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

[Chickenluver106]

I mean this is my first one but I already love this

 

[nate1the1great1]

I second MHP. fantastic set up!!!

Really??? Wow, I just assumed it was the same as chickens and thinking i could get 6 ducks! What the heck NH is a nice place though

I am in Colorado and that's how the 2 we have in this state are.

 

[GitaBooks]

Hello Everyone!

We are back to hatch at our Assisted Living Senior Living! This year we have moved to the Cottages which is a Assisted Living and Memory Care, in northeast Wisconsin. We will be setting 24 eggs total at two different locations with 85 Seniors enjoying the experience. My name is Phil, and you may know me as "Ridgeline Hens" So Glad to be apart of the bigger picture!

Awesome! Watching those chicks hatch sounds like so much fun!

You come up with the cutest names! And, you are a great chicken mom..or dad...which are you? lol...

Have to ask, what did the nurse and doc say when they saw that you have baby chicks..or didn't they know?

I'm a chicken momma.

We were actually at the counselors, so they were okay with some chicks being there. It would have been interesting to be getting a doctors check with chicks ("Yeah, doctor, I seem to be pregnant. And the baby keeps cheeping).

Both those babies strengthened really well and are both with their mothers now. Coulsen is still a little toddling on his feet, but at least he can move and lift his head, which is very different then when he could barley move. While in the car (I had them with me for about five hours during the trip) I mixed some cheerios into water and sweetened it, then offered it to the chick. I think that helped to strengthen it up. I didn't have anything else to offer.

My incubator should arrive between the 4 and 9 of march when should I order my eggs?

Right now!

They are going to pay for replacement eggs. It's just heartbreaking because I was attached to those babies and now I have to start all over

I'm trying not to be angry with them for being irresponsible with their dogs but it's hard.

Yeah.... we just lost one of our chicks to our own dog. I'm broken hearted and kind of depressed. I lost three chicks today and I held each one, seeing the life leave them. The first two I flushed down the toilet but with the last I just couldn't do it. I couldn't just dump it like that. I carried it gently outside and showed its mother, so she would know it wouldn't be returning (sometimes I take chicks for a few hours and return them). I then buried it under a tree in the field. It was one of my favorites too, Snart.

Now. I just ordered some this morning.

Getting more EE eggs from a gal that I have bought from before. Her EE's are darling. Here is a photo of one of them..I just had to get more eggs. I shared a lot of the ones that hatched last yr.



Plus I'm getting some Silkie eggs from a close by town... no shipping! Yaay, first time I've bought from him. Will get those and set those on the 5th.

Whoa! Awesome EE! I love Easter Eggers so much!

Turkeys didn't cooperate again this year.

But have up to 2 dozen welsummer eggs that should be here by fri.

So I will be able to set eggs.

Welsummers are awesome too!

My broody Australorp (Betty) hard at work on day 16 with a dozen under her.


And a few of my other girls making eggs this am.

That is one protective momma hen.

Congrats.

Alright guys, I need some help. The eggs have arrived and... not gonna lie. After the last two batches of eggs that I hatched, I thought I knew what I was looking at when candling. But apparently I don't.

I'm assessing the quality of the air cells. Almost every single one of these eggs has a loose air bubble that moves when I rotate the egg. This is a rolling air cell, correct? It's just that, in some of the eggs, there's a darker area that doesn't move when you rotate the egg and, even though the air bubble wants to roll around freely, it won't go past that dark area. And some of those dark areas look like the saddle shaped air cells in Sally Sunshine's earlier post about shipped eggs. So is that little bubble the air cell, or is it that whole dark area in general? I can try to take pictures if that will help. I just wanted to try the method of outlining the air cells, but I'm not sure what I should outline. Or should I wait to do that until lockdown?

Second, one of the eggs is cracked. Not broken cracked, but definitely has a visual starbust and long hairline cracks coming from it. I've heard you can use candle wax to repair eggs like this, any advice?

Third, a second egg has what looks like cracks, but they're on the inside of the shell. From the outside it looks like a normal egg, but when candled, there's a small starburst and cracks coming from it. Haven't seen anything like that before so not sure if I should do anything about it.

Now, assuming the moving air bubbles are the air cells, I'm going to say they're just about all loose and rolling. I haven't dealt with this before, all of the eggs I hatched in my last two batches never had a freely moving air bubble, so here comes the doubt about me being able to successfully hatch these guys.

I guess I'll let them settle for the few days and set them on Thursday. Sally Sunshine's post says not to turn on the turner for at least 3 days after I start incubating them with loose air cells. Does this still apply if I let them settle for almost 3 days before starting to incubate? Does the air cell eventually settle into place and stop moving? Or will it now be loose until the developing chick essentially forces it to stay near the top of the egg?

