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

[LBKS]

OK, I will never ever say the B word again without understanding the consequences. Please learn from my mistake

Today?! The four sitting on eggs like the other day plus: one more in the nest next to them, one in the favorite nesting spot on the ground by the door, and one on the other nesting spot on the floor in the back corner. That's about 1 of every five girls in that divided coop on a nest. While I was feeding them the lone bantam feed store hen, Houdini, snuck up onto Broodhilda's nest and tried to cover her 6 eggs (she was too small to fully manage it). Broodhilda kicked her off when she got back, but not without some effort. After getting everyone to hop down for scratch, ALL of them went back to their nests, except Houdini who didn't actually have a nest of her own. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, how can so many of them do that at once?!

I suspect I have so many...sitters...because 25% of all the other hens are likely to be Broodhilda's daughters. Those that aren't are daughters of the 3 other ladies last year that weren't such dedicated mothers but did try to incubate some eggs. Who knows how many plan to actually sit long term. Surprisingly they weren't known to be ...hatching inclined... by their former owner, so I wonder if it just happens to be a perfect match of my cooler climate to these ladies.

I may have to find a way to fit a few cheap eggs into my budget to have something more than a token amount of eggs for the HAL - between the ...girls.... and the ones going out this week I will likely have few from my flock.

I blame the weird weather this year. Warms up then snows over and over again.

 

[Happy Chooks]

OH HAPPY CHOOKS! I NEED EGGS FROM YOU! your Barnevelders are gorgeous! are they show quality!?!?! I may consider eggs if you sell them......

I'm hatching out some to make sure fertility is good and then I'll have eggs available. I also have a blue male in the flock right now, which is not a color that is recognized yet. I will hopefully show some of them this year and see if they are show quality. I think they are, but I'll leave that decision to the judges.

I'm trying to get my "eggs in a row" before next Saturday's set date. Will be my first time incubating ~ SO excited!! Anyway - I'm wondering what everyone uses for a candler? Any good LED flashlight recommendations??

The first time incubating is the most exciting, and the most nerve wracking! If the eggs are dark, you'll need a super bright LED. If they are white, you can see into them with virtually any flashlight.

gorgeous!!!! thanks so much for making me want some now!!! absolutely perfect!

Thank you! Barnies are great birds!

Oh BTW, I set duck eggs today.

A few 3 day old serama chicks from HarmonyAnn our daughters frizzle project birds! I am so in love with a few of them, already see three frizzles!

What little cuties!

Got another Faverolle egg, that one's for the incubator too! How precious. Can't wait!

Faverolles are beautiful.

Good Morning all - Friday I got within a hundred or so posts of being caught up, and for some reason thought I would actually be able to get caught up and keep up yesterday. I was sadly mistaken. Had a busy day, sold some chicks, talked with some new chicken owners about basic care and feeding, welcomed them to the world of chickens (poor, unsuspecting souls!), did chores, and ran out of day! It's okay, it's a good kind of busy

Anyway, I had a nice Bantam Surprise hatch and we took pics of a few of the chicks, which I wanted to share. They come from a mixed bantam flock of Cochins, D'Uccles, Dutch, and Mille Fleur (and honestly I thought she meant Mille Fleur D'Uccle but she says two different breeds? Don't know - all I know is these chicks are freaking adorable). Last pic is a Silkie hatched from my own flock.

They are adorable, congrats!

A couple pictures of my HRIR chicks I hatched a roo and pullet . They are feathering out nicely!

They are feathering in nicely! Such beautiful birds.

Happy Sunday Morning All !

All 6 of my Spitzhauben hatched on days 20 and 21. Today is day 22 and I am still waiting on my 6 CL , 1 CL chick just hatched just as I was typing this(a roo) and 3 other CL eggs have been pipped since yesterday. I believe one may have died after it pipped

. I really hope the others hatch.

Congrats on the Spitzhauben's! Good luck with the CL's!

Well my chick that was hurt made it through the night!

Great news!

