Too Early for Feb Hatch-A-Long Thread??

[Merrymouse]

I bought the 2 metal brooders from cackle. they were the only place I could find that would ship it to me. the first one WAS a display case that my DH converted to a brooder, up till this year it was my main brooder. I am working on a section in my shop to move the babies out to that will be able to be heated so they can be transitioned sooner. I may have a small addiction going on over here? with over 120 plus eggs in incubation and more waiting to go in to be incubated. Does anyone know if there is a cure for this chicken bug that has caught me???
did I remember to mention the order of chicks that is coming the first of march, yeah just 25 cream legbars, 15 delaware pullets and 10 white plymouth rock pullets?? oh and still hatching at that time.

What in the world are you going to do with that many chicks? (secretly envious over here )

 

[Merrymouse]

Well, I have about 8 eggs ordered weekly until april already and will probably keep hatching untill june/july... haha
He will be like ... In that exact order...

 

[Merrymouse]

Day 20 and two pips on the shipped eggs! I find it interesting it's both of the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs. The other eggs that looked really good at last candling were the Cream Legbars, Double Silver Laced Barnvelder, and Isbar.
View attachment 2025724

Nice breeds. I have cream legbars but have never had wyandotte or barnvelder but always wanted both. Especially Blue Laced Red and Double Silver laced. Do you mind telling me where you got them from? Just thinking for next year. I have 4 silkies in the brooder now and am supposed to be getting Swedish Flower and Hedemora eggs soon!

 

[Floydie]

Candled the coturnix quail eggs as on day 5 (and 4 for the egg i replaced). Cant see any veining but the yolks on some are more devoloped with a dip/split. So some are fertile I think. I'll check again in a few days. Ive also added a bit of water to the middle water well. Im not filling it up like it says on the instructions this time.

 

[LilyD]

Loving these little guys already they are too cute. My husband is guessing the darker one is a rooster and the other two are pullets lol. Either way they are cute.

In the egg world the three eggs are on day 18 officially today. They seem to be doing well but no activity yet. These guys had better air cells than the previous bunch so I added the water sponges today but didn't ramp it up too high. Will be nice to have a hatch when I'm home for a change lol.

 

[AgnesGray]

Loving these little guys already they are too cute. My husband is guessing the darker one is a rooster and the other two are pullets lol. Either way they are cute.

In the egg world the three eggs are on day 18 officially today. They seem to be doing well but no activity yet. These guys had better air cells than the previous bunch so I added the water sponges today but didn't ramp it up too high. Will be nice to have a hatch when I'm home for a change lol.

Oh my goodness! Cuteness overload!!

 

[aliciaplus3]

What in the world are you going to do with that many chicks? (secretly envious over here )

well the delaware and white plymouth rocks I ordered as pullets from 2 different sources so that I could set up a LONG term breeding project. (my perfect chicken would be a TRUE Dual purpose so that extra roosters could be invited to dinner at 14 weeks and make a decent meal and hens lay Large eggs 200 ish a year? ) I cant seem to find any Good ones close enough to get ahold of any so I plan to put the work in and breed up to what they are supposed to be. Now keep in mind that both of my daughters have fair projects in this mix so the turkeys, ducks and black Necked necks do not count as MINE but they still live here and get fed here so??? lol
the next part of what is planned for fair will be set in about a month. I have a delaware mix rooster (he weighed in at 5 pounds at 12 weeks) over an assortment of hens that I hope will make some good Dual purpose meat birds for them to take.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Nice breeds. I have cream legbars but have never had wyandotte or barnvelder but always wanted both. Especially Blue Laced Red and Double Silver laced. Do you mind telling me where you got them from? Just thinking for next year. I have 4 silkies in the brooder now and am supposed to be getting Swedish Flower and Hedemora eggs soon!

