The 9th Annual BYC Easter Hatchalong!

[Happy Chooks]

Congrats to everyone with chicks, ducklings, etc!

 

[chonsey]

Remind me to put me eggs in earlier....is day one the day you put them in - or after 24 hrs

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Remind me to put me eggs in earlier....is day one the day you put them in - or after 24 hrs

I count day 1 after a full 24 hours of incubation. So say you set Monday that would be day 0, Tuesday would be day 1, Wednesday would be day 2, and so and so on......

 

[AlezaJ]

I started with 48 chicken eggs. 39 went into lockdown and 28 made it to the brooder. My biggest hatch so far. Last year I only set 24 eggs at a time.
The end of a hatch is so sad I ended up with 5 dead and 6 that never even pipped. What is this water test I've seen mentioned a few times about unpipped eggs?

 

[ronott1]

**Total hatched for me is ~ 24 **

Unfortunately 2 weak ones have croaked it last night

Congrats on the hatch!

I am sorry about the ones you lost. It is often part of hatching chicks

My final count is 7 chickens, 4 EE and 3 OE.

I’m very happy with the results even if the numbers weren’t that great. Fertility was very low but I was expecting that with so many girls and only one rooster. Of the ones that were fertile, 64% hatched. The part I’m happiest with is that there were no drowned chicks. I’ve already set another 42 eggs. Hoping for better fertility since it’s a bit later in the season.

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Very pretty!

In case it was missed the first time. 7 Sebastopol goslings successfully hatched!View attachment 1321131View attachment 1321131

That is a nice hatch of goslings!

3rd chick is here! Hatched 6:30 PM, 4.1.18! View attachment 1321133

Nice! Do you have more pipped or zipping eggs?

2/2 of the eggs I set have hatched!
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Very nice!

Pretty chicks

 

[ronott1]

I set 24 duck eggs, of those only 12 were fertile. Of the 12 fertile eggs I had 3 blood rings when candled after two weeks. All three blood ring eggs were from the same hen; fluke or something else? We had 9 eggs make it to lockdown. One of the Buff x Cayuga ducklings pipped, then I found it dead about 18 hours later. It was fully formed and looked ready to hatch. My best guess is maybe one of the other ducklings that hatched smothered it? Two of the Cayuga eggs pipped and hit a vein (I think). When I candled at lockdown they were wiggling in the shell. When I candled Saturday they both had big red spots in the shell. Final count for me was 5 Cayuga ducklings, and 1 Buff x Cayuga duckling.
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Ducklings! And they are black!

 

[ronott1]

Final results for me, 17 chicks and 2 ducks. None of them have died yet, which is good.

It is good when they do not die!

10 total hatch.

Even with the 50% infertility rate the hatch still didn't go very well. Kids and sister inlaw got to watch one hatch before their eyes Easter so that made up for it.

That was a great Easter presents for the relatives

 

[Cynthia12]

In case it was missed the first time. 7 Sebastopol goslings successfully hatched!View attachment 1321131View attachment 1321131

Oh my goodness not used to seeing...larger... cuteness in a bator!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

DH set up an incubator on the front porch this morning.
We got the humidity level up pretty good. Added water and apple cider with light brown sugar. It's coming up to a light steam release, keeping the air content nice and steamy.
View attachment 1320030
We placed the subject which has been in a curing brine in the refrigerator for 7 days, upon a rack just above the steamy water of the incubator
Said subject is a homegrown Berkshire Ham.View attachment 1320036 He placed the lid on the incubator and has raised the temperature to a consistent 160*F.View attachment 1320041 Balancing the delicate heat/steam ratio is being performed by the addition of Hickory Wood provided by courtesy of Hurricane Irma. She was nice enough to drop a couple of Hickory Trees into our lap w/o damaging our home. What a sweetie she was I tell you.. Thanks Irma!.
To complement the apple cider steam, an occasional hand full of Apple Wood chips to generate a little more "Apple-ness".View attachment 1320042
So we are on lock down right now!
Lid stays tight to contain a consistent heat/water vapor ratio. We should have the hatch, let's say.. around 5 PM.
I'm hoping the smell from the incubator doesn't put me in the nut house before the hatch this evening. I don't wish to miss our little Easter Dinner.

​

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!

My last hatch of the Easter Day 2018. Came out of the incubator about 8 pm.

Check out the caramel ooze that formed from slowly incubating for hours on end. The brown sugar was part of the Brine Cure that soaked into the project and slowly seeped out during the smoking/steaming.
That's not burn, it's smokey caramel.

Successful indeed. Squirting juice. Have you hugged your local pig farmer lately?

 

[ronott1]

I started with 48 chicken eggs. 39 went into lockdown and 28 made it to the brooder. My biggest hatch so far. Last year I only set 24 eggs at a time.
The end of a hatch is so sad I ended up with 5 dead and 6 that never even pipped. What is this water test I've seen mentioned a few times about unpipped eggs?

It is a float test to see if the egg has a chick in it. Sometimes the egg will wiggle with a live chick.

I tap the egg and listen for peeps and will candle. If I hear cheeping or see a chick inside the air cell, I will use a needle to poke a hole into the top of the air cell to see if that gets the chick going If I hear one. If I do not see sings of life after day 23 or so I will carefully open all of the eggs.