The 8th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!

[lilwildrabbit]

I have taken the motto "If in doubt Don't leave out!" So if I'm not sure that it's not good I will leave it in as long as there are no cracks or seepage, and if I'm worried I use cupcake papers just in case of an explosion I'm thinking about something to separate and protect each individual egg in my home made incubator

 

[katsdar]

I couldn't help myself and candled the eggs. Both of the air sacs have drawn down since Day 18, but I didn't see movement in either egg. There are only two, I started with 3 but one quit last week.

Should I be able to see movement?

no they are getting ready to hatch, just like a child goes quiet before it is born getting ready for the big day lots of work

 

[ellymayRans]

Joining in EHAL again this year! Can't wait!

 

[MsPriss]

I am excited to join this years Easter Hatch-a-long! It is my 1st time incubating and have 25 Blue Andalusian eggs that will be set. Wish me luck!

 

[maddysmamaw]

I am excited to join this years Easter Hatch-a-long! It is my 1st time incubating and have 25 Blue Andalusian eggs that will be set.  Wish me luck!

Good luck! I love blue eggs!

 

[Razadia]

I am excited to join this years Easter Hatch-a-long! It is my 1st time incubating and have 25 Blue Andalusian eggs that will be set. Wish me luck!

Oh, I love those!

They're awesome little layers.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Looking at hatching eggs on Meyer's website just makes me want to order some right this second lol

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Well, this last hatch went a lot better than the one before it...out of 18 fertile eggs, 17 made it to lockdown, and 11 hatched. All 6 of my SLW X Wheaten Am eggs hatched, and 5 of my Blue Am X Wheaten Am eggs hatched. I'm pretty sure 2 of the Blue Am chicks are pure BBS Ams...one is the correct blue chick down color, and the other appears to be a splash, which would have been impossible with a Wheaten father...so, I'm definitely keeping those two to grow out and see if I'm right. All 3 of the other Am X chicks are black with streaks of brown (not chipmunk, just random brown feathers...they're super cute!). I also think my SLW X chicks may be auto-sexing??? 4 of them have very well defined chipmunk markings and eyeliner, and two have ill-defined black smudges on their backs and no eyeliner...does that mean that I got 4 girls and 2 boys? I wish I didn't have to sell all of these so I could keep one of each to find out if they are in fact auto-sexing, because that would be cool to know. Anyone else hatch out this cross and get a similar result? I'll post pics tomorrow when I can use some natural light.

I set 35 more eggs last night

There are 14 BBS Ameraucana eggs (these ones will definitely be pure!!! Sooo excited!!!) 6 Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana eggs (my first time hatching eggs from my own birds of this variety!!!), 7 BLRW eggs, 6 Black Copper Maran eggs fertilized by my Blue Am cockerel (Yay, OEs!!!), and 2 double yolkers that my Speckled Sussex girl laid in the last week (Tessa- she's amazing!!) that were also fertilized by my Blue Am cockerel, just to see if I can hatch out some twins. It's gonna be super exciting to see if I'm able to get the double yolkers to hatch!!! I was able to fix the temp and humidity problems I was experiencing with my hatcher, and even ordered (and just received today) a 3rd temp/humidity gauge from incubator warehouse, so hopefully everything will go well this hatch and I'll get an even better hatch rate than this last one (which was 61%- better, but still not where I would like to be).

for all my "googies"!!! I'll be candling tonight to make my early fertility predictions...last time I candled at day one and was able to accurately identify every fertile and infertile egg!! It's actually really easy, and a fun experiment. Gonna see if I can reliably do the same thing for this hatch...I had to order a new candler too so I could see the Marans eggs...they're sooo dark!!! Wish me luck!!

 

[nate1the1great1]

I am setting 8 Swedish ducks out of my second breeding pen and 17 from my 1st Swedish duck breeding pen tomorrow! I will also set 18 silver Spangled Appenzellers spirzhaubens, a dozen frizzled Cochin bantams, white sultan, and hopefully some Rosecomb white leghorn bantam eggs. I also have a conturnix quail egg. I got one random one... of course... I also have 3 sebastopol goose eggs already and hopefully will set 6 on Monday. I am hoping to get some red golden pheasant eggs soon!!! Good luck with everyone hatching or setting eggs for the first time, or maybe you are experiences... no matter who you good luck!!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I found some Speckled Sussex eggs on ebay. It's really torturous to NOT order them but I don't have an incubator yet so I gotta cool it lol but only $6 starting bid (although $15.50 shipping but that's not too bad) for 10+ but I think they include 12 and their birds are really pretty and and... looking at eggs was a bad idea