September Hatch-A-Long

[Red Star Rob]

Amazing, I feel like I'm having another hatch by going through all of these posts.

LOL, hatching by proxy!

Congratulation for all those who have hatched recently and best wishes for those coming up.

Still waiting to see which one of mine declares herself first as a pullet, then I'll have an Ethel of my own.

I laugh every time I see my little ones nearly "chest bump" each other as they work out the pecking order....sheesh, they are only 9 days old. Definitely have a few roos.

 

[Red Star Rob]

Guess what? Her name is....... Ethel!

YAY!!!!

 

[duluthralphie]

I always said this world needs more Ethel's!

 

[Peep_Show]

Actually, my mom's mother (so my maternal grandmother) was an Ethel. Mom and Dad -- wisely and thankfully -- decided not to go with the tradition of naming children after previous relatives, ergo I dodged being an Ethel, a Winnifred, an Isadora Rosalette or a Lola Neville. (Paternal grandmother was the Lola Neville, but she never went by Lola...which I happen to like).

Hopefully Grandma Ethel has a half smile knowing that a chicken is her namesake....

 

[Red Star Rob]

I had one of my 16 chicks pass away 3 days ago. Poor little one had something wrong with its gut or possibly a vitamin deficiency? The chick would stand upright with eyes closed and would not lay down to sleep ever. Poor little guy wouldn't drink or eat after the first day and in noticed had significant difficulty passing stool. I tried everything to try to help it, even to the extent of holding it for a few hours at a time because it seemed to relax and finally fall asleep. I had never seen anything like it. After the first few days I knew it was bad. The little guy was half the size of all the others and was not growing because it wasn't eating. Anyway, we buried it on Friday, after several prayers and with a handwritten letter with pictures made by my 4 & 3 yr old boys.

On a happier note.....
The remaining 15 are growing like wildfire, vigorous, and looking really good. I know I have a must have a few Roos by their body language/behavior, but we started picking out names...

Ethel
Bessie
Dottie
Stella
Amber
Petunia (my wife's suggestion although I only think of a pig when I hear that name )

Artemis
Loki



(Our current hens names are Sweetie, Pearla, Bell, Ebony, Ivory, Mischa. Past hens names were Violet, Lovie, Rhianna, Nikki, Rosie, Diana. Past Roo names were Arturo, Vinny, Mini Vinny, Marco, Polo).

Still working on more names...it is easier when you see their personalities come out.

 

[krista74]

Oh my gosh!

Day 20 here, and there are 2 live chicks under Momma, and a third is pipping!

It's happening! It's happening!

Krista

 

[krista74]

Welcome to the world, Biscuit

Biscuit also has a little brother or sister (Crumpet) who is still drying off under Momma.

Krista

 

[redhen689]

I thought if you opened the incubator after lock down it was a death sentence (for the most part). I had no idea that you could do a quick candle

I think it might depend on how long you have the 'bator open, and how long it takes to get your humidity back up.
My theory is that a broody hen even gets off her eggs a time or two every day. And they usually have the best hatch rates.
I just checked them again. Smaller egg is making peeping sounds but no external pips yet. Larger egg.... We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[redhen689]

at 3 pm today it was officially day 21 and those eggs are not doing anything. No cheep, no pip, nothing, nada, zero. I thought maybe I should

to them and maybe they would want to come out, but nope. Then I thought a

would get their fluffy butts moving but again nada. I

trying to think what might motivate my little babies to get moving. I finally

and instead of

DH who suggested that I leave them alone and come to bed I am going to give them some

tell them how much we

them and instead of

I'm headed to bed and hope to wake up to

I'm hoping that you have some activity today.

Don't give up! If your temperatures were low it will delay the hatch by a day or two.
My first time hatching was a total failure. All the chicks were fully developed, but none hatched. I was using a home-made incubator, and I think they ended up getting wet accidentally in the end. It was very sad... I immediately started a second batch in the same incubator and had, 9 of 11 hatch. That was about 14 years ago.

This time I had 7 duds or early quitters, but they were purchased from a seller on e-bay and I am wondering how they were stored and how old they were. A couple had weird air cells, like they had been left on their sides for a few days. (They were NOT shipped. I drove a few hours to pick them up.) Next time I will purchase my eggs elsewhere, but that will be in the spring.
So I'm expecting one to hatch, hopefully today, and maybe another to hatch in a day or two. She seemed a bit delayed when I candle her.

 

[kada6305]

I thought if you opened the incubator after lock down it was a death sentence (for the most part). I had no idea that you could do a quick candle

I open my incubator to increase humidity and do candling on day 20 real quick without removing eggs just to check for any internal piping. I never let my humidity go below 45% Now you shouldn't take you eggs out to candle them during lock down and if you have a piped egg you really shouldn't open it either. But a mother hen will get off a few minutes to drink/eat.


On a side not my lock down is in 2 days! Getting excited. This wil be my first silkie chicks!