The 9th Annual BYC Easter Hatchalong!

[ronott1]

Voting for the caption contest is now open!

Please vote for your favorite caption

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[Yorkshire Coop]

Voting for the caption contest is now open!

Please vote for your favorite caption

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[MagpieDucks]

Voting for the caption contest is now open!

Please vote for your favorite caption

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Just for clarification, no voting for your self, correct?

 

[ronott1]

Just for clarification, no voting for your self, correct?

Please don't vote for yourself. We are on the honor system here

 

[MagpieDucks]

Please don't vote for yourself. We are on the honor system here

Got it! I wasn't going to, but just wanted to make sure others knew.

 

[ronott1]

Got it! I wasn't going to, but just wanted to make sure others knew.

 

[chickendreams24]

I just want to say that I really loved everyone's captions! It was hard to choose.

 

[famerzellman]

Out of 20 we had 17 hatch!!! Sorry for the delay!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Our hatch prior to April 1st, on day 24 we tossed the balance of no hatches in the waste can. A short time later we heard a chirping in the trash bag. Tried to rescue the little dude but failed. Never a dull moment. Who can actually say "I've seen it all?".. not us.

I have had no signs of life and then found a live one. It is iffy with those but I have had them survive.

This is why people need to wait until the end of day 26! Please, please everyone spread this message...late chicks aren't impossible and I've seen too many sad stories of people pitching eggs before day 26 only to realize there was a live peeper in there.

This is a conversation that came to mind this morning as I am on the edge of a hard decision of making a call on a mercy cull. I just had another hatch. (I'm running multi ovens).
This is a day 23 chick. Photo from last night around midnight. Was getting ready to pitch all the quitters from a very successful batch. We are using a stethoscope for signs of life to prevent a repeat of a chirping trash bag.

One was alive, if that is a even good definition of the condition of the poorly developed chick.
There was a little blood left to absorb so I just opened enough of the membranes & shell to give some air to breath and if it had enough strength, it could finish busting out on it's own.

So here I am just over 12 hours later (DAY 24). The weak chick has made it out but cannot stand. It is in the incubator on it's side screaming. I'm not a monster, I've been oral drenching save-a chick and am preparing my Hospital Brooder as I'm speaking.

​

I have so rarely had anything survive that hatched after day 23 unless it was a power outage related delay. When conditions are favorable for 27 other chicks to bust right out and are instantly standing and active, there is a reason why some don't make it. And most of the time it is more humane to just leave those day 23-26ers in the shell for Mother Nature to do the dirty work.
So I have to make the decision to end the suffering now when clearly this is results of me cheating death. I have consequences to manage now.

If the word was a coin, Remember.. "a coin has to sides".
Food for thought.

 

[ronott1]

This is a conversation that came to mind this morning as I am on the edge of a hard decision of making a call on a mercy cull. I just had another hatch. (I'm running multi ovens).
This is a day 23 chick. Photo from last night around midnight. Was getting ready to pitch all the quitters from a very successful batch. We are using a stethoscope for signs of life to prevent a repeat of a chirping trash bag.View attachment 1332863
One was alive, if that is a even good definition of the condition of the poorly developed chick.
There was a little blood left to absorb so I just opened enough of the membranes & shell to give some air to breath and if it had enough strength, it could finish busting out on it's own.
View attachment 1332864


So here I am just over 12 hours later (DAY 24). The weak chick has made it out but cannot stand. It is in the incubator on it's side screaming. I'm not a monster, I've been oral drenching save-a chick and am preparing my Hospital Brooder as I'm speaking.

View attachment 1332865​

I have so rarely had anything survive that hatched after day 23 unless it was a power outage related delay. When conditions are favorable for 27 other chicks to bust right out and are instantly standing and active, there is a reason why some don't make it. And most of the time it is more humane to just leave those day 23-26ers in the shell for Mother Nature to do the dirty work.
So I have to make the decision to end the suffering now when clearly this is results of me cheating death. I have consequences to manage now.

If the word was a coin, Remember.. "a coin has to sides".
Food for thought.

I give them some water--dip the beak and a drop of poli vi sol baby drops without iron. I give them a day usually to see if they are doing better...because they fought hard to live that long. It is a 50% thing though.