The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[blackgoat]

Snow today! I was able to candle 3 eggs while one of the broodies was off the nest. 1 had veins. 1 wasn't one of the original 14, no veins but maybe something, I don't know when it was laid. 1 had no veins. Should I toss the ones that aren't developing?

 

[Mama Bay]

Sally sunshine has a section in this article on detached /mishapen air sacs https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
Good luck with them, I find incubating upright and hatching in cartons very useful for them.

Thanks! Crossing my fingers

 

[Aprildeesunshin]

Alright, I don't know if this will count, but this is my story and I am sticking to it. On Monday the 9th I set 12 eggs in a panic around 2:00 pm because I, for some reason, thought that was the day I was supposed to set the eggs. When I was able to get back on here at this wonderful "chicken people" place I realized that I was way ahead of schedule. So I threw my hands up and just added eggs for the next 3 days because there was no way I could remember to do it on Saturday, the 14th. We were hosting a double birthday party that day for our boys. They got Wheelers! It was a big day. So for the days of the 9th-12th I set 29 mixed breed chicken eggs. I set 0 guinea eggs. If this counts I am still in with you guys. I do have some woes...out of 84 eggs I set since Jan only 2 hatched out. 2 were killed by an accidental 5 yr old boy fall. They would die just before hatch and others would die in the middle process. A couple even beaked through then died as their beaks hung out of the shell. There has been sooooo much chick death in this household. We changed incubators and Sunday was supposed to be their hatch date. The first hatched out Tuesday. The other 3 hatched out today. I checked the air pockets of others. I still have 7 alive and about 15 gone....some ready to hatch...blood was drawn in and so was the yoke. I currently have 4 lovely ALIVE chicks in a tote today.... And hopefully 7 more. BIG QUESTIONS!!!!!!! Why are my chicks hatching out late? Why are they dying? Will my 29 eggs still count for the total count? I did have a regular tractor supply bator with egg turner. The new bator is a hova bator and I opted out of doing the egg turner. Have bator hidden in a non drafty place under a dresser. I would be happy to share more info if needed to answer my questions. So confused and sad...what am I doing wrong. I believe we have lost over 100 eggs/chicks. I would not want 100 but I keep trying to replenish our stock.

 

[ronott1]

Alright, I don't know if this will count, but this is my story and I am sticking to it. On Monday the 9th I set 12 eggs in a panic around 2:00 pm because I, for some reason, thought that was the day I was supposed to set the eggs. When I was able to get back on here at this wonderful "chicken people" place I realized that I was way ahead of schedule. So I threw my hands up and just added eggs for the next 3 days because there was no way I could remember to do it on Saturday, the 14th. We were hosting a double birthday party that day for our boys. They got Wheelers! It was a big day. So for the days of the 9th-12th I set 29 mixed breed chicken eggs. I set 0 guinea eggs. If this counts I am still in with you guys. I do have some woes...out of 84 eggs I set since Jan only 2 hatched out. 2 were killed by an accidental 5 yr old boy fall. They would die just before hatch and others would die in the middle process. A couple even beaked through then died as their beaks hung out of the shell.

There has been sooooo much chick death in this household. We changed incubators and Sunday was supposed to be their hatch date. The first hatched out Tuesday. The other 3 hatched out today. I checked the air pockets of others. I still have 7 alive and about 15 gone....some ready to hatch...blood was drawn in and so was the yoke. I currently have 4 lovely ALIVE chicks in a tote today.... And hopefully 7 more. BIG QUESTIONS!!!!!!! Why are my chicks hatching out late? Why are they dying? Will my 29 eggs still count for the total count? I did have a regular tractor supply bator with egg turner. The new bator is a hova bator and I opted out of doing the egg turner. Have bator hidden in a non drafty place under a dresser. I would be happy to share more info if needed to answer my questions. So confused and sad...what am I doing wrong. I believe we have lost over 100 eggs/chicks. I would not want 100 but I keep trying to replenish our stock.

The temperatures were likely too low. Get a Brinsea spotcheck Thermometer for the next hatch.

For now, you may be able to save some by giving them either save a chick or poly vi sol baby drops without iron. One drop on the beak twice a day.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Incubator Wars!

Breaking News!​

This just in! There may be some "fowl" play in this battle of the 'bators! During this mornings' scheduled egg turning Contestant #2 spotted the addition of a mystery egg in their incubator. Not knowing what to do, the Judge was called in to make a ruling. At the moment we are still waiting for him to come back with a decision. In the meantime let's fill you in on what has transpired thus far.

Contestant #1 has had a rather uneventful incubation. Her store bought incubator and turner have been working non-stop, while she has been going about her daily tasks unhindered. Aside from a minor mishap with a secondary thermometer on day 3 it has been a rather uneventful hatch.

Contestant #3 has been a roller coaster of unknown events. After the quitting of Speckles, Amber stepped up to care for these eggs. This may not have been the best decision. After this morning's brief restroom break, Amber become disoriented and returned to the wrong nest box and needed some encouragement to return to the correct box and waiting eggs. It is common knowledge around the "farm" that Amber, while fiercely protective, is not the brightest tool in the shed. The judge did managed to get a quick count of the eggs in Amber's box during this unexpected escapade. Miss. Amber started with 8 eggs. However, there are now 14 eggs in the box. This number may to many for her to cover properly. As we speak a plan is being formulated to separate her and her original 8 eggs to a separate nest box, away from any other sneaky hens. We will bring you updates as soon as we have them.

