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

[CluckNDoodle]

Just woke up to my husband telling me he is hearing peeping from across the house!
Nothing has hatched yet. So excited! This is my first hatch!

It never stops being exciting! At least for me. Fingers crossed for a great hatch!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

It's day 9 and 11. Many it goes quick doesn't it? I still have 18 local eggs. They're looking beautiful. I have high hopes for close to 100% hatch even though they were refrigerated.

I'm down to 25 shipped eggs. Most look good but I've had my heart broken too many times by shipped eggs to pin my hopes on them. Just focused on getting them to lockdown. From there is a roll of the dice.

Looking forward to growing out my new little flock. After having a predator kill my layer flock and processing excess roosters/turkeys I'm down to 3 birds. They're sweet girls but can't fill a void left by 24 birds. Whatever hatches I'll probably grow out to 6-8 weeks. Then start to sell off the spares.

Here's my current girls: Barred Rock, Easter Egger, and homebred Olive egger (1/4 Polish, 1/2 FBCM, 1/4 Ameraucana).

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

It's day 9 and 11. Many it goes quick doesn't it? I still have 18 local eggs. They're looking beautiful. I have high hopes for close to 100% hatch even though they were refrigerated.

I'm down to 25 shipped eggs. Most look good but I've had my heart broken too many times by shipped eggs to pin my hopes on them. Just focused on getting them to lockdown. From there is a roll of the dice.

Looking forward to growing out my new little flock. After having a predator kill my layer flock and processing excess roosters/turkeys I'm down to 3 birds. They're sweet girls but can't fill a void left by 24 birds. Whatever hatches I'll probably grow out to 6-8 weeks. Then start to sell off the spares.

Here's my current girls: Barred Rock, Easter Egger, and homebred Olive egger (1/4 Polish, 1/2 FBCM, 1/4 Ameraucana).

View attachment 2016894

Don’t think i could handle losing so many. You build cute little relationships with your birds. Has to be tough, sorry you had to deal with something like that.

I think having low expectations help when hatching shipped eggs. If the low end is around 45% to 50%, plan on that. Makes it so much better when you get more, but acceptable when you get half to hatch. Just the way I looked at it this go around.

 

[FortCluck]

It's day 9 and 11. Many it goes quick doesn't it? I still have 18 local eggs. They're looking beautiful. I have high hopes for close to 100% hatch even though they were refrigerated.

I'm down to 25 shipped eggs. Most look good but I've had my heart broken too many times by shipped eggs to pin my hopes on them. Just focused on getting them to lockdown. From there is a roll of the dice.

Looking forward to growing out my new little flock. After having a predator kill my layer flock and processing excess roosters/turkeys I'm down to 3 birds. They're sweet girls but can't fill a void left by 24 birds. Whatever hatches I'll probably grow out to 6-8 weeks. Then start to sell off the spares.

Here's my current girls: Barred Rock, Easter Egger, and homebred Olive egger (1/4 Polish, 1/2 FBCM, 1/4 Ameraucana).

View attachment 2016894

That's hard to handle when your flock goes from that big to that small because of a predator

Hope these new chicks can fill the void and hope several are pullets.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It's day 9 and 11. Many it goes quick doesn't it? I still have 18 local eggs. They're looking beautiful. I have high hopes for close to 100% hatch even though they were refrigerated.

I'm down to 25 shipped eggs. Most look good but I've had my heart broken too many times by shipped eggs to pin my hopes on them. Just focused on getting them to lockdown. From there is a roll of the dice.

Looking forward to growing out my new little flock. After having a predator kill my layer flock and processing excess roosters/turkeys I'm down to 3 birds. They're sweet girls but can't fill a void left by 24 birds. Whatever hatches I'll probably grow out to 6-8 weeks. Then start to sell off the spares.

Here's my current girls: Barred Rock, Easter Egger, and homebred Olive egger (1/4 Polish, 1/2 FBCM, 1/4 Ameraucana).

View attachment 2016894

Your 3 girls are so pretty! I'm sorry to hear about you terrible loss . It will be so nice to be able to build up your flock again with the newcomers and the old hens can teach them the ropes. I learned from a farm friend of mine to always keep a few savvy old hens to teach the young ones how to chicken and watch out for predators and such. It has worked well for me. I took my little special needs rooster to the sanctuary today and gave her a couple of hens as a thank you. I get so attached to my chickens it's always hard!

 

[FortCluck]

Your 3 girls are so pretty! I'm sorry to hear about you terrible loss . It will be so nice to be able to build up your flock again with the newcomers and the old hens can teach them the ropes. I learned from a farm friend of mine to always keep a few savvy old hens to teach the young ones how to chicken and watch out for predators and such. It has worked well for me. I took my little special needs rooster to the sanctuary today and gave her a couple of hens as a thank you. I get so attached to my chickens it's always hard!

That was very nice of you to give her some hens too!

Someone wanted 20 chicks and I only had 10 so I gave her some of the chicks that I was going to keep out of my hatches. Now Squatch isn't mating with those girls so I'll never get those breeds again

 

[CluckNDoodle]

That was very nice of you to give her some hens too!

Someone wanted 20 chicks and I only had 10 so I gave her some of the chicks that I was going to keep out of my hatches. Now Squatch isn't mating with those girls so I'll never get those breeds again

You never know, maybe the roosters will switch it up again and he will regain his dominance!

 

[FortCluck]

You never know, maybe the roosters will switch it up again and he will regain his dominance!

I don't get how my Jersey Giant allowed a little silver sebright rule the flock As soon as HeiHei got here things changed. They never even fought. They get along amazingly!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Thanks everyone! We've lost a lot of birds over the years but this was a particularly tough loss. They were in an almost fully enclosed coop. Once the mink got in it was like fish in a barrel. Almost enough to make me hang up my boots...almost. If anyone wants to read about here's the thread. It does derail a bit but still worth a read.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/look-what-we-caught-in-our-trap.1340536/#post-21963746

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Last batch for February is in the lock down incubator. One day early, but needed the other incubator for the emus. If we can get just ONE emu. Come on! The other two eggs that were shipped were both broken.

All 23 were alive and had healthy veins. Even with dry incubation, air cells were a bit on the small side. Will up the humidity when I see an external pip and hope for the best! Power line was repaired in the middle of last night, so hopefully no power outages this week.

Still not sure what the dark egg with the B is. Maran, but the list of chicken breeds don’t include a B. The unmarked egg is from my adult chickens. This must be the replacement for the hen we lost last Sunday...