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

[ronott1]

just a thought could this egg be fertile

It does not look like the egg is developing.

 

[Pozees]

I have been hatching Silkies over a year, and they are often more fragile, especially shipped eggs. They need to have very stable temps and humidity for lockdown, and I have had a few get stuck, about 50% survive and thrive once helped after stuck. I will say, if they hatch on their own, they usually do very well after hatch. I've lost only one to Marek's at 3 months of age, and a couple have died I believe due to sudden cardiac arrest at around 9-10 months of age. Nothing wrong at wakeup, a few hours later they are just dead. No trauma, no weight loss, just sudden death. Hatch rates can be really low on shipped eggs, so you will be happier if you set a couple of dozen, or find them locally. If you find local eggs, you should still transport as if they were being shipped - wrap in bubble wrap and tape them into a carton, or better yet, put the wrapped eggs into a box of packing peanuts.

 

[Quailsong]

Some of the power/water bills mentioned are very high!

We were hit with a $620ish bill in mid-January. Partly because our house is HUGE (at least, for us; 14 rooms) with many windows & most of the heaters are very old. We've also a lot of piping running through the floor, so it's tough to just keep one room with temp off when it may burst a pipe. No gas here, but we do have a wood stove in the basement & went through 2 cords of purchased wood in the first couple months of winter.

Now we don't need the heat on for Spring but I've got grow lights, incubator, etc taking up the juice - so a $300 every month is what we'll have to expect. :/

 

[FarmGirl9494]

One of my Calls quit probably yesterday. I eggtopsied, which really ticked me off that it was soo cute.Teensy, black with a solid white neck ring and belly. Quite intimidating that it was so tiny and lockdown is on Tuesday for them. Very scary!

I know how you feel! I had a male blue bibbed call hatch out last year! my first ever freak blue gene bib and his brother and sister(I think) who are two blue fawns! don't know how that cross breeding happened since I don't have any blue ducks so don't know where that was from or who either but I am thrilled! I have my pair of blue fawns but no blue bib hens for my sweet hand raised boy! So I go to a sale a few weeks ago and oddly enough there were 4 blue bibs, one pair and then a box of two hens! I had almost bought the two blue bibbed hens for him who were absolutely gorgeous but my mom(being 17 has it's ups and downs) wouldn't let me buy them for 60 so $30 each! so I have been crossing my fingers and waiting for blue bibbed babies from him or someone! I had my first call egg after a month off of their first early laying just after that sale and I put it in the bator and it developed to week 3 and was good on day 21. when I went to put it in lock down last week it had died probably a day after I looked at it on day 21!
eggtopsied it and of course to no surprise it was obviously a tiny cute little baby blue bib with pretty and perfect little markings! even nicer than my boy when he hatched! so that made me sad!

it's always sad to lose them at that stage! it makes me frustrated loosing them the first two weeks but on the last two weeks when they are on their last half of the journey and they all of a sudden die it makes me mad and sad!

But ohhh I know!! it's crazy how much they grow in the last bit of incubation! it makes sense because the first bit is growing all the important organs and body parts and bones then feathers. by that end stage they are growing just by feeding off the yolk since mostly everything has developed! then they suck everything inside their little bellies before hatching too, then they grow just as fast out of the shell as they did in the shell for those past few days! so it does make sense but seeing them sooo tiny so close to hatching is mind boggling and is scary but quite amazing and cool in a scientific biology kind of way!

Crossing my fingers and hoping you have a good hatch on Friday!!

How many eggs do you have going into lock down?

 

[Jeniferl29]

Our power bill is a monthly average and it is $280 a month every month. Our gas bill was $260 during the winter. That is just normal for us. We live in an old farm house. I don't think we have great insulation.

 

[Pyxis]

Just an update! I know that two cochins eggs are coming along - one quit early one. At least two EE eggs are still going, but the third may have quit. So i'm down to five, maybe four, eggs.

 

[Jeniferl29]

What colors are you hatching?

 

[Pyxis]

Cochins? Mille fleur project! The EEs are just grab bag, probably brown

 

[Jeniferl29]

Aw, I love Cochins.

 

[Sphinx]

I'm out of the hatchalong.

I started out with two broodies, so I gave each one 4 eggs. Less 24 hours into it, the one quit, and sometime in that time frame, the remaining broody switched clutches. So all 8 eggs were started. I stuck all 8 under her, but I think that was too much for a silkie. I candled a few days ago, and it looked like 3 were good, and the rest were questionable. I should've gone with my gut and tossed all but those three confirmed good ones. It was a tough judgment call because they are fbcm, and are hard to candle even under the best of circumstances.

I candled everything tonight and they're all dead.

I figure I'll go to a feed store on Monday and buy her a couple chicks.

So, my tally is 0/8.