What a day!

Well, I went to bed around 12:45 this morning with 7 pips.  Around 3:45 the local police department called looking for my husband because someone had tried to break in to the restaurant he works in and he's on the emergency call list AND... I had a baby out!!  10 minutes later... ANOTHER!.

We worked on the coop ALL day so I didn't have much time to keep checking but as of 10:00 tonight we have 10 light Brahma babies :)

AND..

My eggs that I bought the other day arrived and they are BEAUTIFUL!!

Blue EE egg and a Mille Fleur D'Uccle bantam egg

My lovely EE eggs with an Egglands Best white egg for color comparison :)

I LOVE my egg babies.. LOL

Tired of waiting...

I have been sitting next to the bator waiting for these little fuzz butts to get into the world AND... nothin!

There are now 4 pips but no zipping (breaking around in a circle to get out) and most importantly NO FRIGGIN CHICKS...

I need to sleep tonight... oh well..

HATCH DAY HAS BEGUN!

Around 12:15 pm today I was standing by the incubator and heard PEEPING!!

I looked and looked and found.....

Again, non-chicken folk.. a "pip" is a tiny crack/break in the egg shell that the baby has made to start their way out of the egg.

This is a good sized Lt. Brahma egg!

I just checked again about 10 minutes ago and now we have THREE pips.  I think all three are Lt Brahma's but I know that two of them are.  All eggs are marked but one of them is turned so I can't see the marking.  BOO!

Anyway.. I will keep posting pictures etc as it happens!  May I can get a good video!

6 Weeks Old

Here are some new photos of the "old" babies who are 6 weeks old this weekend...

Speck

Flip

Sunny

Sunny

Wobble

Wobble

Guinness

Guinness 

Wobble and Speck

Lawless

Lawless's feathery legs

Lawless's Pretty face

LOCK DOWN and a little insanity

Well today is officially "lock down" which, for those of you not hatching literate, means "DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT DAMNED INCUBATOR UNTIL THOSE BABIES ARE OUT!!"

Basically, on day 18 you stop turning the eggs, close up the 'bator and increase the humidity so that the babies can get into position and get out of the eggs safely.

I have 21 in there.  3 were adopted out to my friend Jenn's broody.  As I posted before, she only has 1 lonely Silkie egg developing so in an effort to keep that baby happy, I gave her a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Blue Wheaten Maran and Light Brahma.  I can't wait to see the size difference between those chicks! LOL

Anyway.. here are the eggs tucked in for hatch...

I'll keep you posted!

On another note I accidentally bought MORE eggs today and these aren't even hatching yet! AHHHH!!!

I will have Millie Fleur D'Uccles
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=492887
and beautiful EE's  http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=492902

I got a great deal from this guy and I am hoping for some beautiful and interesting birds.

Day 10- Who gets to stay?

Well, today is day 10!  I've been candling here and there but today I had decisions to make.  Who's staying and who's going?  Which eggs are clear and which ones are quitters :)

Unfortunately all of the Silkie eggs we got  (that were in my bator) are gone.  Only 1 was fertile and it quit early on.  Of the 3 that Jenn kept, only 2 were fertile, 1 quitter and 1 little one that looks great!

I have 8 BLRW left in the bator but only 5 that I am confident about keeping.

There are still most of the Lt. Brahma, Dk Brahma and a few Blue Wheaten Marans too for a total of 24 left in the incubator to finish out the hatch.  We will see how it goes these last 10-11 days.

I am pretty bummed that out of 43 eggs I am down to 24 but I understand thems the breaks on shipped eggs etc.

We will see how it goes.  For my next hatches I am hoping to get some more local eggs since those worked out so well.  28/30 went into lockdown (last three days) and 25 hatched.  That's pretty darn amazing!

Day 6.. I'm dying to see something!!

Well, today is officially day 6 HOWEVER.. I think my temps were a little low the first 2 days or so..  which stinks because that means the hatch may take longer than 21 days. :/  I am extra nervous because of a few reasons:

1. This is only my second hatch.. EVER
2. This is my first hatch with SHIPPED eggs
3. I'm incubating for other people as well as myself

These are breeds that I REALLY want and want to see hatch.  If this goes well and I can sell the babies easily I plan on doing a few more hatches.  I like this part, I like the brooding and then I like picking my favorites.. BUT...  STRESSFUL

I want to see development like I did with my fresh eggs.. patience patience patience...

Day 2

I've been hand turning the "lonely" egg and checking the bator for temperature stability several times a day. The hygrometer measures humidity differently depending on where it is in the incubator so I turned off the auto turner for a couple of hours and carefully balanced the hygrometer to get a reading in the center. Looking good! I tweaked the temp a bit and was sooo tempted to candle but I didn't. Maybe I'll sneak a little peak tomorrow ;)

Second Hatch is SET!

Well, Jenn came over this morning and brought over the Silkie Eggs!

I couldn't believe the size difference between the Silkie vs these Lt Brahma eggs!

Here they are!!  All tucked into the incubator. :)  I have ONE that I didn't have room for on the auto-turner so it's tucked into the side for now.  After 4-5 days I will be able to see any that aren't fertile or developing and can move that one in with the others.

In roughly 21 days, we will have babies!! :)

First Shipped Eggs

Hey everyone!!  So this egg hatching bug has bitten me HARD.. I ordered my first batches of eggs from North Florida (http://www.fowlvisions.com/) and West Virginia (http://soaringhawksfarm.blogspot.com/).  Another friend got some Silkie Eggs from here http://www.indigoegg.us/silkies.html too.  My eggs just came in today after dealing with several USPS workers (one that was just down right miserable).  It was like CHRISTMAS!!  Lots of unwrapping and surprise!

From Fowl Visions I won an auction for 12+ Lt Brahma eggs.  She also included a few Dark Brahma Eggs.  Each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap then the box itself was padded with newspaper.  I paid $12.25 for the dozen and then shipping which was almost 6 dollars.  Around $18 total :)

Here are some pictures:

WOAH!!  These are some HUGE EGGS! (Lt Brahmas)

My other eggs came from a private purchase, not an auction, with Soaring Hawks Farm.  I purchased 12+ Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs.  I received those PLUS a few Blue Maran/Wheaten Maran and even Blue Laced Wyandottes!!  Packaging again was awesome!  Each egg  bubble wrapped in a small box, inside a bigger box.  THIS was cushioned with paper and bubble wrap.  I paid $20+shipping for the 12+ eggs but received 18 eggs!! WOW!!

I put them in the egg cartons so they could rest large end up for 12-24 hours as suggested.  This allows the air cell to reposition and reattach after rough shipping.

I will be setting these Sunday along with the Silkie eggs that Jenn got. I will post pics of those soon :)

My Current Birds

EE/Cochin Roo?

This is "Lawless"

Black Laced Cochin Hen?

"Guinness"  Hopefully an EE Hen?

EE Hen?

Sussex Hen?  (NO IDEA)

"Wobble"  Hen?

Leghorn/Cochin Roo?

"Flip" Leghorn Frizzle Hen?

Leghorn/Cochin Hen?

Leghorn/Cochin Roo?

"Speck" Silkie/EE Hen?

Hello everyone!

I am starting a Blog to share my adventures in hatching and raising Poultry.  Maybe I will start a farm someday when we win the lotto ;)

For now, I want to have a place I can post all of my pictures and get comments on the babies.

My first hatch was a group of 30 eggs I received for free from a local person.  They were RIR, Leghorn, Sussex, Cochin and EE mixes.

The hatched a day or two early on 3/17/2011.  Here are some pics of the incubation and candling of that group