THE MOTHER'S DAY HATCH-A-LONG!!!! The last day to join in and set eggs with us is April 28th.

[silkiemelon]

Because it would take too much space to quote them, I'll just say it,
All those chicks above are WAY to cute

 

[aaggjg]

Lockdown is tonight... oooooh wow. 

Ooohhh it goes so fast from lockdown.... Well until they pip and then it goes really slow waiting for them to hatch good luck keep us posted!

 

[java girl 2]

When are the contest winners announced ?

sorry everyone, I'll go look and let you know. I have been really sick since sat.

3rd time in 3 months, one per month and this one is the worst yet.

 

[java girl 2]

OK, the winner of the story contest is....................Karimw !!!!!! with the story of
Kestrel’s Birth​

The night was dark and silent except for the steady trill of peeper frogs singing love songs in the pond near by. Soft light from the moon showed a cat silhouetted in the doorway from my vantage point in the alleyway. I sat wrapped in layers of sleeping bag and blankets listening to the sound of peaceful chewing and soft snorts and sighs as the horses in the stalls surrounding me dozed or munched hay left over from supper. My mind wandered lazily as I watched the mare in the stall before me, still except for the occasional swish of her tail. A resting point then, as just a few minutes ago she was circling restlessly, snatching an occasional bit of hay as she passed it.

The warm red light in the corner washed her in a rosy glow and I could not help thinking how very beautiful she was, a true golden palomino, her white mane kept long. At 21 years old this would be her last baby; a last ditch effort to replace her 10 year old daughter we had lost the Christmas before last.

The barn itself seemed to hold it’s breath as the mare’s ears flew back and she resumed her circling. A ridge appeared along her belly and I shared a look with my mother sitting in her lawn chair nearby. It was close, we knew. A tricky one, this girl, I had missed her before but this was the third night we had kept vigil. Surely she couldn’t hold it much longer!

With a splash her water broke and she promptly lay down on the deep straw. Tension burned through us as we resisted the urge to leap up, but it wasn’t yet time to get involved. She rose again and resumed circling, the sweat on her neck and flanks blooming dark against her golden hide. I could see at last the tiny feet showing under her tail. When she lay down again I slipped in to make sure all was as it should be. I felt the baby’s slippery nose through the protective membrane resting on its outstretched legs and whispered affirmative to my own anxious mother. I stood back as she began to strain in earnest and we all tensed until at last the shoulders cleared the barrier and I knelt to clear the membrane from the baby’s lolling head.

With a groan the mare expelled the hips and the baby spilled into my lap, the membrane pulling away to reveal a lovely golden foal struggling with its first breath of cool midnight air. I gazed with wonder at this miracle dream come true and locked eyes with my mother as she stroked the sweaty neck of the gasping mare. I’ll never forget the joy we shared, my mother and I, in helping to bring this new filly into the world and we watched with tears of unbearable
happiness as the mare rose unsteadily to her feet and began nickering softly to her daughter, welcoming her to the world.

 

[java girl 2]

# 5. The best hatch rate. 6+ MF d'uccle eggs from crazypetlady! # 6. The worst hatch rate. Prize is your pick of breed/breeds of 24 eggs to be shipped in the fall/spring. In order to determine the winner, you must post pics of the eggs in the incubator And pics of the chicks that YOU HATCH OUT! this contests can not be determine until everyone pm's me with the hatch rates they got, as i can't keep up with the posts right now.
OK EVERYONE!!! NOW THAT THE CHICKS ARE HATCHING OUT, IT'S TIME FOR THE CUTE CHICK PIC CONTEST !!! YOU MAY POST UP TO 3 PICS OF YOUR CHICKS. BUT THEY MUST BE FROM THIS HATCH-A-LONG!!! THE PRIZE IS 6 plus 1st generation Olive Eggers from mstricer !!! I am giving everyone a chance to post the pics until may 28th as some of you have late eggs hatching.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Wow, How you figure out why you have a reoccurring illness. Hope you are feeling better now!!

OK, the winner of the story contest is....................Karimw !!!!!! with the story of
Kestrel’s Birth​

The night was dark and silent except for the steady trill of peeper frogs singing love songs in the pond near by. Soft light from the moon showed a cat silhouetted in the doorway from my vantage point in the alleyway. I sat wrapped in layers of sleeping bag and blankets listening to the sound of peaceful chewing and soft snorts and sighs as the horses in the stalls surrounding me dozed or munched hay left over from supper. My mind wandered lazily as I watched the mare in the stall before me, still except for the occasional swish of her tail. A resting point then, as just a few minutes ago she was circling restlessly, snatching an occasional bit of hay as she passed it.

CONGRATS !!!!! on a story near and dear to my heart--love those foals and boodmares!!

 

[yinepu]

yesterday morning I saw this in the bator...



last night I had this...



little guy wasted NO time getting out!
he's still a little wet in spots in the pic... he wasn't due to hatch til tomorrow.. lol... I know some people say once a goose egg pips it takes several days to hatch.. well.. no one told this guy that!

 

[Cynthia12]

yesterday morning I saw this in the bator...



last night I had this...



little guy wasted NO time getting out!
he's still a little wet in spots in the pic... he wasn't due to hatch til tomorrow.. lol... I know some people say once a goose egg pips it takes several days to hatch.. well.. no one told this guy that!

Know what I love about the first picture? You are holding an egg, that has pipped. Supposed to be one of the biggest no no's, and yet, there it is, gasp, a hand, holding a pipped egg. Then, that baby pops right out of there by the night. I hope this bator works that well for me!

 

[yinepu]

Know what I love about the first picture? You are holding an egg, that has pipped. Supposed to be one of the biggest no no's, and yet, there it is, gasp, a hand, holding a pipped egg. Then, that baby pops right out of there by the night. I hope this bator works that well for me!

lol.. I never follow rules!... and handling pipped eggs.. or candling eggs to check for internal pip has never been a problem for me

now I don't recommend that for everyone.. but I must admit that the reptipro allows for a lot more handling and checking on eggs than most other commercial bators do!

heck.. when we had our old homemade bators we handled the eggs whenever we needed to check on them.. including during hatch
removing chicks and egg shells was just a routine chore that needed to be done several times during hatch... we never heard of the term "lockdown" (which come to think of it may have been invented because of commercial bators?...

)

 

[Arielle]

I open and look and pull out chicks, remove eggs shells, too. LOL WIth some 54 eggs in lockdown a week ago, I sure needed to remove egg shells so the chicks had room to move about!