Chick Hatching Diary #5

Welcome back to the “Chick Hatching Diary. This will be the Final Episode for the 2nd 2015 Hatch.

But, don't worry we'll have more for the Easter Hatch-a-long!

The following chicks were zipping or had pipped when I went to bed on 3/16 and found them fully hatched on 3/17 at 4:30am:

#30 - (4970) - brown, tan, cream chipmunk with black ‘freckles’ on its face, single comb; Dad’s coop light brown egg

#31 - (4971) - reddish brown and tan head, black/dark brown body, single comb; Dad’s coop brown egg

#32 - (4972) - light blue with yellow face & belly, ‘freckles’, small rose comb - PA coop medium-sized light brown egg (though it was SFH x CH pullet’s egg - but seeing that all the chicks were black or blue, with small combs - it must have been another hen)

#33 - (4973) - darker blue with yellow wing tips, small comb - PA coop medium-sized light brown egg

#34 - (4974) - yellow with black spot on its head, single comb; hatched around 5:30am on 3/17  from Dad’s coop light brown egg

In the morning, I put up a hardware cloth divider attached with zip ties to the sides of the plastic bin brooder, ao the older & newer chicks could see each other. Hopefully, they'll get used to each other & I can put them all together & the older ones will mind their manners. While I have buyers coming Saturday for many of them, I'm keeping some of them for myself and to grow out for started pullets.

After I got done wing-banding all these chicks on 3/17 afternoon/early evening, there were still 2 chicks that must have hatched during the day & I never “noticed” them among their other hatch mates.

#35 - (4975) - reddish brown, gray hint by wings, muff & single comb - from Dad’s coop brown egg

#36 - (4976) - lighter reddish brown with chipmunk stripes & black spot on its head; Biel x CH

There were a few chicks that had been trying to hatch, but due to my opening up the incubator to remove all the other chicks, it dried out the membranes, making them get “stuck” and unable to finish zipping & hatching.

#37 - (4977) - gray chick with rose comb, from PA coop green egg

#38 - (4978) - light & dark brown chipmunk with rose/ cushion comb, from PA coop green egg

#39 - (4979) - The 1 and only SFH chick hatched by itself AFTER I assisted the 3 other chicks and had opened the hatcher many times! And it came from a porous egg & I had almost given up on it. It’s tan, blue, brown - no chipmunk stripes, but has a similar look to the other SFH chicks that hatched last year. Most likely sired by “Little Man”.

#41  was very sticky & had "gunk" all over it. It can't stand up or even get on its feet, so I had to cull it. Not an easy thing to do, but a “weak” or “handicapped” chick does not help build a stronger breed.

Out of the 50 eggs that went into lockdown:

36 hatched "on time" and are doing well in the brooder

2 assisted late hatchers - that are also doing well in the brooder

1 late self-hatcher - SFH - doing great

1 assisted late hatch - culled

1 bloody & messy chick - died

The 9 other unhatched eggs were as follows:

2 hadn't developed at all (but somehow they looked formed when I candled??)

2 looked to have quit developing along the way

5 were fully formed, but died in the shell, no external pips, and only 2 of those had internally pipped. This included two Bielefelder eggs .

Grand total: 39 healthy , lively little chicks