The 7th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long!

[akaruby]

Final hatch count - 4 out of 6 that went into lockdown. Two isbars and two chocolate green eggers.

 

[Penny Hen]

Well I am not expecting the remaining quail eggs to hatch. I am still waiting to see about the 3 chicken eggs to see if they will hatch between now and the 1st. After that I am breaking down the bator and cleaning it and installing a second fan that will only kick in if the temperature starts to spike. Then either the 2nd or 3rd week of April I will set more quail eggs and some Silkie and maybe some Bantam SP Wyandottes.

So at least for the quail that brings me to 46 out of 109 that hatched. Two were even ones that I had to paint with fingernail polish on the cracks.

So my wild experiment with my injured hen seems to be working. I have three quail chicks in with her and this morning she ate some food. She didn't eat at all yesterday. She is letting them cuddle up under her feathers and occasionally making little noises to them. So does this mean I could enter her in the broody hen and chicks contest?

 

[RattleCan]

I see I'm super far behind in posts. It's day 22.5 here and I'm afraid to call it since I woke up to another chick and two more pips. Both pips have hatched now, but I'm afraid the second I say the hatch is over the remainder will start popping out

Of the 30 eggs that went into lockdown, 26 have hatched (the most recent did require assistance, it was zipping upside down on the bottom of the egg and was taking so long to hatch that egg gunk was drying to it and it couldn't keep wiggling around). The remaining 4 eggs (including the one I called iffy prior to lockdown) haven't pipped at all. I'm not sure if the incubator ran a tad cool or what since many have been hatching late. The bulk of them hatched right at day 21-21.5 and since then it's been one here and there. But for what it's worth, I think it's safe to say I achieved my goal of a 50% hatch rate. Received 41 eggs, 35 were fertile, 33 developed, 30 went into lockdown, 26 hatched. 26/35 (not counting infertile eggs) puts me at nearly 75% success!

I've already had a little photoshoot with most of the babies, just not the ones that hatched this morning. I'm taking pictures of every individual chick and I will TRY to tell them apart so that I can take adult pictures and compare what each chick turns into (There's such an extreme variation of color with these EE/OE chicks but several are solid white and a few are super black so I'm not sure I'll be able to link chick to teenager when they start feathering out.).

Here's a quick group shot of everyone who was out last night. I'll make a compilation picture of each individual baby once the newest ones dry off.

 

[Razadia]

I'm really sorry to hear it's one of your Chanteclers!

I'm the other side of the coin and I realize what I'm going to say is harsh, but I'm just putting it out there anyway for everyone to think about.
(And even when I told myself no more early am posting

)

I have a line of 10 (originally 11; 6 hens, 5 roosters) Silkie crosses that we got as week old chicks from one farm. I had one chick show a tilted head late last summer. I did get chicky vitamins from the vet but before I gave them the tilted head disappeared.

Fast forward to December, I think that's when I mentioned the wry neck Silkie X rooster I had. He'd respond to larger doses of vitamins, but would regress if put back into general population. He lost weight, continued regressing and I finally put him down when it was clear he wasn't getting any better. I had one chick from one of the Silkie cross females (sister sibling) hatch in the NYE HAL that showed wry neck. (I put it down) I now have two Silkie cross roosters showing clear signs of wry neck after being stressed when I had them penned separately in a smaller coop by themselves before we got the coop renovations done.

So as I suspected in December, I would consider these Silkies to have a heritable genetic defect, possibly with in the utilization of vitamins/minerals which predisposes them to getting wry neck. I've been reading as much as I can about wry neck; I don't have any evidence of injury or otherwise. I don't believe they have vaulted skulls...they're crossed birds and not bred for the poof.
I also have 4 purebred non-related Silkies who have not shown anything.

Anyone who has followed the HALS since December has read that I have not given my birds a balanced diet this winter. Every other bird has performed beautifully, which is what I want to see. My roosters maintained great fertility. The hens began laying young (5 months, both EE's & OEGBs) and the older girls through molt, with only short amounts of daylight on an unbalanced diet when I didn't even want them laying...lol. The chickens haven't eaten each other or developed any other problems...other than these Silkie x's who were showing signs when they were on a balanced diet last year.

If you are a breeder, even though you may feed a balanced diet...the people you sell chicks to may not feed a balanced diet. The very last thing you want is people having issues with your chicks if problems show up down the road.

