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

[mlm Mike]

Quote: That's awful that there are packs of wild dogs running around places. I had a little Olandsk Dwarf rooster missing, figured he was gone. He showed up a few days later with a pheasant hen. We don't have packs of wild dogs, but there are other predators that could have got him.

 

[ozexpat]

yesterdays hatch



Last weeks hatch



the 3-5 week olds



The 6-9 week olds

 

[Scrambles55]

I would have a bucket of dead sqirrels of I had hunted them to eat. They go in a bucket before processing.

Got it! We don't hunt squirrel, but we would have a bucket of Grouse.

 

[Book]

Beyond the turning issues, I feel like I am in incubator hell! Here is a little video I made as an update:

The crappy singing incubator ------> http://www.littlecrunchy.com/?attachment_id=5204 (does the video work? Can you hear it?)

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: LOL thats about all they are good for!

A week before the hatch-a-long, I had a clutch of eggs already in the incubator. Over the weekend they hatched so here's a couple videos for those waiting on their Easter ones.

Hatching...

All fluffed out...

Chicks are Bantam Silver-Laced Wyandottes. <3

YAY!!!!

They grow fast don't they? Love the dilute orange babies.

X2

Just want to say that next years hatch along will be much bigger for me. I will have 4-5 established flocks. Building their split coop now. It will be a 8'x40' coop split in 3 (13') sections with 13'x45' runs on each. Construction starts tomorrow.



Edited for grammatical error

AWESOME!!!! Thats alot of wood!

Awwwww, I suck.

I was having a bad day and went in tonight to candle one egg, just to see the little thing moving and cheer me up. I dropped it!

It was on a carpeted floor and didn't crack, but clear veins went to vague dark smear and a nice clear air cell is indistinguishable. .

I put it back in the 'bator, just in case, but

I feel so bad, now. Why did I mess with it? I just wanted to see something happy.

We have all done this at some point

its ok and you dont suck promise!

Quote:

Well I candled a few min ago and 2 clear 2 blood rings that quit for sure. 12 that had veining but seem to have blotches and taking up in diff spots in the eggs but couldn't tell for sure as some of the eggs are hard to see in. 20 looking great with movement and great veins.

bummer on the clears and bloods though are these shipped eggs?

Okay so my one batch of eggs wasn't supposed to hatch until Friday, but low and behold look what I found. Poor guy was stuck in the turners because the eggs were not supposed to even go into lockdown until tomorrow. Another of the ducks looks to be hatching so I went and locked down the bator tonight. I've heard of birds hatching early, but this is kind of ridiculous. It's just the ducks though. The turkeys and chicken don't appear to be pipping yet.

ach du gut Thank goodness you found her!

Quote:
From where?

Good morning all!!! I hope you all have a great day!

you too @michaelf

I have 7 eggs with blood rings around them

I think I might throw out the batch and start over

how many good ones? why stop now>?

yesterdays hatch



Last weeks hatch



the 3-5 week olds



The 6-9 week olds

Beyond the turning issues, I feel like I am in incubator hell! Here is a little video I made as an update:

The crappy singing incubator ------> http://www.littlecrunchy.com/?attachment_id=5204 (does the video work? Can you hear it?)

no vid is showing that I can see?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:

hmmm - I wonder if that is part of my hatching issue. Where I live is a mile above sea level. What is the purpose of plugs? Does it hold the air in and create a higher air-pressure for the eggs to increase airflow? My Brinsea didn't have any.

I'm sure it's been answered but the big issue with elevation is oxygen concentration.

http://www.higherpeak.com/altitudechart.html

one thing that could goof my hatch.
My power went out for 4 1/2 hours last night after I just set the eggs a couple days ago of course.

my luck no power outgoes all winter….. get shipped penedesenca eggs and there it goes.

so you think i should add the vent plug back? its running between 45 down to 27% usually before I have to add water. Its in my bathroom .

my largest scare is I have 2 week and 4 week old chicks in my carport outside. Luckily they must of huddled together because they are all alive and running around. I keep blankets over a lot of it at night when they are young

I don't worry about 4 week olds if they have friends. I've had that age chicks escape into the woods at dusk with the temp in the 50s, only to show up in the morning looking for mom.
The 4 1/2 outage shouldn't hurt freshly set eggs.
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

here are some Black Penedesenca eggs I should have Monday
picture my friend sent . Hopefully they are as dark as they look. He says a few are 8/9 on the Maran chart.

