The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Toast n Jelly]

Morning all! Just grabbed my 2nd cup of coffee. Ugh! It's -11C or -18 with windchill. Another cold snap! What happened to the nice weather we were starting to get? I hate being teased! Oh well. My 7 week old mutts are doing great the converted duck house. They are from my first ever hatch back in January. Looks like a got a few boys in there. Is ok. Hardy little buggers!

They're gorgeous and so healthy looking! What's the white stuff on the floor? DE?
I know what you mean about the weather, we're supposed to get a ton of snow come Tuesday, well you never know it might all change.

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

Well here are a few fluffy buddies!!
I am wondering what kind they are...
They were from mostly brown and tan eggs
And one green egg
I didn't get to see the chickens that they came from ... My hatch rate was 18/35 not so good since they had 100% fertility .... There r still 10 eggs n the bator and its day 22 but I candled the remaining eggs and they don't look so good .... But anyhow if anyone thinks they may know what these are I would like any input

I think the place where they came from only had 3 types of chickens

 

[Maah]

I really need to figure out how to move around this thread easier. find my last page I read ect. I need to maybe write that number down? I don't kow how else to do it without reading the post backwards. any suggestions?

I found that by clicking on my user ID in the top right corner, and then clicking on the thread title... it will put me right where I left off. Does the same on my phone when I go to subscriptions.

So i have another question.... for those that use those chicken nipples. Are they all the same size? I just ordered some and read on another thread here that some are made for chicks and some chickens. Is this true? If so, I think I ordered the wrong ones!

I bought the nipples, but never installed them. I prefer the little drink cups for PVC pipes. I can't remember if the nipples came with different sizes for chickens. From what I remember, they were available in different sizes for species (chicken, goat, pig, etc...), and available in different installation styles like threaded or push in. I thought the chick/chicken ones were the same. Don't quote me though.

2. those bunny buns, I find impossible for me to make but totally adorable. I tried it with sourdough bread. Not a pretty picture, but they were pretty tasty .

So they won't be on my Easter menu.

They're going to be on my menu just for the converstions!! LOL
3. I did a quick candle on my eggs today. I saw no veining. sigh. my yolks were small and towards the bottom.

never candled this early before. Also on the one I candled it had a crack all the way up on the inside that wasn't there, before I put them in the incubator. sigh. must have dropped it a little putting it in?

How dark are your eggs? I've only been able to see veining in my lighter eggs at this point. Day 5 is still fairly early.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I really need to figure out how to move around this thread easier. find my last page I read ect. I need to maybe write that number down? I don't kow how else to do it without reading the post backwards. any suggestions?

So i have another question.... for those that use those chicken nipples. Are they all the same size? I just ordered some and read on another thread here that some are made for chicks and some chickens. Is this true? If so, I think I ordered the wrong one.

I don't believe there are different sizes until you get to large "er" animals. I've heard good things about the horizontal cup type but then also heard the normal nipple is better in cold climate so...dunno.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Horizontal-...387?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c30f8a34b
This is just the first example of cup type nipple I could find, seems pricey. Posted for example.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have Black copper marans how hard are they to candle?

You pretty much have to just judge them on darkness. You likely won't see anything else other than darkness vs. light. Candle at lockdown and they should be all dark inside, except for the air sac.

I have a friend that breeds Marans and she uses an old reel projector to candle her eggs. She says she can see into them that way.

I set 237!!!!

Holy smokes!

Hi everybody

well I had signed up to hatch-a-long with ya'll then totally forgot and set some eggs on the first. Then I had a hen go broody on me, so without realizing I set some eggs under her in time for them to hatch easter sunday.

How many did you set under your broody? They qualify for this hatch.

I candled today too. All the home eggs are developing but the swap ones are not looking so hot. Most of them have several smaller air bubbles with blood rings. Is there any chance for them to develop?

Small air bubbles is a broken air sac - not likely to hatch. Don't remove them until you are sure they are quitters though.

I set 7 eggs from my own flock on 3.10, does that count? They should hatch on Easter Sunday. Or maybe April Fool's day.

Yup, that counts.

Morning everyone - update on the broody - we have 5 little ones this morning... 2 black ones, a gray one, a stripy (as my niece calls it) and a yellow one! They sre all sooo cute... the yellow one has "stuff" stuck to her. like egg pieces and possibly a bit of yuk.... do i leave it? or do i have to wash it off... doesn't seem to be bothering it.... but the chick itself doesn't look at strong as the others

It's a sticky chick - unless it's having trouble moving, the chick will work the gunk off in a few days and fluff up. Occasionally I've had one that it's wing was stuck so I had to rinse it in warm water. You risk chilling the chick doing this though.

Think I might have a few cooked ones. Ugh! Had my incubator all stabilized and then had a piece of furniture delivered. Really screwed things up. I panicked and turned heat up & left too long. 103.8! Ack! Stable now, but I'm sure I lost a few. Only checked my dorking eggs. Easier to see, may have early quitters due to the lethal gene as well. Oh well, I hadn't planned on hatching 20 to begin with, but all those eggs were just so tempting!

Unless it was at that temperature for a long time, you're fine. It takes quite a while for the internal egg temperature to get that high and cause damage.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Keep those egg set numbers coming!

 

[Wisher1000]

Whew! Caught up....Morning, chattering Peeps!

 

[Shellz]

Thanks Happy Chooks! Think it was about an hour or so they were at 103.8. I really don't need ALL 20 to hatch, lol! I'm prepared for any result though. S'all good!

 

[Shellz]

They're gorgeous and so healthy looking! What's the white stuff on the floor? DE?
I know what you mean about the weather, we're supposed to get a ton of snow come Tuesday, well you never know it might all change. 

White stuff is pine shavings. The white light is bouncing off them making them appear white. Got some snow yesterday. Blah! Where abouts are you? I can't wait to free range all my birds! Come on spring!!!

 

[Bama1]

Good sunny spring-ish morning everyone!