The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[emvickrey]

Ha! Of course!

I think they do that just to get outta laying!

They are my fiestiest hens too. My other hens when I check under them for eggs they just fake at pecking me. The silver partridge really get angry. They have drawn blood before. I don't back off when they do it is why they make me bleed from time to time. The roo got very aggressive with me this winter and I had to teach him a lesson in humiliation. No harm done just paraded around with him in my arms in front of the other chickens. That usually does the trick. They are so easy to catch when they try to spur. Just grab them while they are in mid air. It s so funny to see their reaction when they realize they've been caught. lol

 

[Ravynscroft]

They are my fiestiest hens too. My other hens when I check under them for eggs they just fake at pecking me. The silver partridge really get angry. They have drawn blood before. I don't back off when they do it is why they make me bleed from time to time. The roo got very aggressive with me this winter and I had to teach him a lesson in humiliation. No harm done just paraded around with him in my arms in front of the other chickens. That usually does the trick. They are so easy to catch when they try to spur. Just grab them while they are in mid air. It s so funny to see their reaction when they realize they've been caught. lol

Love the broody, but not the blood, lol... I had my black Silkie roo with the leakage get aggressive once last month... he didn't try spurring tho, he caught the side of my hand in his beak and started shaking it around like he was a rottweiler... I pinned him and was trying to pick him up when 2 of my juvie OEGB males took exception to his attack and jumped pens to 'defend' me, lol... nobody got hurt, Silkie has too much fluff for the little guys and the littles moved too quick for the Silkie, but he hasn't tried that since... I make a point to pick him up each day now, and as soon as I touch him, he stands like a statue and lets me handle him without any aggression anymore...

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Have you got that darn cough too?  I've been miserable for about a week now..come Fri.  I do ok in the day, I do cough, but nights are so scary.  I cough so hard it's unreal.  This has got to stop soon, right? 
I am glad you are feeling better enough to come on.  I come and go, come and go. 

In the UK they coined it "the hundred day cough". The first week is the worst, and the nights are awful. It clings, so you will feel crummy for a few weeks, but will at least be functional after that first week is over!

 

[NikkiCole5]

In the UK they coined it "the hundred day cough". The first week is the worst, and the nights are awful. It clings, so you will feel crummy for a few weeks, but will at least be functional after that first week is over!

Haha love it, my family had/has it too

 

[dheltzel]

wish my marans would hatch that good. I had a lot of chicks not get out of shell. whats your method of hatching on them ? My wheaten marans hatch pretty good but the blue and blacks not so well. The mebrain is so thick they just dont seem to get out

I incubate and hatch everything according to Kevin Porter's "turkey hatching tips". You can find it here: http://www.porterturkeys.com/egghatchingtips.htm
Basically, I use a separate hatcher (a large cooler I equipped with a digital thermostat) and try to get the RH to 80% or higher for the hatch. I still get a few stuck chicks, mostly toward the end and those chicks are weaker and only survive some of the time.

I'm beginning to think genetic weakness is the cause of a lot of my remaining problems (now that it has warmed and extreme cold is not a problem). I have a bunch of Welsummer hens, almost all sisters. The "pure" eggs (Welsummer roo) hatch a full day later than the ones with a CCL roo (Olive Eggers). The Marans are even later, so I have started setting the Marans a day earlier than the other breeds, now they hatch with the other chicks. I used to think the dark eggs just took longer, sort of like bantams often hatch a day early, but the Olive Eggers from the WS prove that theory wrong.

I should find a BCM breeder with a different line and exchange some eggs maybe, to invigorate next year's hatches.

 

[chicken pickin]

Ok Im calling it done...

FINAL HATCH COUNT = 32

 

[chickadoodles]

Ok Im calling it done...

FINAL HATCH COUNT = 32

Congratulations!

 

[chicken pickin]

Congratulations!

Thanks! They are super cute!

But it was a horrible hatch, incubators were running too cool I had a lot of late quitters, I set 72 eggs and only got 32 chicks. I am very happy with 32 chicks but bummed about the rest

 

[chicken pickin]

Here are a few pics of some of the chicks I hatched

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: I am happy your hatched for you!

I had a similar problem. I moved my bators to a back room and they quit hatching. I did get 5 EE's to hatch but that was it. I had to throw out a dozen and a half eggs. And set my hatches back a week at least on both bators. So I am held up waiting. I have been candling and I think the rest of my eggs are good. But I won't have any to hatch till around the 22 now.