The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Sally Sunshine]

One of my two chicks is dead. Somehow, the Icelandics pulled it through the cage it was in with the broody and tore it apart, then started eating it. I thought that cage was safe

Why do chickens eat live young?!

oh no! I am so sorry! awwww

BYC Easter Hatch-a-long
Daily Digest for 3-24-2013
Site Stats did not update today


We are moving into the home stretch of the hatch-a-long. Some are still candling and tossing clears while others have early hatches. It is amazing to think about all of the cute chicks that will be hatching soon....

littlechicklet checked in--has not removed any eggs from the bator. Won't toss them unless they stink. My kind of thinking!

noahsmom is locking down today and working outside to take advantage of the nice weather.

joyfulPromise shared her Hatching results. 23 pulled leaving 4 maybes and 19 alive! Asked if she can feed the clears to the dog. Not if they stink!

Pele checked in--Probably going to win for worst hatch rate...

Gardengirl73 has 15 eggs going Strong!

EPetrilli is holing on to 12 still going! The kids are gutting a great experience and the hatch is also a school project

The Random funny post winners were announced on post 5964

RedIII had a second chick hatch under a broody! We hope it recovers!

The second chick made it through the night!

jbenson came home and watched some hatch! 7 so far weigh 3 to go!

Saved dropped by to share information on their first Hatch!

Good luck!

Egghead_Jr is having a bad hatch...Temps are stable now....Hopefully more will hatch now....

Woltracks has Purple eggs!

myfivegirls candled and removed 4 clears and was amazed to see the movement inside the eggs!

misskeeter is worried....should have action on eggs but nothing yet

Morning saw more worrying...Later we saw one zipping!

Then a Campine Hatched!

Tnmfarm has a OB that hide in the wall of the coop. Is she scared of the Roos? She does like being away from them...We need the chicken whisperer....

QuirkySue candled and took out 2 bad eggs. Someone put one in upside down. We hope it hatches!

wildriverswolf90 used paper towel to make a patch on a cracked egg--It hatched today--

Wax Myrtle took her eggs into a dark room to candle--Saw lots of twiching babies too!

RedIII shared a Momma hen teaching a chick to eat video in post 6040.

Sally Sunshine posted pictures for the Tierra contest. Very nice!

noahsmom panicked about the temps. She was calmed down nicely and no one had to

. I hope the hatch goes well for her!

Razadia posted about candling tonight. She said she was going to steal some copper wire to make a Tierra! I wondered what those copper thieves did with that copper and now I know! They make little crowns for chickens....

Poor RedIII

! One of the chicks was pulled out and killed....

Someone might need to get that varmint.

loves2hatch is worried about the weight loss of the eggs.

arcountrychick lost two Roos to a predator! Get that Varmint too

RavenWood is behind in the thread. Me too! 50 are still in the bator and 4 under a broody!

CayuseRanch commented on all the bad chicken losses recently on the thread. We were teased about a game cam that took 27 pictures. Now we have to wait until tomorrow to see them....

That is it for this edition. I hope you enjoyed it. I am off to see if the mystery egg from Australia has hatched...https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750468/new-australian-hatching-mystery-egg-at-home/270

My DD and I were candling eggs tonight. She's been at her dad's for sping break and missed the last candling. We were giggling at the little shadows wiggling around and then...."A FOOT! A FOOT! I SAW A CHICKY FOOT!" she yells. Sure enough, the light was just right in the light colored egg and we clearly saw a tiny little foot waving at us.

THIS is why I am hatching eggs. The excitement in her voice and the light in her eyes at the miracle inside that little egg reminded me that sometimes we hold sheer happiness in our hands. I am a blessed momma tonight. We are still making a stand with 21 developing eggs out of 45--most were tossed due to infertility.

Here they are - the chicks from our first round for your enjoyment of fluffy babies. So excited for the Easter weekend batch. There are still 11 in there waiting to be set for that hatch. The dark ones are all so different, I can't wait to see who else is waiting to hatch!

awwww!

Quote: I wish I had turks to hatch!

I have TWO... Polish and Campine have hatched

Old English on the way


Three more pips.... Silkie egg is rocking like mad, along with an Araucana (sp?) and an Ameraucana (sp?) .... One small white egg that I think might be the Japanese is rocking like mad as well

YAY

Looking for some guidance here... After candling on day seven, all but 1 of my 25 eggs showed signs of life. Well, I just recandled yesterday at day fourteen, and nine of the 24 remaining eggs seemed to have stopped developing. So, I took out one of the ones that looked dead and cracked it open. The yolk was very runny, and I could see a slight blood ring. The embryo was about the size of a dime, but had clearly stopped developing a while ago. I left the rest of the 9 eggs in there.