You have to let me know the source of those eggs.
The only 2 unrelated hens I have aren't laying dark eggs.

cool. My penedesenca are the same way. I have a good rooster to hen ratio in all my pens

What's your ratio?
This Easter HAL will be the first since all the frostbite.

Went out to the coop to feed and change waters and my d'Uccle roo decided he was going to start being all roo-like and protective of his ladies. Instead of hopping off the top of the waterer like he normally does, he decided to cock-fight me instead. This is the first time I have ever gotten injured from a rooster spur. I now know what it is that people say when they are scared of bantie roos. He was one mean dude!

I find things go much smoother if I remember to move very slowly among them. Predators move fast.

Ok my fellow hatchers, I need advice.

Since I'm hatching so many different types of chicks, I need a way to identify them (with 60 eggs, I won't remember which chick is what breed, etc.) I tried using zip ties last year but I wasn't happy with them...especially when I had to snip them off because of getting tight on chick's leg. So I want to get leg bands, but I don't know if what I want are even made.

I want a type of leg band that will expand as the chick grows so that I don't have to keep changing them. Is anything like this available??

IF NOT, how do I know what size leg bands to buy? When I looked online, they always had sizes, and I have no idea what sizes i would need!

BTW, since at least half of my chicks will be black, I can't use food coloring to put a dot on heads.

TYIA!!!

None of them really grow with the chick.
I use zip ties until they're nearly grown then I switch to numbered bandettes. I change the zip ties when I weigh the birds which is every 2 or 3 weeks.

Its legal here (TN). I have warned my neighbors about their dog multiple times and it went after my fence to get the chickens (shot it in the butt with a bb gun) and it hasnt came back since. but i wouldnt hesitate to protect my babies from it now that i have warned the dog owners and the dog multiple times.

It should be legal most states.
MO just strengthened their law on 'dogs worrying livestock'. You can track a dog that harasses your stock across the state and kill it wherever you find it except in a pen on its owner's property. Not sure how the law meshes with discharging firearm laws.

Someone asked about their thermometers temporarily agreeing and then reading several degrees apart.
It's the response time of the thermometer. Some are instant read, some have a 10 second response time but others take a couple minutes up to 10 minutes to get an accurate reading. In an incubator environment, that spells big differences in readings as the heat element cycles on and off.

 

[Happy Chooks]

The dog pack of 5 is down to a pack of 4. One is running around with a very sore behind. The person at animal protection told him that there is a good chance they won't come back because of negative response they experienced. I am hoping Colonel will have found his way back last night. He loves his ladies and hopefully the other young roo will follow. The problem is there are more than one pack of dogs running around.

I hope the dogs don't come back. And I hope your roosters come home.

I have 7 eggs with blood rings around them

I think I might throw out the batch and start over

Are you positive they have blood rings? Sometimes the veining can appear to be a blood ring? If you aren't sure, leave them!

yesterdays hatch



Last weeks hatch



the 3-5 week olds



The 6-9 week olds

Adorable! Hopefully LOTS more coming soon!

 

[austinbndr28]

I was pretty happy this morning i was eating breakfast then i was going to check my birds, then my great uncle called( he lives closer to my birds he's right next door to my grandfather who's farm i raise my birds on). He said he saw a fox running around with something in it's mouth. My stomach dropped i ran up there with my gun and it was the biggest fox i have ever seen. He killed my tom turkey out of all things i would of rather him kill a chicken instead. Im mad and going to kill it later.

 

[JennaLynn122]

AWESOME!!!!  Thats alot of wood!

It is. That's not even all of it. That load is 110, the other 70 come in in a few days. I'll be documenting this build for sure.

 

[LadyCluck77]

Here are the results of yesterday's hatch using the Brinsea mini advance. Four hatched great, two did not hatch, and one hatched late and weak (is still in the incubator) to make five total.
The freshest of the eggs all hatched the best... or so it seemed. Two did not hatch.