Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

I see there's been a software upgrade! Let's see if I can figure it out for an update post.

I don't think I'd mentioned this, but Sylvie, one of my Mottled Cochins, went into one of the hardest molts I've ever seen... at the end of January. View attachment 2517896 Well, now we're experiencing single-digit (in Fahrenheit) temps and she seemed like she was doing okay earlier today, but tonight she seems to be having some issues. Specifically, her crop seems slowed, hopefully only from the cold and not a deeper issue. So, inside she came to join Kate and the OEGBs.

She's... quite the hot mess at the moment.

View attachment 2517911View attachment 2517914


For reference, a fully feathered Sylvie, perfectly equipped for wintertime:

View attachment 2517917

Mine have finished mosting. Hopefully they will start laying eggs soon!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I thought mine had, too, but ...surprise! She's not the first late molter I've seen, but definitely the worst one I've seen at this time of year!!



Hope you get some eggs soon, Ron! I'm getting one almost every day from Ganymede, plus one every other day from Syb, but those are going to the incubator of course! Ganymede's already threatening broodiness, though. Again. Obviously, my girls are failing to understand that this is the worst time of year for these activities.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Looks like Myrtle may have started laying. I can't confirm because I can't tell them apart by voice, but either Zinni or Myrtle was making a racket like she was getting ready to lay! I found an egg streaked with a hint of blood a few days ago in their part of the coop. It was larger, so I assumed it was Zinnia coming back into lay, but today I found another one (of a more normal size for them) in the nest box that I had put in there for them. Zinni has historically refused to use the nest box, and Myrtle is similarly developed in her comb and wattles as Zinn is, so it could have been Myrtle...


Also, so far it seems like the three additional eggs I added to the incubator are developing. I don't want to get my hopes up after the last set, but they were dead by this point so maybe we're having better luck? Tomorrow is day 7 for them, day 14 for the first egg. It seems to be going strong, so I'm hopeful for it. Three more eggs go in tomorrow, possibly four if she lays another one. I'll probably stop there until it's time to set for the EHAL, unless I have more issues with fertility and early embryo deaths along the way.

I need to clean the Ovation and get it ready for use as a hatcher before the weekend, and get a brooder set up and ready!! I'm getting excited!

 

[ronott1]

Looks like Myrtle may have started laying. I can't confirm because I can't tell them apart by voice, but either Zinni or Myrtle was making a racket like she was getting ready to lay! I found an egg streaked with a hint of blood a few days ago in their part of the coop. It was larger, so I assumed it was Zinnia coming back into lay, but today I found another one (of a more normal size for them) in the nest box that I had put in there for them. Zinni has historically refused to use the nest box, and Myrtle is similarly developed in her comb and wattles as Zinn is, so it could have been Myrtle...


Also, so far it seems like the three additional eggs I added to the incubator are developing. I don't want to get my hopes up after the last set, but they were dead by this point so maybe we're having better luck? Tomorrow is day 7 for them, day 14 for the first egg. It seems to be going strong, so I'm hopeful for it. Three more eggs go in tomorrow, possibly four if she lays another one. I'll probably stop there until it's time to set for the EHAL, unless I have more issues with fertility and early embryo deaths along the way.

I need to clean the Ovation and get it ready for use as a hatcher before the weekend, and get a brooder set up and ready!! I'm getting excited!

You should have a lot of eggs for the Easter Hatch a long!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Here's hoping, anyway!! Knowing how Syb is, she'll probably stop laying right before I'll need to start collecting eggs for that!



As for the present hatch, we have four more eggs in; Sybil laid another one right before I headed up to set the other three! I pulled the clears and early deaths (and candled them in a dark room to make sure), so we're sitting at 8 eggs now. Tonight will be the day 7 and 14 candling, respectively, for the remaining older eggs, but everything seems to be going well as of the last peek I took at them so I shouldn't have much to report.


EDIT: All developing as they should be! Their air cells seem a bit small so I opened the vent more to see if we can get them more to the proper size.

Also, one of the 7-day-old embryos, egg P2 (since egg P didn't develop), was not shy and danced around while I was candling it!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Egg R, our lone survivor from the first batch of seven eggs, is now in lockdown. Usually at this point, I'll already be seeing drawdown or internal pipping in these little OEGB eggs, but this guy looks like the textbook day 18 chicken egg, not quite ready to pip. The house has been a bit cooler than normal over the past week or so with the cold snap half the country is experiencing at the moment, and I ended up having to partially cover the Octagon with a towel so that it was holding temp where it needed to be, so I think we're just a bit delayed. Its air cell looks good and baby is still moving around in there, so I think we're fine still despite the delay.

Egg G2 out of the day 11 eggs has sadly quit on us, but B2 and P2 are still going strong, and I'm starting to see veins in two of the four day 4 eggs. Come on, babies!!

 

[ronott1]

Egg R, our lone survivor from the first batch of seven eggs, is now in lockdown. Usually at this point, I'll already be seeing drawdown or internal pipping in these little OEGB eggs, but this guy looks like the textbook day 18 chicken egg, not quite ready to pip. The house has been a bit cooler than normal over the past week or so with the cold snap half the country is experiencing at the moment, and I ended up having to partially cover the Octagon with a towel so that it was holding temp where it needed to be, so I think we're just a bit delayed. Its air cell looks good and baby is still moving around in there, so I think we're fine still despite the delay.

Egg G2 out of the day 11 eggs has sadly quit on us, but B2 and P2 are still going strong, and I'm starting to see veins in two of the four day 4 eggs. Come on, babies!!

I hope the chick hatches and is healthy!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks, Ron! I'm excited, but also very nervous, though that's fairly normal at this point in any hatch




I just ordered a dozen Orpington hatching eggs from Carolina Rare Chicks, so I guess I have one incubator occupied for April.


Sybil has suddenly stopped laying now, so I might have to be looking for other sources for the Easter Hatchalong, too, unless she picks back up again by the end of the month. Last time she did this, she didn't lay again until mid summer. I swear, she does not want me to participate in that for some reason.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks, Ron! I'm excited, but also very nervous, though that's fairly normal at this point in any hatch




I just ordered a dozen Orpington hatching eggs from Carolina Rare Chicks, so I guess I have one incubator occupied for April.


Sybil has suddenly stopped laying now, so I might have to be looking for other sources for the Easter Hatchalong, too, unless she picks back up again by the end of the month. Last time she did this, she didn't lay again until mid summer. I swear, she does not want me to participate in that for some reason.

The Easter hatch along has started!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/12th-annual-byc-easter-hatch-along.1444337/#post-24003815

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks for letting me know, Ron! I watched the thread and I'll post over there in the morning.




I'm actually only posting now to report that there's faint peeping coming from the Ovation, which means egg R has internally pipped! A baby's on the way!!

Oh, and I took another peek at the younger eggs in the Octagon, and we have veins in three of the four that I set on Tuesday!!