Red Partridge Orpington informational hatch thread

[K0k0shka]

UPDATE: Lockdown

Day 18 started midday yesterday, so at some point in the afternoon I did one last candle and set everything up in the incubator. We are officially in lockdown! I saw movement in all the eggs, so no more losses between day 14 and lockdown. 9 partridge orps and 6 mixes in the incubator, and 3 mixes under the broody. The broody is a wild card, but I expect all 6 mixes in the incubator to hatch. With the shipped eggs... I have no idea. Last year I lost a lot after lockdown, so who knows. Now we wait.

Here's my lockdown setup. I made a divider out of HC, with tape around the edges to cover the sharp parts, and taped it to the walls, to keep my chicks and my friend's chicks separate so they don't get mixed up. I don't know what hers are gonna end up looking like. The shipped eggs are upright in a carton. Not sure if that helps in any way, but I've read that it does. It didn't seem to hurt - they hatched fine like this last year, the ones that did.

Even after I filled all the channels with water, it wasn't enough to raise the humidity to where I want it, so I added a sponge in a jar full of water again like I did last year (learned that on BYC). Humidity has been pretty stable at 70 now. I have aquarium tubing going down into one of the larger channels and into the jar, so I can refill without opening the incubator.

 

[K0k0shka]

I sectioned off part of the coop for the broody and her chicks, so the other chickens don't mess with the hatching eggs. The chicken wire is loosely attached to the window (hooked onto the HC, since the window is open) so I can pull it aside easily and access the other side of the coop. I made a ramp down from the nesting box, not too steep so the babies can go up and down (the pieces are nailed down so they won't wobble). I moved the big feeder over to the other side and left a chick-size feeder and waterer on the broody's side. I saw her eating and drinking today just as I was wrapping up, but she went right back to the nest after. Actually, she tried but failed - I hadn't put up the ramp yet but had removed the little step stump that was in front of the box. The opening is less than a foot from the floor, but I guess even that was too much... She was sitting on the floor in front of the box, looking in, confused I put her inside and installed the ramp. I made a temporary nest box out of a milk crate for the other chickens. They already used it and seem fine with the changes overall. No eggs on the floor or in the run. I’m happy with my setup.

 

[aart]

WOW, Nice! What do the the other birds think THAT?!

 

[K0k0shka]

WOW, Nice! What do the the other birds think THAT?!

They’ve been in and out to eat and lay, spent some time checking everything out but seem fine with it. They did lose their runway flying down from the top roost, but I’ve watched them get down and they don’t all go that way. Some of them stand on the cross piece connecting the top roost to the wall, facing the wall with the pictures, and hop straight down from there. Or go down to the middle roost and then to the floor in front of the pop door. So they should be fine getting down tomorrow morning. They may jump down on top of the feeder and nesting crate, then the floor.

I’ll candle the broody’s eggs tonight.

 

[aart]

They’ve been in and out to eat and lay, spent some time checking everything out but seem fine with it. They did lose their runway flying down from the top roost, but I’ve watched them get down and they don’t all go that way. Some of them stand on the cross piece connecting the top roost to the wall, facing the wall with the pictures, and hop straight down from there. Or go down to the middle roost and then to the floor in front of the pop door. So they should be fine getting down tomorrow morning. They may jump down on top of the feeder and nesting crate, then the floor.

I’ll candle the broody’s eggs tonight.

Excellent!!

 

[K0k0shka]

Candled the broody's eggs just now. They all look good! No cracks or breaks - she's been doing an excellent job sitting on those thin-shelled eggs! And on wood, too - I keep fluffing up her nest but she keeps digging herself into the straw deeper and deeper until the eggs are sitting on the wood underneath All 3 chicks were moving. This is so exciting... I didn't think she'd pull through. And now that she has her own private "room", I'm feeling good about this whole surprise broody hatch project.

 

[K0k0shka]

Here they are, waiting for the auto door to open. When I checked the cam again a few minutes later, they’d already left. So I missed the grand exit, but it looks like they’ve figured it out!

 

[aart]

Hope they don't hop over the top of that mesh.<cringes>

 

[K0k0shka]

Hope they don't hop over the top of that mesh.<cringes>

They are fat and lazy and really don’t like jumping over things So I doubt it.

 

[K0k0shka]

They are fat and lazy and really don’t like jumping over things So I doubt it.

The big round yellow ones are the funniest. It takes them about 10 minutes to muster the courage to get down from the roost. They pace back and forth and crane their necks, prepare to jump but then stop last minute, pace some more... squat and get ready again, give up again... and so on, until eventually after all that prep they lose their footing and drop like a bomb You'd think they're preparing to plunge into some bottomless abyss, not a 4-foot drop that has a ladder of in-between branches...