Valentine's Day Hatch!!!

[joanie_maine]

Yipee!

I hatched my first chick of the season today!

It's a very light blue splash and I think it's a cockerel!

 

[Egg_newton]

Oh my goodness! I can't wait for these little chickies to hatch. The last two nights I have had horrible anxiety ridden nightmares about all of these terrible things going wrong. I can't take it! Tomorrow is the Day of Lockdown!!!!

and I started collecting eggs yesterday for another hatch since only seven of these look promising. So, I will get to do it all over again.

 

[Egg_newton]

Quote:
Congrats on your little baby chickie! How can you tell at a day old that it is a boy?

 

[joanie_maine]

Quote:
Congrats on your little baby chickie! How can you tell at a day old that it is a boy?

It's just that I've seen enough chicks to be brave enough to predict

The bantam cochin cockerels usually have a big nose look, like Jimmy Durante, whereas the bantam cochin pullets have a dainty beak look, kinda thin and short

 

[Keri78]

Quote:
CONGRATS!!! SOOOO ADORABLE!!!

 

[Keri78]

Lockdown is tomorrow for me...I'm sooo nervous...this is my first hatch!!! I have 4 healthy baby silkies growing!!! I want to try the egg carton method for hatching...any thoughts? OK quick question...I put my eggs in the bator on Jan 23rd at about 5pm. So I guess I start calculating from 5pm till 5pm of the 24th as one day??? I daydreaming of Valentine themed names...Rosie, Cupid, Sweetheart, Candy, ok...I'm a DORK...you get the picture! Blessings, Keri

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:

Love the pic! And I thought I was going to be a little early for v-day! Love the color on the little one, it rivals lavender almost. And i LOVE lavender on chickens.

 

[joanie_maine]

Quote:
My best advice is to leave things alone and let nature take its course....

Don't open, don't look and for sure, don't help......and don't expect eggs to hatch right on time

So many times I used to "help" chicks when they were coming out of the shell.

The early ones just pop out and are the healthiest!!

Those who don't make it and get bound up in the shell - usually there's a reason.


Use your best judgement on helping - and as you hatch more - you too will see

There's nothing like waking up in the morning and hearing chicks peeping in the incubator!!!!

It's like Christmas!!!!!!

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:
My best advice is to leave things alone and let nature take its course....

Don't open, don't look and for sure, don't help......and don't expect eggs to hatch right on time

So many times I used to "help" chicks when they were coming out of the shell.

The early ones just pop out and are the healthiest!!

Those who don't make it and get bound up in the shell - usually there's a reason.


Use your best judgement on helping - and as you hatch more - you too will see

There's nothing like waking up in the morning and hearing chicks peeping in the incubator!!!!

It's like Christmas!!!!!!

i did not help until about my second or third hatch. I believe helping is for the better. You could have a 100% healthy chick, and it just not have enough space to get out because he is so big. Or just the fact that new people to hatching just don't get everything perfect the first few times around. It's not the chick's fault. I always say if i helped bring the chick into the egg, then you can bet your bottom dollar im going to help him out. Generally i go from 14 to 24 hours...if i see his beak stop moving and or he surpasses 24 hrs since first pip, it's time for me to go in after the little guy.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i just candled and found 3 more eggs not developed out of one breeder's set of eggs.

here's hoping that out of the 2 eggs still growing that one is a roo! let's hope the other breeder's birds will all be hens!

as for helping a chick out of it's egg, i have only had 1 time where it was helpful and didn't harm the chick. the other times i had deformed chicks or it killed them in the shell from nicking a vein that hadn't drawn in enough blood and yolk yet. the only time it seems like it is helpful is when it is an extremely hard to hatch breed. i read after i took an interest in Polish that was why i had such a poor hatch rate and my Chickie was the one that i helped hatch out of his egg successfully. i won't be doing that ever again, i'll let my broody hatch those eggs from now on.