# Christmas chick hatch-9 chicks hatched, 7 eggs remaining



## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Morning all,
For Christmas, we got out kids an incubator and once it arrived, DH had a a great idea and thought we should go ahead and fill it with eggs, setting them to hatch on Christmas morning.  We have not hatched eggs before and have been nervous first timers for the last three weeks.  On Saturday, day 18, we removed the egg turner, opened both vents, and upped the humidity.  I wasn't even sure that we had any in there that were alive (we candled twice but the shells are very dark).

Last night, there was the adorable sound of peeping coming from the corner of our room where we have the incubator hidden and not this morning, we have eggs that are pipped and wiggling.  We may have to give this gift early.  Pics coming soon.


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## Tmaxson (Dec 24, 2012)

I think that was a awesome idea and it sounds like it is working out great.  Can't wait to see pictures.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Pictures!

We have Black Copper Marans, Ameraucana x Black Copper Marans, and several others that I am not totally sure from which hen they came from or by which rooster they were fertilized.

There are three that I see with pips--two green and one brown.  Others are wiggling but no pips yet.  










This is the brooder box DH built for them.  We have several other boxes but they are too big for wrapping up.  This one we can put them in as the are hatching and for the first few days while they get going, then we will move them into the larger one in the barn for some leg room.  We are going to let them open the brooder box first and see what they think it is for, then take them into see the chicks hatching (can't really wrap that).


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Oh boy oh boy!  This too amazing to see.  As soon as DH gets back from the feed store and my oldest boy back from shopping with his Nana, we are going to let the kids open this gift.  Every 15-20 minutes, another one starts peeping and rocking, then you hear that little 'pffft' of a beak poking a hole through the shell.  One is really wanting out of there.  I think I read that is just fine to leave the first hatchers in there for a day while the others catch up.  I am not about to let anyone open that lid, so no worries on that   I am especially excited to see the ones that I had marked with an X as possibly being duds are pipping.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)




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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

Got us our first baby!  Not even one of the ones that had pipped before.  This little thing just decided it was coming out, pipped, popped the top off and wiggled out, in 15-20 minutes.  
As soon as DH and I realized he/she was determined to get out asap, we went ahead and let the kid open the brooder box.  As soon as the paper was off, my oldest said "Baby chicks!" but then saw there was nothing inside the box but pine shavings.  So we closed their eyes and walked them to the incubator---they were thrilled!!  Sat do and got to watch one hatch right away.  Julia sang it happy birthday as it kicked the rest of its shell away.  










Five or six others have pipped and one has a beak sticking out, but they seem to have the same idea I do right now-NAP TIME!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 24, 2012)

Your kids will love it!!!!  I still get excited every time and I've done this so many times!!!!  I had eggs in the incubator when my grandkids were here for Easter...they loved the whole process...however, it was my daughter who was spell bound and just couldn't leave...

This will be an awesome gift for your kids...each hatch is like a little life miracle to me....enjoy!!!!!


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## bonbean01 (Dec 24, 2012)

oh...was posting when you were!!!!  Too cute Julia singing Happy Birthday


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 24, 2012)

This is so exciting.  Some advise from someone who hatches every week.  I never open the incubator until at least 24 hours after the hatch date, unless of course they have all hatched.  If a chick is struggling, resist the urge to help.   I have found that most of the times when the chick is struggling there is a reason.  And the majority if the time if I help them, there ends up being other problems and they end up not making it anyway.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

> This is so exciting.  Some advise from someone who hatches every week.  I never open the incubator until at least 24 hours after the hatch date, unless of course they have all hatched.  If a chick is struggling, resist the urge to help.   I have found that most of the times when the chick is struggling there is a reason.  And the majority if the time if I help them, there ends up being other problems and they end up not making it anyway.


Thanks you!  We were just talking about that.  I won't open it, just gonna sit tight and wait.  She is so cute!  Wobbling around, peeping and looking for buddies--she even pecked at a few eggs, like HEY come out and play with me.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 24, 2012)

I never get tired of the miracle of a hatching chick.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=149601281855632&set=vb.100004172828149&type=2&theater

Not sure if this will work but here is a link to a video clip of it.


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## Alice Acres (Dec 24, 2012)

What a great gift - and so awesome you actually planned ahead enough to get them to hatch for Christmas!
We have an old incubator in that style too, but haven't used it in years. They are fun.  One of hubby's brothers has a big incubator - wood, with many shelves and rolls, moves, etc. The deluxe version!

 We have a real broody bunch of hens now, and we let them hatch and yard train their chicks.
And of course no chicks here this time of year...way too cold!


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## CocoNUT (Dec 24, 2012)

that is SOOO awesome! I think that's a neat "warm up" for Christmas tomorrow! now the kids can take the chickies out tomorrow and play with them. Your daughter singing Happy Birthday is pretty cute too. That is a really nice brooder box BTW. 

