The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[jbher]

Good morning!! Today is Day 21 for me! I started with 27 eggs. Went into lockdown with 20. 6 chicks out and 7 pips so far. All shipped eggs! My Marans that hatched last night was out of a deep saddle shaped air cell and it was the best hatcher yet! I was shocked!

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote: Eggs just keep filling michaelf's incubator......he claims the easter bunny or some magic is causing it to happen!

 

[michaelf]

What does?  Sorry if I missed it, I don't always try to catch up.  Are they not hatching at all?

More eggs in an incubator ... Lol

 

[mlm Mike]

I have three chicks out this morning!

I didn't see any other pips, yet.

 

[ocap]

eight hatched 7:00 am local time will give final number on Monday at noon.

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote: Eggs just keep filling michaelf's incubator......he claims the easter bunny or some magic is causing it to happen!

Ahhhh...... I see..........Glad it's nothing weird.

 

[pickitfarm]

Well, my second chick hatched - with assistance. It is obvious now why it couldn't do it on its own. It has a severe cross beak, and was badly positioned. I'm surprised it managed to pip into the air sac. It also only has one eye- the head is greatly misshapen. If it didn't have the cross beak, I would see how it managed. But it won't be able to eat, so I'll have my husband euthanize it when he gets home tomorrow.

I'm really sad - about this chick, and because I only have 1 healthy chick out of 30 eggs.

So my hatch came down to this:
30 eggs set with terrible air cells. Most did not develop. Nine had some development, but quit before day 10. Two went to lock down under a broody.

1 healthy chick.

I never want to hatch shipped eggs again.

I felt this way last year after three failed hatches. But after reading alot of advice from this site I have learned several things.

1. Ask the shipper how they package and don't be afraid to give them direction if the packaging is less then desirable.
2. A good seller will tell you how old the eggs will be when they are shipped.
3. Let all eggs come to room temperature before placing in an incubator
4. I do not start turning shipped eggs until the second or third day in the incubator just to give the air cell time to reattach

Before last year I had no idea about any of this information and gathered it only after having failed hatches. I also prefer to purchase eggs from BYC members because so many will comment on the success of sellers eggs which is helpful.

 

[uphilljill]

Most of my chicks are out (just 3 more still working at it.) I have four 3 week old chicks from an earlier hatch that were being pushed around a bit by their hatch mates, so I put them in with the newly hatched chicks to see what would happen and they love them! So sweet.

 

[SoManyHats]

QUESTION...Not screaming, just need to make sure it's seen in all this wonderful avalanche of pip, zip, and chick reports.

I have chicks that hatched Monday in the brooder. My one HAL chick hatched Thursday, and is with broody mama. I moved them to a larger pen this morning, and she still has golf balls she's sitting on. My question is - if I give her the nine chicks I have in the brooder tonight, will she accept them, or are they too old at this point? Thanks!!

 

[MightyDucksVT]

Today at 8:06 EST my first Ancona duckling hatched!

This was my first time incubating and just to have one I consider to be a HUGE success!

But hey, all 6 of the others pipped too...so they're may be even more in store.