Cute picture, and thank you, Cynthia12! I've actually been on BYC for a while--it's how I've learned almost everything I know about chickens because when we started two years ago, we had them in our backyard in a historic downtown area--no one else to learn from! We've graduated and now we live on a farm with 5 acres, we bought a used Joel Salatin-type egg mobile to move around our pasture, and we are excited to be filling it! I now know I'll be hatching a dozen Welsummers and a dozen Olive Eggers (Ameraucana/Marans cross). So excited!

Yay! The world needs more wellies!

Very nice!

. Barnies are high up on my wish list. Still hard to find tho. How big is your flock? Please post pics of the chicks when they hatch.

I have 2 standard males and a blue male and 6 standard hens right now. (there are more hens in the flock, but not barnies) Here are some pictures of the hens.

Ill get some pics of the Spitz later today if I can find the right lighting. They are so cute.

Here is a few from this morning.

What a little cutie!

I finally got around to taking pictures of my BO chicks that hatched this week. You can see they are getting wing feathers. They love to sit and sleep and poop in their food dish. DH came up to pick them up and take back to the farm in SC. He brought a feeder and water container. They figured out the feeder but still prefer the cat food tins for water.

They are beautiful.

I would like the join the hatch-a-long!!! Going to be hatching chicken eggs with my brinsea incubator! i am so excited

Welcome!

 

[Christabelle]

Got this from another thread. Yep.

People really give chicks to kids for Easter? How have I gone my whole life not knowing that? I thought those marshmallow peeps were as far as that got. What a horrible idea!

 

[Happy Chooks]

OK, I will never ever say the B word again without understanding the consequences. Please learn from my mistake

Today?! The four sitting on eggs like the other day plus: one more in the nest next to them, one in the favorite nesting spot on the ground by the door, and one on the other nesting spot on the floor in the back corner. That's about 1 of every five girls in that divided coop on a nest. While I was feeding them the lone bantam feed store hen, Houdini, snuck up onto Broodhilda's nest and tried to cover her 6 eggs (she was too small to fully manage it). Broodhilda kicked her off when she got back, but not without some effort. After getting everyone to hop down for scratch, ALL of them went back to their nests, except Houdini who didn't actually have a nest of her own. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, how can so many of them do that at once?!

I suspect I have so many...sitters...because 25% of all the other hens are likely to be Broodhilda's daughters. Those that aren't are daughters of the 3 other ladies last year that weren't such dedicated mothers but did try to incubate some eggs. Who knows how many plan to actually sit long term. Surprisingly they weren't known to be ...hatching inclined... by their former owner, so I wonder if it just happens to be a perfect match of my cooler climate to these ladies.

I may have to find a way to fit a few cheap eggs into my budget to have something more than a token amount of eggs for the HAL - between the ...girls.... and the ones going out this week I will likely have few from my flock.

I blame the weird weather this year. Warms up then snows over and over again.

It's contagious! I still have 2 that are plucking their breasts, but no B from them yet.

 

[Happy Chooks]

People really give chicks to kids for Easter? How have I gone my whole life not knowing that? I thought those marshmallow peeps were as far as that got. What a horrible idea!

Yes, Easter chicks, ducklings and bunnies. Many are abandoned once they grow out of the "cute" phase.

 

[Christabelle]

Yes, Easter chicks, ducklings and bunnies.  Many are abandoned once they grow out of the "cute" phase.

That's just crazy! Thanks! My kids help me with my chicks, but we all find the chick stage a nuisance (cute nuisance), I can't wait for them to feather out and be big friendly chickens. I shall be careful now of anyone wanting chicks around Easter

 

[PAchickenlover]

Well if you can believe it.... At a local auction.. Fell in love instantly.. So tiny yet majestic! Our kids fell in love too. Sad that we only have the one now..

they are incredibly majestic for their size....and definitely tell who is bossman! Cadbury hates my brother and will flog him if he steps in the coop. I bend down and Cadbury just sits there waiting for me to lift him up like a statue. my sister claims she dislikes his attitude, and when my mom tries to be nice and friendly, he runs away! he is such a mamas boy! guess that's what I get for picking favorites as chicks! he is definitely pampered! comes inside and sits on my floor all proud....he gets special seeds all the time, and decides to share them with his ladies....he started choking on one and was coughing and choked it up and the seed landed on marshie's back, all slimy and gross. LOL made me crack up!

