The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Jessshan8]

:

Ok I went and did it. I have a broody that just wont give up! It's been 5 weeks and she is dead set on raising some chicks and hasn't laid an egg in forever. So I took 8 eggs out of my incubator wrapped them in a warm towel and moved my broody to isolation and set the eggs under her. So what do you guys think? Right or wrong thing to do. 90% of the eggs in the bator are for freezer camp anyway. only keeping the white jersey giant pullets and a couple EE's for egg laying from the hatch everyone else has another purpose.

Did she settle down on the eggs? I usually let my broodies sit wherever they choose and move them after the chicks hatch. I'm always the advocate for giving a broody girl some eggs - I just love seeing the hens with the babies.
Yes she did checked on her this morning and she is hunkered down on those eggs like a tic on a hound! this will be here first hatch. she is an OE (Barred rock/EE cross) they make the best egg layers and can be awfully broody (really stubborn about it)

 

[mbmess2003]

don't forget to enter your pics!!!

http://tinyurl.com/cz2t6t7

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: It's possible she is thinking about it. Not all broodies pluck their bellies, but it's certainly a sign that they are going to go broody at some point. I had an Olive Egger stay on the nest longer and longer - it took her over a month to finally go broody, but once she did, she did wonderfully. Once your girl quits laying and is on the nest at night for 2 consecutive nights, you can consider her broody.

I had a 3 1/2 year old production red go broody last summer. She had never gone broody before. She drove me nuts though because she played musical nestboxes. So her first clutch didn't hatch and she incubated a 2nd clutch and hatched 2 chicks. Surprisingly, she was a very good mother - just horrible at sitting.

:
Yes she did checked on her this morning and she is hunkered down on those eggs like a tic on a hound! this will be here first hatch. she is an OE (Barred rock/EE cross) they make the best egg layers and can be awfully broody (really stubborn about it)

 

[Time-Out]

Hatch Day - 5


This is probably an odd choice for chicken trivia, considering the current snowy weather, but I thought it interesting anyway.

Heat Loss Methods

Radiation
This is the simplest way in which temperature is regulated. Heat is transferred from high to low areas of heat, such as from a bird to the environment. The greater the temperature difference, the quicker this occurs. However, birds in hot conditions can't rely on this method to regulate temperature.

Convection
This is the process of regulating temperature by movement of a fluid or gas, such as air. Hot air rises, and will circulate within a well-ventilated house. However, if there are no vents, or if they are insufficient, the atmosphere inside becomes too hot and the birds will overheat.

Evaporation
The process of evaporation reduces heat in the environment; this is like the cooling effect of sweating on the skin. Birds reply on evaporation from panting rather than sweating, as they don't have sweat glands. This process is dependent on the humidity in the atmosphere, so hot, humid weather reduces its effectiveness.

Conduction
One of the least significant ways in which birds control temperature. This is where heat is transferred through direct contact with the environment. This can occur if litter is cooler than the bod of the bird. Natural dust baths are good for reducing temperature, but little tends to heat up quickly, especially if it's deep, and the fermentation of droppings is also occurring.

 

[mbmess2003]

short video of my OEGB hen and the two chicks she hatched out the other day

turn the volume down if you are working....don't want people to wonder where the rooster crow is coming from!

 

[Happy Chooks]

short video of my OEGB hen and the two chicks she hatched out the other day

turn the volume down if you are working....don't want people to wonder where the rooster crow is coming from!

Nice momma showing them how to dustbathe!

 

[Time-Out]

Quote: Lol that would be typical. I'm starting to think I need to make room for 50 chicks... C'mon broodies! We're rooting for you!

I had a 3 1/2 year old production red go broody last summer. She had never gone broody before. She drove me nuts though because she played musical nestboxes. So her first clutch didn't hatch and she incubated a 2nd clutch and hatched 2 chicks. Surprisingly, she was a very good mother - just horrible at sitting.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Since we are going to have chicks soon, I thought I'd post this video my friend made. It's a fairly long video, but well worth watching. It's about chick resuscitation. From the pictures, you can see that the 2 chicks she had were in the death pose with their head tilted back. If you have the time, it's amazing.
http://www.bucknrunranch.com/blog/2013/02/07/chick-resuscitation/

Simply amazing!

What a wonderful ending and it gives me hope that I can do that too if needed.
One thing that I'd suggest would be to use another color of nail polish as red will attract foot nibbling Note to self: buy some blue nail polish ....which I'll never use for myself lol!

 

[Pele]

Pele I have Black Copper roos over Black Copper, Blue Copper and a Cuckoo hen. Trying to get Golden Cuckoos. I have an order I have to fill this week, but if you're interested I have what I have and can do something after this order.

Oooo! You have purple egg layers? Are they Langshans or something you've been working on yourself?

 

[SilkieSensation]

Holy cow! I'm almost 2,000 posts behind. Not even going to try to catch those up

Update on our eggs:
BigPoppy is still going strong with all of his chicks developing & 2/4 ducks. All 6 of his shipped quail are developing but there are a few clears in the Cots from our flock. Not surprising since these were the very first eggs laid by several of our girls that were hatched in Dec & Jan.

Mine are faring a bit worse. I'm down to 0/6 chicken left, 3/5 ducks left, 5/6 shipped quail & some clears in the 9 set from our cots.

Apparently my bator is still having some issues with chicken eggs. His seems to be doing fine with them. Guess he has "beginner's luck." This is his 1st hatch that he's done mostly on his own.