The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[noahsmom]

Five barn yard eggs set in the still air LG On Feb. 18, 2013. Placed under a hen named Judy the Broody on March 5. Five hatched on March 12. Feb. 23, 2013 set twenty four Catdance Silkie eggs in the Genesis 1588. Between March 16th to 17th, twelve chicks hatched. On March 6, 2013. Set twenty Ron Fogle heritage RIR eggs in the Genesis 1588. Eleven hatched on March 27, 2013. A very successful Spring hatch all around. Gorgeous chicks. Time to clean and store the incubators for the season.

Yay! Silkies and Rhode Island reds, that's what I hatched as well. Except my silkie eggs are from Garry farms and my hrir eggs are from horstman poultry. So glad you had a great hatch

 

[TMNfarm]

I eggtosied the two that were left... Both were indeed dead, but fully developed chicks. The Silkie had almost absorbed all of it's yolk. The egg from my chickens had a fully developed chick, although the poor baby's head was facing the wrong way. Both of them seemed to have excess fluid still in the shell, but the air sac was dry... What does that mean? The only chick to hatch hatched on Thursday with no issues at all.

Most of my issue was just infertility, I think. I know for my own eggs, it was because my roos are extremely young. It surprised me more that I already had 2 fertile eggs out of the 13 that I set than that 11 of them were infertile. With the silkies and Seramas I got through the Easter swap... Who knows?? Fertility?? Shipping?? Only this one little Silkie ever developed at all...

But what bothers me is the ones that almost made it, then didn't... Am I doing something wrong? How could I have that one hatch so early, then the other 2 never even pip? I was surprised to see how developed they were because I almost threw them before lockdown, especially the Silkie. It just didn't seem to fill up enough of the egg. The egg from my hens, I may know the answer... Somehow, I found 2 days before lockdown, that I had marked the number on the wrong end of the egg (the small end) , so I had been incubating the poor thing for 16 days UPSIDE DOWN!!! How is that even possible that I didn't catch that when I was candling them??? So I'm pretty sure the poor baby just couldn't orient himself properly... It would have been my first buff chick, too. All of my others have been various shades of black with some red or white... Very sad....

 

[michaelf]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!! HAPPY EASTER!!! Hope all you have a great day. Remember what this day represents! Congrats on all the chicks hatching.

 

[kacklinkelly]

They have been at this ALL.DAY.LONG...

what are they DOING? lol...

silly silly chicks..


They are ADORABLE - Maybe they think they have to hatch out of that too

 

[wolftracks]

HAPPY EASTER!!!


Hoping I get some Easter chicks

 

[Shellz]

Good morning all! Happy Easter!
Will have to take some pics later today. I have some pure Cuckoo Marans & Cuckoo Marans cross chicks. All nice & fluffy now! My first to hatch was a pure CM & is big & gorgeous!!!
Love all the pics rolling in!
Congrats to all those with chicks & sorry to those with problems & losses.
Although my hatch was less than stellar this 2nd time around, I learned from it & will do better next time. Can't wait to try again with a new incubator! I'm glad there is always a hatch-a-long going on somewhere here!

 

[Kismet]

I have 21 hatched out of the 35 eggs that went into lockdown. The first hatched on Thursday and then quite a few on Friday. Yesterday (Saturday, the day they were due) I just got the also-rans. Those that hatched look very healthy and active: all Ameracaunas, mostly blue, one splash, and five blacks. My broody set at the same time 8 olive eggs; she hatched out seven and is a ferocious mom. The other broody was still hatching yesterday so I don't know what she has yet.

It was a beautiful day yesterday. While there is snow still on the ground, I burned a couple brush piles. The honey bees were out flying and the sap ran like crazy. Spring is really coming! Happy Easter everyone!

 

[rarebear]

Status report:
Hatched-3 barnevelders, 2 cream legbars, 2 swedish flower hen, 1 polish.
Pipped- 1 cream legbar, 2 lavender orpingtons
20 eggs quietly deciding what to do

 

[LFchixranch]

Ok so my one that piped yesterday morning came into the world late last night early this am with a healthy set of lungs. Woke up this am to find I wasn't the only one to hear it. I now have another egg pipped, more like a window it created. I guess it wanted to see who was making all that noise.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

HAPPY EASTER FRIENDS!