(see why I named him Cadbury!?!?! Jap chicks are my top fav!) these are all pics from all ages. the necklace one is my fav!

Nice pics! certainly can tell he is a spoiled boy. Lol But hey that's a good thing! I just have to find someone with these birds from around here. Someone has them or they wouldn't have been at the auction. Just have to do more searching. Thanks for sharing your Cadburry with us!

 

[melina90]

The little zipper laundry bags, plastic fruit or veggie containers or even panty hose can be used to separate special eggs during hatch. Then colored zipties or even a dot of nail polish on top of the head works to mark chicks until they feather in.

Thanks for the tip! I may have to og through my plastic garbage now to save some frukt containers

Ill get some pics of the Spitz later today if I can find the right lighting. They are so cute. Here is a few from this morning.

That's adorable!

They are a beautiful mix of eggs.

Thanks! I can't stop looking at them. If I didnt have BYC to rant about it I'd be tossed in the looney-bin by hatch day

I finally got around to taking pictures of my BO chicks that hatched this week. You can see they are getting wing feathers. They love to sit and sleep and poop in their food dish. DH came up to pick them up and take back to the farm in SC. He brought a feeder and water container. They figured out the feeder but still prefer the cat food tins for water.

Love BO chickies! I think i'll have to incubate some from my own flock this year too. They're so sweet and docile, and wonderful for the kids to handle (closely supervised obviously).

It is great to have you with is all the way from Norway! Official members are plus or minus two days from the set date for the type of poultry you are hatching. Ducks, turkeys and other poultry that had a set day of the 22nd would count. You can still hatch with us and most of the contests are open to all BYC Members. [IMG]http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s38/smilies-3435.png[/IMG]

Thankyou! I thought all of the contests were for US members only, but I might have to check them out now I really need a place to vent and talk about my chickens, since noen of my friends are interested. At least not beyond the "do you really eat those eggs, that's gross" stage :/

OK, I will never ever say the B word again without understanding the consequences. Please learn from my mistake Today?! The four sitting on eggs like the other day plus: one more in the nest next to them, one in the favorite nesting spot on the ground by the door, and one on the other nesting spot on the floor in the back corner. That's about 1 of every five girls in that divided coop on a nest. While I was feeding them the lone bantam feed store hen, Houdini, snuck up onto Broodhilda's nest and tried to cover her 6 eggs (she was too small to fully manage it). Broodhilda kicked her off when she got back, but not without some effort. After getting everyone to hop down for scratch, ALL of them went back to their nests, except Houdini who didn't actually have a nest of her own. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, how can so many of them do that at once?! I suspect I have so many...sitters...because 25% of all the other hens are likely to be Broodhilda's daughters. Those that aren't are daughters of the 3 other ladies last year that weren't such dedicated mothers but did try to incubate some eggs. Who knows how many plan to actually sit long term. Surprisingly they weren't known to be ...hatching inclined... by their former owner, so I wonder if it just happens to be a perfect match of my cooler climate to these ladies. I may have to find a way to fit a few cheap eggs into my budget to have something more than a token amount of eggs for the HAL - between the ...girls.... and the ones going out this week I will likely have few from my flock. I blame the weird weather this year. Warms up then snows over and over again.

Hahaha, this had my laughing out loud. I feel ya tho, my girls have a tendency to get B whenever it's NOT a good time too. And when I'm done gathering eggs looking for a broody hen to stick them under, they're all busy laying and acts like freaking production hens. Never goes wrong, haha. I'll keep saying the B-Word around them now, maybe I won't have to use the incubator after all if it works, haha. Was really hoping for some broodies to raise the nuggets for me, but kinda gave up on that since they won't ever go broody when I need them to

 

[ronott1]

Thankyou! I thought all of the contests were for US members only, but I might have to check them out now

I really need a place to vent and talk about my c

That is likely true!

Eggs can't ship world wide but I bet you could win a Membership award! or something that does not involve shipping.

I do not make the rules though.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Tomorrow is set day for Call Ducks!​