"Springing in the Chicks" 2016 April Hatch-a-Long Hosted by Mike & Sally

[tao chick]

9/20 so far; 5 visible pips. I've pretty much lost track of which chick came from which egg. I know the two CCL Ameraucana crosses look like typical EE stripy chicks, so that's easy. There are a couple with spots on their heads so they're probably my Barred Rock crosses and they're probably boys. The yellow ones could be from a couple different hens. Finding out the rooster of each chick will probably be impossible- unless they get crests.

I don't know why I'm thinking about this so much. Coffee hasn't kicked in and I don't want to think about how much I have to do today.

My 6-yo just invited me to the "fair club" meeting. That sounds like an acceptable alternative to thinking about work/chores.

 

[tao chick]

Had a bad night....woke up this morning to the incubator down to 97 degrees on both thermometers.  Uh, oh.  It was holding a nice 99.5 when I went to bed at 11 but 97 when I woke up at 6.  No idea why it dropped or how long it had been that low.  First thing I checked was if it was closed securely after I candled last night.  It was, so no clue what happened.  Gave it a gentle nudge upward, went in to make my coffee and start breakfast, then checked it again.  Both therms read 104.  Grrrrrr  At least it wasn't that high long enough to cook the eggs - I know they take awhile to get up to the temp of the air around them.  Finally have it stable at 99.5 again.  I'm hoping the worst that will happen is that that might delay the hatch slightly, if it was low long enough.  But we have to leave town today and will be gone overnight - worried about it happening again when I'm not here and won't be back until after 6 tomorrow night.

Tell me again why this is a relaxing hobby????

My therms always go wonky at some point in the hatch. The thermostat reads steady but the accutherm ranges +- 2-4 degrees. Relaxing it is not, but worthwhile. It has taught me about letting go- letting nature take its course. I'm a meddler, so I'm still not quite wise on that topic yet.

 

[CGilbert]

Speaking of candling, how are Blueberries eggs looking? Huh, huh, huh? *poke pok epoke



sorry, I'm slightly obsessive......

Lol, can't blame ya. Looks like one clear, the rest are developing though

 

[generaldsherman]

Should put it in a tea cup with wet paper towels so it can hopefully get absorbed

Will probably need help

Go Chickies!!!

Good Luck!!

Good thing your hamster has high humidity   lol, soo cute! good luck with the rest!
Woohoo!!



Glad you are feeling better! good luck with the chickies!

e

Keep going chickies!!



Morning!!! At least you set them! AND they're hatching!!! YAYYYYY!!!

WHat!??!! you forgot to candle?? 

Congrats!

stupid autocorrect

 

[slordaz]

I never sleep during lock down using an incubator, evil thing does bad things if I do.

 

[CGilbert]

Day 21 starts at 1:30pm and I have no pips in my 2 eggs in lockdown.

Patience is a virtue...just not one I possess.

 

[Honora]

Day 21 starts at 1:30pm and I have no pips in my 2 eggs in lockdown.

Patience is a virtue...just not one I possess.

Hope they pip for you soon.

 

[YellowDuckK]

20 of my 27 eggs hatched. They are a hodge podge of big stock and one lonely game chick. I help the last one to hatch, he was pipped for over 24 hours and started to get stuck. I looks like he may have a slight beak malformation and I'm hand feeding 'Spot'. I don't think he's going to make it, but I knew when I helped him. Sill have eggs under two hens and am probably going to start ducks on Monday. This is too addicting!

 

[PaisyQ]

Set 8 eggs 20 days ago. I died around day 3 of incubation, 1 I dropped while candling on day 7. 6 made it into lockdown, and as of this moment 3 are pipped. These are eggs from my flock, all mixed breeds, and I'm hatching them out to give to a friend.

 

[BullChick]

Y'know what I did? I forgot to candle until day 8. I think I can add that to the list of things I never thought I'd do.
-Banti

The urge to candle my Pekin eggs is overwhelming! Sometimes I want to candle 10 times a day, and other times I can go the whole hatch without doing it. With you, I am impressed you have the ability to forget! I did not think you would ever be able to do that!