Well for any of you who have been following on Facebook, E-I-E-I-O farms has a batch of baby chicks that are going to hatch either April 28th or 29th. I have an incubator but have been hesitant to use it because although successful with each of the polish eggs I hatched, everyone (three total) were roosters. I keep whatever I hatch it's my law. So it wasn't really my intention to be hatching out anymore chicks for awhile until the rooster numbers fell to more normal quantities.
Our small Light Brahma section which has a rooster in it, I found eggs that a hen had been sneaking under their building and laying (I have fixed this problem) but not before she layed approximately 12 eggs. Because of the situation I felt akward eating them we weren't sure exactly how long this has been going on, plus I didn't want to throw them away because they were probably fertile. I had been letting my cochins sit on eggs we had just started so I took all the eggs, the ones we found and the ones from under the cochins and put them in my really cool incubator. 6 days in, all but two were definitely fertile, one from the cochins isn't, the other from the bantams I'm not positive about until I am I won't throw it away.
The way you know is you candle the eggs I finally bought a candler when it arrives I will try to take a photograph of one of the eggs. It is really so cool when they get a little bigger inside you can see them floating around it's like having an ultrasound done.
Both of these breeds has really gentle roosters so were hoping for the best that if there are some roosters, there will be few :0) and we can pal them up in the group that's already in place. I haven't had baby chicks here for over 2 years I am so excited!
This picture is what a Light Brahma baby chick will look like:
As Chicks (check out those feet!)
As Adults (having a dirt Bath)
Cochin baby chicks:
as baby chicks
Honey Comb - she's a grown cochin. So cute!
This is what a candler looks like:
This video I pulled from YouTube this is what you can see when you candle the eggs, when they're fertile and 12 days along.
They've begun to hatch! It's Tuesday, April 26th and the very first chick was out and about when I woke up this morning! WOOHOO!
Photo taken Sunday, April 24th before anyone was "breaking out". The three cochin eggs are as follows: Top right hand corner, Top left hand corner and one down. The rest are Brahma eggs.
When I went to bed Monday night, the 25th of April, the one on the top left was breaking out. This morning another one had hatched, also a cochin but the top right one. There's lots of egg wobbling going on and they're starting to peep through the eggs.
The first one, a cochin which was in the top right egg was waiting for me this morning. They stay in the incubator "drying" for 24 hours. They recommend taking chicks out every 24 hours so as not to disrupt the temperature. My incubator has an acrylic top allowing me to watch and photograph without distrubing them.
As you watch this video, you'll hear crowing this incubator is up in my bathroom which connects to my bedroom, Paris my disabled rooster is in the bedroom. I thought it was interesting how when the baby heard the crow it watched where it was coming from!
Chick #2 (Cochin) trying to get out still! 04/26/11 12:41pm
Cochin Chick #2 out 04/27/11 6:00am, umbilical is still connected top right of photo will eventually fall off.
Just out of the shell, Cochin #3 hatched around 9:00am
Goldilocks or Cochin #1, Day 2. Very lonely and peeping last night, I finally held her on my chest in a warm blanket and she nuzzled my face and neck and passed out. I put her away with the blanket last night and she got a goodnight sleep. The blanket seems more comforting to her than the stuffed animals. She's drinking and eating on her own!
I've been very lax in keeping up with this I've been so busy with orders. Here are updated images we ended up with three cochins and one brahma. There are 3 more eggs which will hatch right around the same time but in May.
One of the adults that possibly hatched them is to the far left, I found her struggling outside today our temperatures have been going really high then really low. She's been brooding as if she was sitting on eggs and had gotten too thin to keep herself warm. They're all keeping an eye on her and I created a tunnel out of a box in case she's not nice they can hide so far so good.
Top left is the brahma (Seep) I'm naming her after the Lupine leg band she will be wearing (Sea Ponies), Far right is Cinderella a cochin, last one out, bottom right is Red Riding Hood also a cochin and the one with the darkest wings is Goldilocks first cochin hatched.
Furthest to the corner is Red Riding Hood, then just peeking over the back of Seep is Cinderella and the closest to the camera is Goldilocks. Check out how feathery the cochins feet are too cute!
Furthest left on top of box is Goldilocks, then Seep, Cinderella is almost hidden by Seep and then Red Riding Hood is in the food.