A quick story: I cannot convey to you as a livestock breeder how many people keep progeny from animals who have problems, like vaginal prolapse (a heritable trait.) I've been a breeder of Katahdin sheep for 16 years and I've had extensive experience correcting (culling) other breeders very poor choices in keeping stock. I started with 4 unrelated lines; one line of females (IGB), 4 out of 10 females prolapsed. The females from the other 3 lines did not prolapse at all. I took the entire IGB line of females, plus the ram I never got to use, out of purebred production and raised slaughter stock lambs only that were shipped straight to slaughter. I had another "breeder" contact me to buy this line of females because she wanted to outcross with another sheep breed. Of course I refused as any reputable breeder would. A neighbor of ours purchased about 20 females from this breeder 3 years down the road and ended up giving everything away because EVERY female prolapsed. I've corrected prolapsing with calcium/vitamin injections (helps with muscle tone/strength) if a ewe has issues with prolapsing. But that female is no good to me as a breeding animal if she can't properly utilize what she needs on her own.

My idea is cull the problem and you won't have problems.(survival of the fittest genetics) If it's a pet for yourself, it's a different story.
But if this chick wouldn't survive without your help, it probably shouldn't survive to carry on those genetics. There are exceptions of course.

But this is just food for thought.

(And I don't mean to sound SO serious...lol)

It's something I've thought about, but at this point I'm not sure what I'm going to do aside from treating it for wry neck. I'll probably mark it and keep an eye on it to see how things go. I don't really like the idea of culling it.

Been very busy had a colt born unfortunately mare didn't make it. I was shocked to no end. I was out there checking on the mare at 3 AM she was cleaning up the last of her dinner.
At foxtime (sunrise) 630 am 7 am some where just light enough to see. The other mares were up waiting for me as they normally are.
I glanced out in the pasture 1/2 way out I saw her laying out there Lifeless. Took a deep breath and walked out there. She was gone. but she had the foal but the foal wasn't there either. I found all the after birth but no foal. My fences are all wire and panels I am trying to figure this out. Walk that pasture 3 times. No baby.
went back to house to get something to cover the mare up . had a cup of coffee and a phone call. Totally puzzled.
Started feeding my chicken when I thought I saw that dread fox out behind the shed on the opposite side of the field. Another mare was watching very carefully. I thought the horses aren't afraid of Mr Fox. What over there.
I walked over there that colt was inside a fence area around the pump behind the shed. There is about a 1 foot space there. How he got in there I have no idea. Totally Totally a nightmare.
He is fine No cuts or bruises.
Lots of sleepless nights, and hours trying to keep him alive.
just came in from feeding 3 AM meal. He almost has the bucket training down..
checked incubators another turkey pipping and some eggs.....Lots of unfirtile eggs. Especially the wheaten marans.








Picture chicks and turkeys later today

He's gorgeous! I'm so sorry you lost the mare.

Raz, see here:
http://www.theeggfarm.com/blog/2011/11/02/wry-neck-in-baby-chick-video/

Thanks Chooks!

 

[The Cottages]

Our hatch has started!!! 1 of 7 in our small bator. and 3 of 13 in the large one.. FUN!

 

[Razadia]

Quote: It didn't. It was fine for most of the day before this happened.

 

[Madonna m]

I actually have two pips. Can hardly believe it. Thought for sure that l would not have any. Hope they get out of the shell ok. Only12 more to go. On day 21......
Got to get out. Not going to touch#####

 

[Cynthia12]

Our hatch has started!!! 1 of 7 in our small bator. and 3 of 13 in the large one.. FUN!

Aww, love the photos. I love old folks, have worked in a Nursing Home, and Assisted Living. This is great.

 

[Cynthia12]

Now that that disaster has a bandaid fix.

I have noticed a have a chick that seems to favor looking at the sky...
Do I need to do something for it? (I don't have any chick vitamins) I'm a newbie... And all stores are closed today due to easter...

http://www.theeggfarm.com/blog/2011/11/02/wry-neck-in-baby-chick-video/

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

All done.

FINAL COUNT:

Originally set 8 Cream Legbar eggs from my own birds on March 5.
One clear/infertile, taken out day 10
Seven went into lockdown
Six hatched (two boys, four girls), one DIS. All chicks doing well (and being adorable). BEST EASTER EVER!!!!

Happy Easter, everyone!!!!!

@mlm Mike @Sally Sunshine

- Ant Farm