Wishing you the best with your eggs.

Thanks but I'll wait. I'll be good. I can still cheer you all on

They're on their way.

Sorry for being a little slow.

Ok so I did set the 12 flea market Cayuga duck eggs last week when I got them so they won't be part of the HAL but 6 eggs are showing veins!

Nice!

I will be setting 18

Awesome!

I'm in! I love hatchalongs

Welcome! So glad you could join!

 

[GitaBooks]

So, just to update. The two chicks I was holding, Agent 13 and Coulsen, slowly strengthened up and are now under their mothers (Coulsen being a bantie is with the other bantie chicks under Princess, the other under Susie). Coulsen turned out to be a blue silkie mix, which means that he must be related to Azul.

However, not all has gone so well. I'm feel a little down in the dumps because I spent all night and morning spending all the energy I could helping these two chicks and when I finally got them outside with their mothers things began to go down-hill. I went to check on the three remaining eggs in the incubator. The one I was pretty sure was dead I opened and found the chick fully formed but drowned. I believe it was upside-down in its shell.
The other had a live chick that had burst free but was gasping and bleeding. It too drowned soon after, even though I tried to help it. The precious thing was named Green Arrow. I tried to bring him back, but it was too late. He too was upside-down in his shell, just as Coulsen had been.

Canary is the last egg to hatch and I think she is side-ways in her shell, so I'm assisting her very carefully. I have a feeling I'll be spending time up awake again tonight. I can't tell if she is ready to hatch or not, even though I can see her belly. Its hard to tell if the yolk is in the belly or outside the belly when looking through a semi-opaque membrane.

Finally, just as I was getting over loosing those two in my hands, having washed their blood off my fingers, my mother comes in and tells me that one of our dogs, who loves chicks but has hunting instincts, found one of Princess's chicks escaping and caught it. He brought it to her and it died in her hands. It was my favorite, little Snart, the strongest and healthiest of all of them. I kept petting him, praying he would just wake up, but he never did. It was terrible. I showed him to his mother so she would know he wasn't coming back, helping to get the other panicked chicks back to her (one was escaped, as it slipped right through the chicken wire, and the other was the weak chick that couldn't keep up with her). I then buried him under a tree out in the field.

I didn't end up helping Buttercream's leg because she is getting around well, even preening herself, and I didn't want to disturb Susie anymore then she was already disturbed. I'll have to work on that tomorrow though.

It feels good to have people who understand, so thanks for listening.

Rest in peace little Snart. Rory's going to miss you.

 

[TJordan]

So, just to update. The two chicks I was holding, Agent 13 and Coulsen, slowly strengthened up and are now under their mothers (Coulsen being a bantie is with the other bantie chicks under Princess, the other under Susie). Coulsen turned out to be a blue silkie mix, which means that he must be related to Azul. However, not all has gone so well. I'm feel a little down in the dumps because I spent all night and morning spending all the energy I could helping these two chicks and when I finally got them outside with their mothers things began to go down-hill. I went to check on the three remaining eggs in the incubator. The one I was pretty sure was dead I opened and found the chick fully formed but drowned. I believe it was upside-down in its shell. The other had a live chick that had burst free but was gasping and bleeding. It too drowned soon after, even though I tried to help it. The precious thing was named Green Arrow. I tried to bring him back, but it was too late. He too was upside-down in his shell, just as Coulsen had been. Canary is the last egg to hatch and I think she is side-ways in her shell, so I'm assisting her very carefully. I have a feeling I'll be spending time up awake again tonight. I can't tell if she is ready to hatch or not, even though I can see her belly. Its hard to tell if the yolk is in the belly or outside the belly when looking through a semi-opaque membrane. Finally, just as I was getting over loosing those two in my hands, having washed their blood off my fingers, my mother comes in and tells me that one of our dogs, who loves chicks but has hunting instincts, found one of Princess's chicks escaping and caught it. He brought it to her and it died in her hands. It was my favorite, little Snart, the strongest and healthiest of all of them. I kept petting him, praying he would just wake up, but he never did. It was terrible. I showed him to his mother so she would know he wasn't coming back, helping to get the other panicked chicks back to her (one was escaped, as it slipped right through the chicken wire, and the other was the weak chick that couldn't keep up with her). I then buried him under a tree out in the field. I didn't end up helping Buttercream's leg because she is getting around well, even preening herself, and I didn't want to disturb Susie anymore then she was already disturbed. I'll have to work on that tomorrow though. It feels good to have people who understand, so thanks for listening. Rest in peace little Snart. Rory's going to miss you.

Rest well little one. This is one BIG reason I use hardware cloth to enclose my newbies. Baby chicks can die so easily. Even if the animal was just playing with them. I'm so sorry.

