Rillowens first Hatch-Along! FOOD THEME

[TwoCrows]

View attachment 4303698
My seeds for outside their coop arrived! I'm excited

What a beauty!

 

[Debbie292d]

All I could think of was hatching boxes too lol. But thats alot of little boxes! 23 individual boxes... i may have to give up on the idea.

If it's for us, I'd just make a good guess.

If I really have to keep a few seperate, I bought plastic baskets from a hobby store. Just measure the distance from the floor of the incubator to the highest height you could have before you buy. I got some too short and they jumped out.

That said, I missed this somehow! Any eggs left?

 

[redinator]

Any ideas for how to keep the egg numbers straight when they hatch? I would love to be able to attach a picture to each name when hatching comes, but im not sure how to keep them straight! I suppose I could stickers their ankles, but im worried that might just cause problems and not be worth it.

I struggle with this too. I bought hatching bags, but the ones I got were fairly small and would only hold 1-2 eggs. I wanted to seperate 5-6 by breed. The eggs that are set to hatch this weekend (my large eggs) I'm trying drawer dividers.

I still haven't found good leg bands though. I'm trying orthodontic rubber bands https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDQSW57N?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1 but I don't reccomend them for feather legged chicks.

 

[Debbie292d]

I struggle with this too. I bought hatching bags, but the ones I got were fairly small and would only hold 1-2 eggs. I wanted to seperate 5-6 by breed. The eggs that are set to hatch this weekend (my large eggs) I'm trying drawer dividers.
View attachment 4303792
I still haven't found good leg bands though. I'm trying orthodontic rubber bands https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDQSW57N?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1 but I don't reccomend them for feather legged chicks.

Hubby's an electrician so has every size zip ties known to man, including little mini ones. I used his little ones all up, so bought these. They work great for feathered legs. A fingernail clipper (toe clipper is better) works for snipping the ends off, or for getting them off.

We keep them lose, like a bracelet, not tight at all, then for baby chicks they're checked bi-weekly. Adults get checked whenever we get around to it as the same goes for them...it's like a bracelet on them.

We have never had an issue with any age.

 

[redinator]

Hubby's an electrician so has every size zip ties known to man, including little mini ones. I used his little ones all up, so bought these. They work great for feathered legs. A fingernail clipper (toe clipper is better) works for snipping the ends off, or for getting them off.

We keep them lose, like a bracelet, not tight at all, then for baby chicks they're checked bi-weekly. Adults get checked whenever we get around to it as the same goes for them...it's like a bracelet on them.

We have never had an issue with any age.

I recently bought reusable zip ties https://a.co/d/05c3MhtH, but they seem a bit wide/thick to use on chicks. I always worry with the regular zip ties I might over tighten it and have trouble getting them off.

 

[Debbie292d]

I recently bought reusable zip ties https://a.co/d/05c3MhtH, but they seem a bit wide/thick to use on chicks. I always worry with the regular zip ties I might over tighten it and have trouble getting them off.

Those look a little heavy-duty. The ones we bought aren't at all.

Although I like that yours are reusable. These sure aren't.

 

[GreenJay]

Let's grow food chicks!
Go Cupcake!

 

[Rillowen]

In the end, does it really matter as long as you get healthy chicks out of this hatch?

When my Great Pyrenees had her 10 pups a few years ago, a number of the colored Velcro necklaces came off. Some looked different enough we could tell them apart but others were too close to call. In the end, the only two who kept their birth names were the two we kept and I'm not 100% certain about one of them.

I know it doesnt ultimately matter, and infact the kids have honestly petitioned to rename many. (Although some of the names have been approved to keep ) I wanted to do the best I could to at least try to keep track and report to my wonderful support squad here!

 

[Rillowen]

I struggle with this too. I bought hatching bags, but the ones I got were fairly small and would only hold 1-2 eggs. I wanted to seperate 5-6 by breed. The eggs that are set to hatch this weekend (my large eggs) I'm trying drawer dividers.
View attachment 4303792
I still haven't found good leg bands though. I'm trying orthodontic rubber bands https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDQSW57N?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1 but I don't reccomend them for feather legged chicks.

Hmm i have those teensy rubber bands for baby hair. Maybe I could use those.

 

[Rillowen]

In the latest development, one of my broodies has abandoned her nest on day 3. I was watching so when she clearly didnt have any intent to go back after 20 mins I put the eggs in the incubator. I have a problem though... those eggs are a week and a half behind the others, and 3 days behind the ones under the other broody. The good broody, Mocha (picture at the end) already has a dzn eggs, and is a first time mom, so i don't think she could handle more, even if they would hatch in time. The incubator, even if i could leave those eggs in during lock down and hatch, has to go back to the neighbors at the end of next week after the initial hatch. So how do I keep these abandoned eggs from dying? I'm going to candle them today and see what we have. But i think I may have to rig some sort of unorthodox incubator with what I have (money isn't an option). At the moment I'm looking at a fluffy hand towel in a shoebox sized Rubbermaid wrapped in an electric blanket with maybe a heated rice pack and or hot water bottle. I would set it at an incline and gently turn the whole box every couple hours when i also checked the alcohol based outdoor thermometeri would have poking out the top and replace any heat sources. not the best solution. But at least it would only be for about a week.