything about NN - what does the bowtie indicate?

 

[BlueBaby]

Naked neck being semi dominant also means very often there is a visual difference between a bird pure for NN and one not pure for it- the most visible one being a difference in the bowtie size- pure NN have a very small/tiny bowtie and not pure have a much larger bowtie with many feathers and covers more of the lower front of neck.

In my case mine are mixed ones in this hatch, and have the bigger bowtie. I am trying to create a better egg layer that will take the desert heat in the summers here better. This is my project bird. I will still also be breeding for the pure Australorps, and the Transylvanian Naked Necks too.