The other eggs are developing very nicely with large veins.

What did I do wrong? Why did nine of them stop developing?!?

I have them in a homemade incubator that has been keeping a temperature between 99-100 degrees. I turn the eggs manually three times a day religiously. The temperature only drops momentarily when I am turning (about 3 minutes to get back up to normal temp)...

Any help for this firsty?

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE !!! Have a great Monday! Watching the news, drinking my coffee and catching up in some post on here. Looks like we are going to have a freeze warning tonight here in middle Ga.

going to cover up my tomato plants.

Morning snow snow snow here in PA! grrrrrrr

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Looking for some guidance here... After candling on day seven, all but 1 of my 25 eggs showed signs of life. Well, I just recandled yesterday at day fourteen, and nine of the 24 remaining eggs seemed to have stopped developing. So, I took out one of the ones that looked dead and cracked it open. The yolk was very runny, and I could see a slight blood ring. The embryo was about the size of a dime, but had clearly stopped developing a while ago. I left the rest of the 9 eggs in there.

The other eggs are developing very nicely with large veins.

What did I do wrong? Why did nine of them stop developing?!?

I have them in a homemade incubator that has been keeping a temperature between 99-100 degrees. I turn the eggs manually three times a day religiously. The temperature only drops momentarily when I am turning (about 3 minutes to get back up to normal temp)...

Any help for this firsty?

Did you have temp spike or lows? Thermos calibrated?

​

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

1. Sign: Eggs candle clear; broken out eggs show blood ring or small embryo that died before 3 days of incubation; no dark eye visible. Causes:
2. Eggs stored too long or under improper temperature.
3. Fumigation improper -- too severe or done between 12 and 96 h of incubation.
4. High temperature in early incubation.
5. Low temperature in early incubation.
6. Eggs damaged during transport by jarring, etc.
7. Breeder flock diseases.
8. Old breeders.
9. Embryological development accidents.
10. Inbreeding, chromosome abnormalities.
11. Severe nutritional deficiencies, e.g., biotin, vitamin A, copper, vitamin E, boron, or pantothenic acid.
12. Frequently associated with a high incidence of infertility.
13. Drugs, toxins, or pesticides.
14. Contamination.
15. Embryos less developed at oviposition, i.e., pre-endoderm or very early endoderm formation.
    
16. Sign: Dead embryos; 3 to 6 days of incubation; yolk sac circulatory system present, embryo on left side, no egg tooth. Causes:
17. See causes 3.1-14
18. Lack of ventilation, or sealed shells, carbon dioxide >1%.
19. Improper turning -- <1/h or >6/h; improper turning angle.
20. Vitamin deficiencies -- vitamin E, riboflavin, biotin, pantothenic acid, or linoleic acid.
    
21. Sign: Dead embryos; 7 to 17 days of incubation; each embryo has egg tooth, toenails, feather follicles (8 days), feathers (11 days). Causes:
22. Improper incubator temperature, humidity, turning, ventilation. Low humidity increases abnormalities of aortic arches (13 days).
23. Contamination.
24. Nutritional deficiencies -- riboflavin, vitamin B12, biotin, niacin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, boron, or linoleic acid.
25. Lethal genes (>30 have been described).http://www.natureform.com/kb/index.php?print=1011

What Went Wrong During Incubation​

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation
http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html

Hatchability Problem Analysis
http://www.natureform.com/kb/index.php?print=1011 & http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00008570/00001

Troubleshootting Incubation
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8127.pdf

This is also a great pdf with pics: paste link in browser search:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=early%20emrbyo%20death%20%20incubation&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepoultrysite.com%2Fdownloads%2Fdownload%2F171%2F&ei=UllaUMXFHsmrygGnjoHICw&usg=AFQjCNGgYxCBYwBex31MS5w2McdnpH1zbw

Eggtopsy: What happened to my egg?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/363717/eggtopsy-what-happened-to-my-egg-graphic-pictures


​

 

[jbenson]

OMGoodness!! How Cute! What are they, and what is #7, I love him or her!

They are bantam cross breeds. Their parents are the offspring of free range purebred parents of mostly bantams (they are in my avatar). We have a number of birds that have some cresting and anticipate #7 and the others with puffs on their heads will crest. And the ones with very fluffy cheeks and chin will probably beard (one of our hens and one of our roos have this trait). We didn't do any intentional pairings this time, just let the flock do their thing. Very exciting to see the results. You can tell we have more light colored hens than dark by the split in chicks.

