Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[CluckNDoodle]

Everyone with their multiple babies and I'm over here...

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

The vet gave me ointment for the hens with scabs and ill have to remove any that pop up at the eyes or mouth. I also have a hen with the wet version thats gone down hill pretty fast, not much he can do sadly. I'll be getting my chicks vaccinated against it from now on

Sorry to hear this. One of mine got it late last year, I'm assuming from a mozzie, which then developed to the wet kind. First I put apple cider vinegar in the drinking water of the others, and then I found in Australia you can order VetRX off amazon. Took about 2 weeks to arrive but its amazing stuff. I dotted it under their wings and put it in their drinking water. Everyone else seemed to stay healthy except that one hen.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I am waiting for eggs hatching 17, 18, 20, 23, and 30

 

[julskinka]

I don't think there's any point me joining in on your thread because if this hatch and the next one (spare fridge eggs) goes well I probably won't be setting anymore. (maybe button quail down the line).

I'm in the same boat -- I only hatch once a year, although sometimes its a staggered hatch (like this year). I'm happy to contribute what data I have, but my sample sizes are much smaller!

 

[julskinka]

Oh my gosh guys. I decided to candle the remaining eggs. So many DIS. So so many. Ugh. I hate shipped eggs. Most of them were malpositioned. 1 was my second wrong end pipper. I decided to help it, but it was gone. Another was pipped, but must have gotten rolled because the pip was underneath it and seemed like it suffoHcated. Ugh. Another is a malposition that’s hanging on by a thread. I think it’s going to pass. There are still blood vessels on the membrane so I’m leaving it. 4 were DIS malpositions without internal pips. One was internally pipped and then seemed to turn the wrong way after it internally pipped and died. And then there is my lone happy story. It was pipped but I hadn’t seen it because it was rolled underneath the egg. It had started to zip and got stuck. I finished the zip and it pushed out a couple mins later. So that’s it. My Gypsy Hen hatch is over. 25 eggs in, 11 chicks out. 3 of which are BBS Ameraucanas. One of which is blue and I’m sure it’ll be a rooster.

Oh noooooooooooo I'm so sorry to hear this. My first hatch was like that, and it was gutting. So, so sorry. :::

 

[gimmie birdies]

Cluckndoodle- I had hens hatch out last year, young blue wyandotes, they loved sitting on eggs, but... raising chicks...not so much, went back to eggs after 2 weeks of raising, I had 2 batches of babies abandoned for eggs, but I had 2 older hens I got from a friend who moved, and she gave me her hens who took over the job of raising. I told her and they had not even been moms in the past.

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

My condolences on this hatch. It wasn't as you hoped but 11 babies is excellent! I hope for 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs. This hatch was pretty close to that for you. I understand it wasn't what you wanted but for a second hatch (I think?) You're doing amazing!!! Still it's hard not to beat yourself up thinking you should have done something different. Best advice I've read on here was "hatching isn't for the faint of heart". Never more true than dealing with DIS.

My first hatch on shipped eggs, second hatch ever, I got 3/36 barnyard mixes. All roosters!

Thanks so much. Technically my third hatch. The official second one was the tragedy earlier this week where only one made it to lock down and then hatched with foot deformities and a hurt leg and I had to cull it.
I’m ok with the hatch rate, since you’re right, it’s over 50%. The DIS’s are just heartbreaking regardless because they seem so close to life!

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

Oh noooooooooooo I'm so sorry to hear this. My first hatch was like that, and it was gutting. So, so sorry. :::

Thank you. It’s rough but the 11 babies I did get are beautiful.

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

Is DIS dead in shell, or something else?

@BluebirdHomestead sorry about your bad luck. I have hatched eggs from GypsyHen twice, both times I drove to pick them up instead of shipping. I still had a very low hatch rate. The ones that did hatch were great quality though. These days I only buy chicks or adult birds from other people and hatch my own eggs.

Oh wow! So interesting. My first hatch was eggs from her and 8 hatched of 15 total and now 11 of 25 (a few were clear and a couple early quitters). Can’t wait to just be hatching my own eggs.

 

[gimmie birdies]

So much of the time we think about the eggs that didn't hatch, think about and be glad about the ones that hatched.