 

[Mirajane]

I have two shipments of eggs coming to me, one is supposed to come today, and the other on the 2nd. Do we have to set on March 5th to be counted?

 

[Hawk12]

So, just to update. The two chicks I was holding, Agent 13 and Coulsen, slowly strengthened up and are now under their mothers (Coulsen being a bantie is with the other bantie chicks under Princess, the other under Susie). Coulsen turned out to be a blue silkie mix, which means that he must be related to Azul.

However, not all has gone so well. I'm feel a little down in the dumps because I spent all night and morning spending all the energy I could helping these two chicks and when I finally got them outside with their mothers things began to go down-hill. I went to check on the three remaining eggs in the incubator. The one I was pretty sure was dead I opened and found the chick fully formed but drowned. I believe it was upside-down in its shell.
The other had a live chick that had burst free but was gasping and bleeding. It too drowned soon after, even though I tried to help it. The precious thing was named Green Arrow. I tried to bring him back, but it was too late. He too was upside-down in his shell, just as Coulsen had been.

Canary is the last egg to hatch and I think she is side-ways in her shell, so I'm assisting her very carefully. I have a feeling I'll be spending time up awake again tonight. I can't tell if she is ready to hatch or not, even though I can see her belly. Its hard to tell if the yolk is in the belly or outside the belly when looking through a semi-opaque membrane.

Finally, just as I was getting over loosing those two in my hands, having washed their blood off my fingers, my mother comes in and tells me that one of our dogs, who loves chicks but has hunting instincts, found one of Princess's chicks escaping and caught it. He brought it to her and it died in her hands. It was my favorite, little Snart, the strongest and healthiest of all of them. I kept petting him, praying he would just wake up, but he never did. It was terrible. I showed him to his mother so she would know he wasn't coming back, helping to get the other panicked chicks back to her (one was escaped, as it slipped right through the chicken wire, and the other was the weak chick that couldn't keep up with her). I then buried him under a tree out in the field.

I didn't end up helping Buttercream's leg because she is getting around well, even preening herself, and I didn't want to disturb Susie anymore then she was already disturbed. I'll have to work on that tomorrow though.

It feels good to have people who understand, so thanks for listening.

Rest in peace little Snart. Rory's going to miss you.

So sorry

It really is heartbreaking. Just need to focus on the ones that are still alive so we aren't so sad. They do make me smile even after all the ones I lost.

 

[Cynthia12]

I'm in! I love hatchalongs

 

[Cynthia12]

So sorry

It really is heartbreaking. Just need to focus on the ones that are still alive so we aren't so sad. They do make me smile even after all the ones I lost.

Yes, so sorry Gita!

 

[Loc20chick]

So, just to update. The two chicks I was holding, Agent 13 and Coulsen, slowly strengthened up and are now under their mothers (Coulsen being a bantie is with the other bantie chicks under Princess, the other under Susie). Coulsen turned out to be a blue silkie mix, which means that he must be related to Azul. However, not all has gone so well. I'm feel a little down in the dumps because I spent all night and morning spending all the energy I could helping these two chicks and when I finally got them outside with their mothers things began to go down-hill. I went to check on the three remaining eggs in the incubator. The one I was pretty sure was dead I opened and found the chick fully formed but drowned. I believe it was upside-down in its shell. The other had a live chick that had burst free but was gasping and bleeding. It too drowned soon after, even though I tried to help it. The precious thing was named Green Arrow. I tried to bring him back, but it was too late. He too was upside-down in his shell, just as Coulsen had been. Canary is the last egg to hatch and I think she is side-ways in her shell, so I'm assisting her very carefully. I have a feeling I'll be spending time up awake again tonight. I can't tell if she is ready to hatch or not, even though I can see her belly. Its hard to tell if the yolk is in the belly or outside the belly when looking through a semi-opaque membrane. Finally, just as I was getting over loosing those two in my hands, having washed their blood off my fingers, my mother comes in and tells me that one of our dogs, who loves chicks but has hunting instincts, found one of Princess's chicks escaping and caught it. He brought it to her and it died in her hands. It was my favorite, little Snart, the strongest and healthiest of all of them. I kept petting him, praying he would just wake up, but he never did. It was terrible. I showed him to his mother so she would know he wasn't coming back, helping to get the other panicked chicks back to her (one was escaped, as it slipped right through the chicken wire, and the other was the weak chick that couldn't keep up with her). I then buried him under a tree out in the field. I didn't end up helping Buttercream's leg because she is getting around well, even preening herself, and I didn't want to disturb Susie anymore then she was already disturbed. I'll have to work on that tomorrow though. It feels good to have people who understand, so thanks for listening. Rest in peace little Snart. Rory's going to miss you.

So sorry for your loss.