 

[jbenson]

What do you think - family resemblance? I'm pretty sure this chick is offspring of my hen "Fat Chicken". Also found a photo of Fat Chicken as a day old and she looked a lot like this.

 

[Jucknath]

Does this look like spring!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have chicks that want to play outside and in their new pen, instead of being in the garage. I have winter blues and want to see some flowers

Okay that is it, I'm going to start spring today and plant some veggie seeds.

Go for it

 

[Jucknath]

I just cracked 2 eggs that were quitters. 38 black star eggs looking good out of 46. 5 not fertile and 3 quitters.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My DD and I were candling eggs tonight. She's been at her dad's for sping break and missed the last candling. We were giggling at the little shadows wiggling around and then...."A FOOT! A FOOT! I SAW A CHICKY FOOT!" she yells. Sure enough, the light was just right in the light colored egg and we clearly saw a tiny little foot waving at us.

THIS is why I am hatching eggs. The excitement in her voice and the light in her eyes at the miracle inside that little egg reminded me that sometimes we hold sheer happiness in our hands. I am a blessed momma tonight. We are still making a stand with 21 developing eggs out of 45--most were tossed due to infertility.

Awww, that's so neat! I'm glad your daughter got to see it! My kids love watching me candle the eggs too.

Awesome and Congrats to

LFchixranch​

but i have to ask whats a GFM ?

Golden Feather Membership. Here are the benefits:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/byc-memberships-help-support-backyardchickens

Here they are - the chicks from our first round for your enjoyment of fluffy babies. So excited for the Easter weekend batch. There are still 11 in there waiting to be set for that hatch. The dark ones are all so different, I can't wait to see who else is waiting to hatch!

Adorable babies! Congrats!

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.

I have TWO... Polish and Campine have hatched

Old English on the way


Three more pips.... Silkie egg is rocking like mad, along with an Araucana (sp?) and an Ameraucana (sp?) .... One small white egg that I think might be the Japanese is rocking like mad as well

Congrats!

Looking for some guidance here... After candling on day seven, all but 1 of my 25 eggs showed signs of life. Well, I just recandled yesterday at day fourteen, and nine of the 24 remaining eggs seemed to have stopped developing. So, I took out one of the ones that looked dead and cracked it open. The yolk was very runny, and I could see a slight blood ring. The embryo was about the size of a dime, but had clearly stopped developing a while ago. I left the rest of the 9 eggs in there.

The other eggs are developing very nicely with large veins.

What did I do wrong? Why did nine of them stop developing?!?

I have them in a homemade incubator that has been keeping a temperature between 99-100 degrees. I turn the eggs manually three times a day religiously. The temperature only drops momentarily when I am turning (about 3 minutes to get back up to normal temp)...

Any help for this firsty?

You didn't necessarily do anything wrong. There are many reasons why they could have quit from temperature spikes, to malformed chicks that wouldn't make it anyway. Don't beat yourself up.

Old English hatched!

One more pip from another....

Is this icky belly button okay? Or did something go terribly wrong?

Looks perfect - Congrats!

First I have to say congrats to all of the beautiful new babies and pips!

Second I am so sorry for everyone's losses. I have to say I had a bad day too. Been very sick today. And this morning I went out to nursery to water and feed babies and turn eggs and everyone was doing great. So took meds and went back to bed. Woke up at 4 and went to nursery cus kids went out at noon for me. And I found two of my turkens dead. They were still warm. I wanted too ball. My first NN and now I only have one left. Why? Why? I loved them so much. I don't understand. Ugh. Such a sad day.

I'm so sorry.

Does this look like spring!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have chicks that want to play outside and in their new pen, instead of being in the garage. I have winter blues and want to see some flowers

Okay that is it, I'm going to start spring today and plant some veggie seeds.

Doesn't look like spring to me. My fruit trees are almost done blooming and my daffodils are up - that's spring.

 

[acemario]

Did you have temp spike or lows? Thermos calibrated?

​

Thanks Sally! I knew you'd have the good forums to check out! Thanks!

I just cracked 2 eggs that were quitters. 38 black star eggs looking good out of 46. 5 not fertile and 3 quitters.

Nice!!!!!

 

[Happy Chooks]

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/

 

[noahsmom]

Day 19 for me

Everything seems to be going well, I'm having to add water a lot it seems though. But I'm ok with it dipping down a lttle I just try not to let it get really high in fear I will drowned them. S.O. works for the state road department and are having him come in at 12 instead of 8. He's going to text me before he leaves the house and if need me add a little water through the circulation hole before he leaves. I get off work at 3, so this will help me out. I'm trying to keep at the least 55% and he just let me know its 38%, ugh.
NOT stressing out lol ...ok maybe a little..