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

[MedicDog]

Well this thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions! It's made me want to try hatch ducks then avoid them like the plague and then the same again.

I'm a proud chicken daddy of four lovely silkie babies though! Put four eggs under her and four hatched today. I never checked her at 5AM when I was leaving for work but came back at 3 and found three hatched and one on its way out. (4 all out now)

Are hatching times normally bang on 21 days or is there wiggle room? If my maths works out then between setting them and hatching out is about 19 days and 20 hours? Anyway, I'm over the moon.

 

[FortCluck]

View attachment 2059948 I don't have an emoji for how much I love this!

Exactly. I am trying a dry hatch for my eggs due 3/31. I am using them for meat chickens, and honestly I have like 20+ chicks right now so if it doesn't work out it will be ok. I'm hoping to figure out exactly what works for my incubators in my climate/home. I will be candling and weighing tonight and reassessing.

I was hoping to sell some of the chicks I have accumulated, but my state just went on lockdown. Guess my freezer might be real full this year!

Yeah my freezer will be really full too

 

[abpatchy]

Well this thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions! It's made me want to try hatch ducks then avoid them like the plague and then the same again.

I'm a proud chicken daddy of four lovely silkie babies though! Put four eggs under her and four hatched today. I never checked her at 5AM when I was leaving for work but came back at 3 and found three hatched and one on its way out. (4 all out now)

Are hatching times normally bang on 21 days or is there wiggle room? If my maths works out then between setting them and hatching out is about 19 days and 20 hours? Anyway, I'm over the moon.

View attachment 2059994

That's fine... mine tend to hatch on day 20 as well. I set them on a Sunday and the first ones are usually hatching on Satuday.

 

[FortCluck]

Well this thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions! It's made me want to try hatch ducks then avoid them like the plague and then the same again.

I'm a proud chicken daddy of four lovely silkie babies though! Put four eggs under her and four hatched today. I never checked her at 5AM when I was leaving for work but came back at 3 and found three hatched and one on its way out. (4 all out now)

Are hatching times normally bang on 21 days or is there wiggle room? If my maths works out then between setting them and hatching out is about 19 days and 20 hours? Anyway, I'm over the moon.

View attachment 2059994

Why are you hesitant about doing ducks?

 

[Mysticalsys]

8/10 of my chicken eggs hatched 1 egg was infertile the other I opened up and it had a really bad scissor beak

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

I keep getting so behind on this thread!! You’d think getting stuck at home would give me more time to be on my phone but I’ve been keeping super busy in the garden.

 

[AusHen]

I'm up to 4 out of 11. I can see three have pipped plus ones zipping as a type. the one that pipped the wrong end has made a slightly bigger pip hole.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Exactly. I am trying a dry hatch for my eggs due 3/31. I am using them for meat chickens, and honestly I have like 20+ chicks right now so if it doesn't work out it will be ok. I'm hoping to figure out exactly what works for my incubators in my climate/home. I will be candling and weighing tonight and reassessing.

I was hoping to sell some of the chicks I have accumulated, but my state just went on lockdown. Guess my freezer might be real full this year!

Uh oh, be safe! I should probably check the status of my state again, lol, I don't watch the news.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well this thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions! It's made me want to try hatch ducks then avoid them like the plague and then the same again.

I'm a proud chicken daddy of four lovely silkie babies though! Put four eggs under her and four hatched today. I never checked her at 5AM when I was leaving for work but came back at 3 and found three hatched and one on its way out. (4 all out now)

Are hatching times normally bang on 21 days or is there wiggle room? If my maths works out then between setting them and hatching out is about 19 days and 20 hours? Anyway, I'm over the moon.

View attachment 2059994

So sweet!! Congrats!
It's not exactly 21 days, if they're really fresh eggs they can hatch earlier, if the temps are warmer they can hatch earlier, or the opposite, if cooler they can hatch later. Most healthy hatches I've done can be anywhere from late on day 20 to early on day 22 but I have heard of people with successful hatches as early as day 19 and as late as day 25. (For chicken eggs of course)

 

[gmjarvi]

Uh oh, be safe! I should probably check the status of my state again, lol, I don't watch the news.

Thank you, we are all good! We probably have enough supplies to stay hunkered down for 6 weeks. Hopefully the lockdown won't be that long (they are starting with 3 weeks), but we have 15 acres to roam if we get too stir crazy . I'm actually kind of excited for the opportunity to really focus on building some of the skills I've been meaning to build. Like sourdough baking, kombucha, and gardening.