With the exception of the Marans these are all new breeds to me too! It was an eBay assorted egg lot. There is 1 Swedish Flower egg remaining. I have another Isbar and Cream legbar pipped. That brings the total to 9 pips right now. It's going to be a beautiful colorful flock! After reading the description on all 10 new breeds I think I'm most excited about the 55 Flowery eggs. 2 locked down but no pips yet. I have a soft spot for Leghorn and these have a heavy Leghorn influence in the breed.

Those Hedemora birds look interesting. I do t know hardly anything about the but did read about them on the Greenfire page awhile back. I hope you get one with silkie feathers. That would be so cool.

 

[FortCluck]

18 chicks in the brooder! 11 Orpington bantams, 5 for sure silkies (a few have vaulted skulls), and 2 I am not sure about, but I'm guessing that one is a buff/blue silkie mix and the other is a buff silkie/spangled OEGB mix.

Two chicks have splayed legs. One is almost done with treatment but I only just started on the other. I'm addition to that, most chicks hatched a day before Hatchday so I must have set the temp a bit high. I'll know for next time!

There are five eggs left in the incubator. I think hatch day was on Tuesday so they are a few days late. Since last night I have been hearing a chick peep loudly but have seen no progress on the eggs. Please don't judge but tomorrow I might do a bit of assisted hatching. Yes, I have read several threads about the risks and people's opinions on this, but I'm willing to give it a try. I mean, what can I lose? The chick will die anyway if I don't do anything, but I might be able to save it if I try. I understand that it might be a special needs chick, and that I shouldn't breed it, but that's okay. I agree with the "only the strongest survive" rule, but we are humans and can do more than the average mother hen, so why not use our advantage? Any advice?

Usually I have tweezers, 90% isopropyl alcohol, sterile drapes, sterile gauze, sterile gloves, cornstarch, and sterile water on hand. I also have a high-powered flashlight so that I can see everything. I sterilize all my tools with the isopropyl alcohol.

I make a tiny hole with my tweezers because I have needle nose tweezers and then I slowly peel away. I peel away a little at a time. The instant I start seeing any type of bleeding I stop.

I've had to assist a chick that didn't absorb the yolk yet So when the chick was out of the egg I had to put it into a bowl so that it could absorb the yolk. It only took about 12 hours for that to happen. The chick lived and is now living at a new home.

I assisted 2 my last hatch because they were being very slow and I had a lone chick. I don't know if it was because they were too tired or what. Both of them had absorbed all the yolk and everything else they were just having a hard time getting the "egg hat" off. I pulled off the egg hat then they pushed themselves out. They were 48 hours late.

I don't think anyone will judge you for assisting. I'm very picky on who I assist. If a chick has not internally pipped I usually do not assist. If they have internally of externally pipped I usually help 24 to 48 hours after day 21.

I'm doing ducklings now and I'm going to try to get as many to hatch as I can. I want to get this gentleman I'm hatching then for as many as I can because he really wants to have ducklings from his flock. Plus I want runner ducks from him

 

[LilyD]

well the delaware and white plymouth rocks I ordered as pullets from 2 different sources so that I could set up a LONG term breeding project. (my perfect chicken would be a TRUE Dual purpose so that extra roosters could be invited to dinner at 14 weeks and make a decent meal and hens lay Large eggs 200 ish a year? ) I cant seem to find any Good ones close enough to get ahold of any so I plan to put the work in and breed up to what they are supposed to be. Now keep in mind that both of my daughters have fair projects in this mix so the turkeys, ducks and black Necked necks do not count as MINE but they still live here and get fed here so??? lol
the next part of what is planned for fair will be set in about a month. I have a delaware mix rooster (he weighed in at 5 pounds at 12 weeks) over an assortment of hens that I hope will make some good Dual purpose meat birds for them to take.

I'm working on the same thing but exclusively with orps. Not really worried about the color or anything else but want the girls to lay eggs and the boys to gradually get bigger and bigger to the meatier breast stage but still produce girls who lay well and have a wide abdomen. I'll be culling birds from the project that don't fit what I'm looking for and those are the ones that will go to the swaps for others to use. But it really doesn't hurt if they are cute either lol.