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

[dreamercatcher63]

I would love to do this but have batams and my big stock chicks

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I checked the incubator this morning around 7:30am (EST) and of the eggs had a pip! I also saw the egg shaking back and forth a few times. It's been 2.5 hours since I initially saw the pip and there has been no additional progress. Is that normal? Still nothing from the other egg. 

Thanks! 

I had one pip this morning at 2 am it's zipping now and yes I can take it seems like forever to zip and pop out

 

[KYTinpusher]

I checked the incubator this morning around 7:30am (EST) and of the eggs had a pip! I also saw the egg shaking back and forth a few times. It's been 2.5 hours since I initially saw the pip and there has been no additional progress. Is that normal? Still nothing from the other egg.

Thanks!

It can take up to 24 hours from pip to hatch, so just breathe and do like I do - check the incubator every 5 minutes to see if it is starting to zip!

I have hatched several hundred chicks and it never gets old.

 

[ChickAsThieves]

It can take up to 24 hours from pip to hatch, so just breathe and do like I do - check the incubator every 5 minutes to see if it is starting to zip!

I have hatched several hundred chicks and it never gets old.

Thank God for the wonderful people on this forum! You guys always make me feel so much better.

I'd be sitting in front of it STARING if I wasn't at work. My boyfriend is home so he promised to let me know if the action picks up. I only live 12 minutes from work, so I'll leave if it starts getting good!

Sorry, boss!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hey guys!!! I am back, and ready for this years breeding season. I will sadly not be able to participate in the hatching on Easter weekend because I have a state spring Poultry show to attend, and would not be home that weekend. So instead I am hatching before and after that weekend.

Welcome back Nate!

3 more days! I'm in lockdown!

Well that wasn't the best pic but here it is a little better and since birth it's feathers have been that way so I'm bumpuzzled !

Any one have an idea?

Can't help on the frizzle part, but he is barred and a male. Could he be a black sex link? Males would be barred.

So I'm freaking out over here. Alabama has put a freeze on poultry movement. Nothing in, nothing out, and no sales. Two flocks are being tested in North Alabama because it's suspected that they have AI. One is a commercial farm and the other is a backyard flock. It's a ways from me yet, but the idea that my flock could get infected is terrifying. This could also mean that I won't get my eggs next week and those are my ehal eggs.

I hope your flock stays safe!

Today is Day 21 of my first hatch. Nothing going. No rocking. No chirping. No pips. Feeling very sad.

Breathe.........relax............nature is stronger than you think.

I just got my call. Eggs aren't on the no movement list and they aren't worried about eggs or anything else coming from AI tested clean sites.

At least the ehal is still on for me.

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?

Keep your hands out of that bator! You will cause more harm than good.

Quote:
Ditto. You will not see movement because the chick is already in position to hatch. Listen for the cheeping.

Today is lockdown for me.

10 turkeys
3 silkies
9 or 10 lavender ameraucanas
14 or 15 CCL

Those blue eggs mix together and I can't tell which is which lol

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!!

I had multiple generation olive eggers. Last year, I found that they were sex linked. They were mated to my Barnevelder male. Males would hatch with Barnevelder patterns, females hatched solid blue or black. Unfortunately, I can't hatch more as I lost all of them in the great bobcat massacre.

Dutch and Nankins are very nice pretty birds, Nankins are on the watch list, I had some and let a friend talk me out of them have regretted it ever since. Gotta get more of those babies, where can you get Dutch from?

I love Nankins! I've always wanted some since I saw them at the first show I went to.

I checked the incubator this morning around 7:30am (EST) and of the eggs had a pip! I also saw the egg shaking back and forth a few times. It's been 2.5 hours since I initially saw the pip and there has been no additional progress. Is that normal? Still nothing from the other egg.

Thanks!

It will take FOREVER for them to hatch. Sit on your hands, go clean the house, but leave them alone!

Quote: Ditto!

 

[Happy Chooks]

It's time to set those Goose eggs! Get them in the incubator!
goose: 28 to 32 days to hatch; set March 14th - March 18th​

 

[ShrekDawg]

I was actually looking at some of those on ebay too!   I've had them. A friend of mine still has one that she got from me.  That hen is close to 5 yrs. old, and still laying a few times a week! 

Wow that's awesome!! Sounds like I definitely need some then!

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Took some baby pics!! Here they are!

My splash baby...gotta be pure Am, right? A wheaten roo over blue hens should not be able to produce this. Looks like my blue boy snuck in there earlier than I thought!

The blue baby I also suspect is pure Am:

This is what the rest of the Am cross chicks look like:

Ok, now for the possible sex linked babies. Here's a suspected girl. Note the strong chipmunk markings and eyeliner:

And now a suspected boy. Doesn't have much if any eyeliner, and chipmunk markings are blurry and smudged looking. There's also no brown on the suspected boys but the girls seem to have some...

So what do you guys think? Did I accidentally make sex linked EEs? Since the wheaten ameraucana roo is gold based and the SLWs are silver based, that would mean females with brown and males with no brown, correct? I need a second opinion on this, lol.

 

[minihorse927]

Its looking like I'm gonna be setting roughly 12 dozen eggs

 

[Happy Chooks]

Its looking like I'm gonna be setting roughly 12 dozen eggs