Oregon

[Barnmaradotte]

Woohoo! Good luck to your babies!
I candled today. Only saw development in one, but it’s still pretty early and I was trying to do it quickly, so hopefully there’s some I missed.

I have tendency to let them sit a few day's if I think they have gone bad. One of my hatches I left 3 that I thought were dead and one hatched....

 

[Barnmaradotte]

I've now got 16 pipped and 1 hatched.
I've come to the realization that I had humidity to high during incubation. I have 3 backwards Pip's.. I hope they make it.

 

[Willow2253]

I’m planning to leave all of them for now and check again in a few days. Any babies should be easier to see after a couple more days.

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Well. It has not gone as good as I had hoped. Just before I got home from work yesterday, several chicks hatches simultaneously and the humidity pinned the gauge at 99% at that point. I'm not sure if it was too much hatching at the exact moment or what..? But the inside of the incubator was soaking wet. Looked like someone hosed down the inside. All the fluffy chicks were wet again from the neck down. Drenched. I lost 8 to drowning. I am making some changes next time. I feel if the other chicks had not rolled the other egg's onto their Pip's ( face down) , fewer may have died.
On the plus side it's not a total loss. I got 14 chicks. And 3 of those are Malines and 2 more working on it.
I told myself before this hatch, as long as I got a roo and hen Malines, that's all that matters. But I am excited about the quality of all these chicks.

 

[Willow2253]

Awe, sorry your hatch didn’t go so well. But congrats on the ones that made it! I hope your malines give you the hen and roo that you want.
I candled again today and there’s still only the one egg developing. There were a couple more that looked like they may have started and not gotten past the first couple of days, though I’m still going to leave everything unless one starts stinking. Pretty disappointed so far on that front.

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Well. I did end up with 5 Malines.
Pretty excited about that.

 

[Willow2253]

Congrats! I hope you’re planning on posting pics

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Congrats! I hope you’re planning on posting pics

I've been trying to. For some reason it won't let me post pics in the fashion that I did last. I'll try again later.
On another note, one of the Malines is colored in a unique way. Can't wait to see what comes of it.

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Alright Fellow Oregonian's. I'm here to vent. Bear with me.
Today I had 6 more super rare Belgian Malines egg show up today. I was already nervous because of the heat wave. But they got here in good shape. I was at work so my son (13 yr old) offered to unpack the egg's and set them to rest before incubation. Such a nice little farmer he is. BUT! Unfortunately he left the egg's on the mud room counter, too close to the edge. MY curious dog knocked them off the counter..... Only 3 didn't break. And now I'm forced to wash them. Something I don't do usually. I'm so bummed. This could be a major set back. We'll see.
Have a good weekend! Enjoy the rain tomorrow.

 

[Willow2253]

Awe man, that sucks. I hope your other 3 do well though.