Contestant #2... oh, wait just a minute. It would appear the Judge has returned with a decision. "The origins of this egg are unknown, but all creatures deserve a chance at life. The mystery egg can remain. However, the results associated with this egg will neither count for or against this team." There you have it folks! The egg stays! It would seem that the young men believe contestant #1 is behind this whole situation and have issued a challenge. "Our eggs and our incubator are strong enough to handle this disturbance. In-fact the more eggs there are the stronger they become, and we can prove it. Can you?" Wow, folks, what a challenge. Proving the strength of eggs... I wonder what they could "cooking up" now.

...yep..hmm...ok...sounds go. Contestant #1 has agreed to the challenge and extends the challenge to all participants and observers of BackYardChickens Easter Hatch-A-Long. Folks, all you have to do is post a picture or link a video of you proving the strength of eggs. Please include the quote "Incubator Wars Challenge" along with your post. All ideas and creativity are up to you. This challenge is for the fun of it and no prizes will be issued at this time. To keep from flooding this forum all challenge related posts must be posted by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time March 20.

We will be back again soon with more exciting updates in our Incubator Wars for now, Good Day and Happy Hatching!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

NOOOOOO! I'm supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow.  It's spring, darn it. I want it to be spring. Someone show me some pictures of blue skies, flowers, and green grass. Preferably including baby chicks.​

Yep, here too It's so disappointing. We just managed to find some of our grass and the girls just started free ranging again.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

[COLOR=B22222]Incubator Wars![/COLOR] ​

Breaking News!​

This just in! There may be some "fowl" play in this battle of the 'bators! During this mornings' scheduled egg turning Contestant #2 spotted the addition of a mystery egg in their incubator. Not knowing what to do, the Judge was called in to make a ruling. At the moment we are still waiting for him to come back with a decision. In the meantime let's fill you in on what has transpired thus far.

Contestant #1 has had a rather uneventful incubation. Her store bought incubator and turner have been working non-stop, while she has been going about her daily tasks unhindered. Aside from a minor mishap with a secondary thermometer on day 3 it has been a rather uneventful hatch.

Contestant #3 has been a roller coaster of unknown events. After the quitting of Speckles, Amber stepped up to care for these eggs. This may not have been the best decision. After this morning's brief restroom break, Amber become disoriented and returned to the wrong nest box and needed some encouragement to return to the correct box and waiting eggs. It is common knowledge around the "farm" that Amber, while fiercely protective, is not the brightest tool in the shed. The judge did managed to get a quick count of the eggs in Amber's box during this unexpected escapade. Miss. Amber started with 8 eggs. However, there are now 14 eggs in the box. This number may to many for her to cover properly. As we speak a plan is being formulated to separate her and her original 8 eggs to a separate nest box, away from any other sneaky hens. We will bring you updates as soon as we have them.

Contestant #2... oh, wait just a minute. It would appear the Judge has returned with a decision. "The origins of this egg are unknown, but all creatures deserve a chance at life. The mystery egg can remain. However, the results associated with this egg will neither count for or against this team." There you have it folks! The egg stays! It would seem that the young men believe contestant #1 is behind this whole situation and have issued a challenge. "Our eggs and our incubator are strong enough to handle this disturbance. In-fact the more eggs there are the stronger they become, and we can prove it. Can you?" Wow, folks, what a challenge. Proving the strength of eggs... I wonder what they could "cooking up" now.

...yep..hmm...ok...sounds go. Contestant #1 has agreed to the challenge and extends the challenge to all participants and observers of BackYardChickens Easter Hatch-A-Long. Folks, all you have to do is post a picture or link a video of you proving the strength of eggs. Please include the quote "Incubator Wars Challenge" along with your post. All ideas and creativity are up to you. This challenge is for the fun of it and no prizes will be issued at this time. To keep from flooding this forum all challenge related posts must be posted by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time March 20.

We will be back again soon with more exciting updates in our Incubator Wars for now, Good Day and Happy Hatching!

Think I may just have to join!

 

[Aprildeesunshin]

Maybe I was unclear with how they died. They ALL died in the egg. Some died after their first "peck" through. All that have hatched are alive and well. It must be the bator or something I am dong with my bator or?????!

 

[chickwhispers]

OK I am really out this time. Someone ate the eggs.

My original broody gave up and a couple others were taking turns and actually doing well...until just now. I went out to get the early birds eggs around 9 and all was well. My SS, Pooky was playing mom. I went back out a few minutes ago and the egg shells were shattered. I am done until I see real broody signs for a longer time. Experiment over.

Questions and lessons learned:
1. Make sure she is broody
2. Separate her from flock
3. Does it matter if trying to hatch different colored eggs?
4. Stop thinking about letting broody cat hatch instead.

I will be glued to my seat for the next episode of Incubator Wars, though. Let's do this, Team Broody!

So sorry. and Broody cat -

I'm getting hooked on "Incubator wars" too!

I can't apologize enough. I'm out. I got extremely ill last week and couldn't finish the incubator rebuild and didn't want to start eggs in the LG. So my set # is zero. Sorry for the delay.
Hopefully I'll get it done by tomorrow and set the eggs I've been collecting.

Quote: Hope you are back to 100% soon! And Let us know how the pineapple works.

Quote:
Snow

in spring is a four letter word! I'm so glad to see ours go although we still have ice on the pond.

Beautiful chick pics!

Here are some of my fluff babies from my very first hatch tgey hatched at the beginning of the month! Just so we can all get our chick fix.... Lol




I got 13 babies out of that hatch 2 jersey Giants and 11 barnyard mix

Awesome chicks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm just sayin'. I never candle broody eggs. I let nature take its course. They'll either hatch or they won't. The more she's left to her own devices, the better the results.