I had a long day today. I left here at 5:45am and got back at 9:15pm. I had to do the trip for work.
Final tally is 27 healthy chicks!
Out of 10 of my shipped LF White eggs that made it to lockdown, I got 8 chicks. Out of 25 of my chickens’ eggs that made it to lockdown, 20 hatched. I did lose one of the homegrown chicks between yesterday and today. It was tethered to its shell via it’s umbilical and another chick plowed into the shell and yanked it off the tethered baby. It bled a bit but it lived long enough to be put in the outdoor brooder. When I checked on them after I got home, it was gone. I could tell which one it was because of the scab on the navel. It looks like it went to sleep and never woke up by how it was laying. I guess the blood loss was too much.
I did get three weirdly colored chicks. They are the darkest Cornish chicks I’ve ever seen. Even dark chicks are usually mostly yellow with some chipmunk stripes. I’ll have to mark them to see how they turn out. The speculation on the Cornish forum I asked on is that they are dark female chicks. Or single laced darks instead of the normal double laced darks.
Here are some pics.
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