September Hatch-A-Long

[duluthralphie]

Again Good Luck to you all..

And one last post (maybe) about Ethel. I found her nest. There were 7 eggs in it partially hatched, some considerably hatched. It appears every egg as good. I am guessing by what I saw the chicks that did not hatch were because of one of three things:

The weather was so bad with the heavy downpours the chicks drowned in the eggs as soon as they opened them.

The cold was too much for Ethel to keep a combination of a dozen eggs and chicks warm enough to survive during hatching,

Or because of her youth she left the nest before all the hatching was complete.



When I found the chicks and Ethel they were about 15 feet from the nest, BUT they were all dry, fuzzy and walking very well, I am sure she was bringing them up to the yard at that time.


BUT I cannot help but to second guess myself, and think I should have looked harder for the nest yesterday, and if I had not taken the chicks to the coop the would have lived.....

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Can I join in? I have a broody on 10 eggs that are due the 18th and I've got 35 Silkie and Sizzle eggs I'm planning on putting in the incubator either tomorrow or the day after (so they'd actually hatch in the beginning of October). I'm still fiddling with the temperature on my incubator, which is why I haven't popped them in yet! I just finished the August hatch-a-long, and swore I was done for the year, but here I am again

 

[Iko127]

These are the Blue wyandottes.

 

[Iko127]

Here are the BLRW, the last 2 are my problem chicks although they seem to be improving. Not sure of color yet!

 

[Y N dottes]

Can I join in? I have a broody on 10 eggs that are due the 18th and I've got 35 Silkie and Sizzle eggs I'm planning on putting in the incubator either tomorrow or the day after (so they'd actually hatch in the beginning of October). I'm still fiddling with the temperature on my incubator, which is why I haven't popped them in yet! I just finished the August hatch-a-long, and swore I was done for the year, but here I am again

Yes, of course.....I got 9 eggs due on the 18th also.

 

[Rainier]

Lock down for eggs put in on the 6th at 3 pm is the 24th, right?

Look at those cute lil' chicks! Hope I have some that survived the trip to coldness!

 

[darkbluespace]

If it helps you decide whether to give the eggs to your duck, Ethel ruined 2 batches of eggs before hatching these. I think she was just too young and immature earlier in the year. She would start setting then decide to hang out with the other birds. AT night she would set on the eggs, then come day she got distracted......

Maybe your duck is ready to commit now..

My duck is the MOST commited duck you will ever meet! And a bit too smart too. The first time I tried to put eggs under her I was a bit too late and I messed with her nest and that freaked her out. Then when she started laying eggs again I started taking them to see if I could keep her from going broody and then she went and started laying eggs under the shed and sat on them for 6 weeks or more, till they rotted and I finally could block her out from under there. This time she is back in the chicken coop (she was our only duck for a while) and just started sitting a few days ago. I just hope I can sneak the eggs in and she won't notice but she is very suspicious and notices if you mess with her nest. She wants to be a mama so badly and is so determined, so I hope she will let me help her. We'll see!

 

[darkbluespace]

So my eggs arrived this morning finally and they were in this foam thing with round cut outs, so I am taking it out of the box before I realize that it doesn't have a bottom, just these little round foam things under the eggs and they started falling out!!! On my tile floor... BAM...BAM... I lost two eggs right off the bat!!! I guess I wasn't really awake enough to start unpacking eggs.

I still have 8 though... all with detached air cells, so I am going to incubate them for a while and see if I can get them stabilized before I put them under the duck. Oh boy...

 

[darkbluespace]

@Iko127 Congrats on the super cute chicks!! Fuzzy adorable!!

 

[FoxholeFarm]

Hi everyone!!  I'm still working with 4 of my chicks.  I posted in another thread but not sure if anyone is answering in it anymore.  What has anyone learned from sticky chicks??  I remember I had one last hatch and my chicks didn't seem to fluff quickly.  This hatch has been awful.  My 4 blues are pretty good, had a 2 with some dried hard spots but are in the brooder and look good.  My BLR's are just terrible.  I made sure yesterday and anytime I help a chick out, I clean them up before leaving them.  I woke up this morning and they are sooo sticky I had to wash them and towel them and put back in the bator.  2 chicks I think if they fluff will come out and go to brooder. 1 chick I saw has a curled foot and will have to tape it and the other chick I'm not sure will make it.  The chick that I don't think will live can't get its neck right and is just flopping on its side.  Anyways all the chicks are so much smaller this hatch, I'm guessing the humidity difference.  I don't know anything much about the blues but I'm hoping that I have one or two black!  I is for sure blue and 1 is splash.  I will take pictures soon.  Good luck to all!!

Most of my chicks were sticky too. I didn't have a way to measure the humidity so I think it was wrong during lockdown. It took them all well over 12 hours to fluff out and the last which I has to assist the hatch, didn't fluff for over 24hours. When I transferred them to the brooder, I rubbed them with a rough towel to help separate the glued down feathers. The last one to hatch was also very floppy. I left her in the incubator for the first day until she was moving around a bit more though she was wobbly for a few days. She's still smaller than the others but otherwise totally healthy and feathering out well.