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

[JoyfulPromise]

Oooh!!! All these cute chickie pictures are making me SO impatient to start my own hatch!!!

I am SUPER EGG-cited to start collecting eggs for the Hatch-a-long this week!!!!

I do have some sort-of good news... today I discovered the FIRST BROODY OF 2014!!!

The reason it is "sort-of good news" is that the broody is my tiny 1.3lb game bantam mix hen! I have been told no more banties right now, and little Ruthie could cover MAYBE 3 LF eggs!

Oh well, I might give her a few anyway, and hopefully some of my larger broodies will get going in the next week or two. I will be setting a styro-bator full of eggs anyway on the 29th, and if some broodies start a bit late, I will share out some of the eggs to them to finish up.

LOVE the pics of little Oomoo the EMU!!!

He is DARLING!!! Can't wait to watch his brother or sister hatch soon!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote:
Did you notice which end was up in your shipment?

 

[SilkieSensation]

Wow, look at all of those babies! Am I seeing some blues?

None from this batch but 2 in the last batch were blue.

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote:
Silkie...do you ship calls differently from other eggs?

 

[PAchickenlover]

Thanks for the suggestions. The chick was separated first then I washed it up a bit, dried gently with paper towel,applied blu-cote, gave it a water bottle with one of the water bottle waterers on it and a small bowl of food. Put some wire over the top to make sure the others stay out. It is in a clear container so it can see the others and won't freak out from being alone. I did put vitamins in the water. The chick looks relatively good considering. I have seen chickens survive horrendous injuries before, I just hope this little one has the strength to do it.

 

[bantambury]

Thanks for the suggestions. The chick was separated first then I washed it up a bit, dried gently with paper towel,applied blu-cote, gave it a water bottle with one of the water bottle waterers on it and a small bowl of food. Put some wire over the top to make sure the others stay out. It is in a clear container so it can see the others and won't freak out from being alone. I did put vitamins in the water. The chick looks relatively good considering. I have seen chickens survive horrendous injuries before, I just hope this little one has the strength to do it.

that's good he seems to be doing better! when I hatched for new years I had a Japanese that just hatched and my sexlink thought it was funny to peck his belly and make it bleed. NOT FUNNY!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Thanks for the suggestions. The chick was separated first then I washed it up a bit, dried gently with paper towel,applied blu-cote, gave it a water bottle with one of the water bottle waterers on it and a small bowl of food. Put some wire over the top to make sure the others stay out. It is in a clear container so it can see the others and won't freak out from being alone. I did put vitamins in the water. The chick looks relatively good considering. I have seen chickens survive horrendous injuries before, I just hope this little one has the strength to do it.

Your chick looks strong, so that is good. I've hatched some like that and they were not strong, I've lost one or two that ruptured their sacs. You are doing fine with your chick.

Kleenex boxes come in really handy for instances like this. They can be in the brooder, but separated from the others. Cut the top off and you have a mini brooder.

 

[TJChickens]

Did you notice which end was up in your shipment?

They seemed packed well enough....I ship a lot of eggs and am very particular. They were big end up in an egg carton with shavings. This was in the middle of packing peanuts. The box was not damaged at all and got here to Ca from NC in just two days....Of course they may have ridden and jiggled all the way here in an upside down box...

 

[bantambury]

@Gardeningmama
weird to ask, but do you change your font color every time you type, or do you have it set in your settings that way? I want to start changing my color that way I know where all my posts are, so when I see that color I know its me

 

[Cynthia12]

Very excited to be doing this! It will be our first try with the incubator. For sure we will have a dozen Welsummer eggs. Still don't know what else will go in the incubator, but hoping to finalize plans in the next few days.