I'd LOVE an incubator...but I'd hatch like a crazy fool!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

5, almost 6, are out.  Question for anyone who sees this and knows---the temp is steady but the humidity has jumped to 82% now that they are popping open.  I won't touch it unless I am supposed to but should I crack the lid to let some out or is it okay?  Both vents are still open.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 24, 2012)

The humidity will jump when they start hatching because of the moisture inside the egg.  82% is high.  Do you have any other vents that you can open?  If so, open another one.  I have the basic Miller Incubator with a fan that I use for a hatcher.  I poked some extra holes in the top of mine and I cover them with a small piece of tap if I need to close them.

How many total eggs do you have in your incubator?


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## PendergrassRanch (Dec 24, 2012)

That looks so exciting!!!!! I want an incubator now!


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 24, 2012)

PendergrassRanch said:
			
		

> That looks so exciting!!!!! I want an incubator now!


Get two, one for incubating and one for hatching.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)

PendergrassRanch said:
			
		

> That looks so exciting!!!!! I want an incubator now!


You have silkies!! You don't need one. lol


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## PendergrassRanch (Dec 24, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

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I have ONE silkie and he is a rooster! LOL!


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## PendergrassRanch (Dec 24, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

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I was going to just let the hens raise whatever. I don't really want to deal with babies again  but its so cute!


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)

Well that doesn't help much does it? Maybe you could train him?


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## PendergrassRanch (Dec 24, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Well that doesn't help much does it? Maybe you could train him?


He is an honorary hen as it is. I hope he takes to being broody and raises babies. He is probably the most useless animal I have but he has a lot of personality and was a gift so he stays


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 24, 2012)

Well those bucks were gifts too!! I bet that silkie would be good eating. Actually in the Chinese culture they are a delicacy.

But he may be too old now. Best to turn him into a hen and teach him to sit on eggs.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

> The humidity will jump when they start hatching because of the moisture inside the egg.  82% is high.  Do you have any other vents that you can open?  If so, open another one.  I have the basic Miller Incubator with a fan that I use for a hatcher.  I poked some extra holes in the top of mine and I cover them with a small piece of tap if I need to close them.
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> How many total eggs do you have in your incubator?


There are 16 eggs total and both of the available vents are open.  The lid does have several small holes in it as well to allow for air circulation but it is not enough it seems.  This is a circulated air one, with a fan, Farm innovators brand.  I am thinking I might tip up one corner to let a tiny bit of moisture escape---we have four open almost all at the same time and it is really steamy in there now.  

All of the green eggs and most of the regular brown are hatched.  The black copper marans eggs are remaining and a few cuckoo crosses---wonder if these are just slower or something.  A few have pipped and I can see wiggles.  Do you all ever take out the already hatched ones?  They are fluffy dry and running around knocking the other eggs around.  

This is so exciting I cannot stop looking.  I finally put the kids to bed and I need to get there but how do you say enough already.  I can so see how this is addicting.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 24, 2012)

PendergrassRanch said:
			
		

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LOL, that is hilarious.  Our silkie hen is all of a sudden deciding to go broody.  The rest of our birds have never done that---I think I had to ask Elevan what that even meant at one point.


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## pridegoethb4thefall (Dec 24, 2012)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> ThreeBoysChicks said:
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You can open the lid to snatch out the already hatched chicks. Hatching tends to raise the humidity quite a bit. Too much humidity can drown the others who havent hatched yet.  You wont hurt the other eggs if you move fast and dont take the lid off all the way, just raise it enough to get ur hand in there and snatch a chick, then shut quickly. Allow 10 minutes between chick snatches for humodity to raise a bit before grabbing another chick.

If at all possible, get a second incubator- you can use it as a place to hold hatched chicks untill all are hatched, or just as a 'hatcher' only for staggered hatches when you add eggs after you already started incubating. Incubating is highly addictive= I used to have 4 bators running at a time, hatching chickens, turkeys, quail, and guinea fowl. I loved it, and will be doing more incubating this spring, its SO FUN!!!

CONGRATS  on your chicks! Hope you post pics- I love chick pictures (used to see alot on BYC, but never go there anymore)


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 25, 2012)

Be patient with the Maran's eggs.  Here, the Marans are always the last to hatch.  I have even had Marans eggs hatch on day 23.  So do not give up on the Marans.  If you decide you want to snatch all of the other babies out, do it real quick and leave the marans in for a few more days.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

Thanks for the pointers!    I fell asleep after I posted, woke up again at 3 and there were three more hatched.  I fired up the brooder to get it warm, put some water into their dish, and then DH helped me to move fast to get chicks/shells out and snap the lid again.  The chicks are happy and adorable, seven or eight in total now (I need to go count again after I have five more cups of coffee).  Only one Marans egg hatched so far, but I don't know which chick it is---they all look exactly the same to me, like Australorps.  A few have puffy cheek fuzz so I believe those are the Ameraucana crosses.

Humidity is back to 65-70% and the temp is stable so now we wait to see if anymore are viable   More pics soon.


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## Alice Acres (Dec 25, 2012)

Sounds good - have fun!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

Pictures!  Nine chicks and seven eggs left.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 25, 2012)

awwww...chicks are too cute...but your daughter is so adorable


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## pridegoethb4thefall (Dec 25, 2012)

Gorgeous!! Just a little reminder- you might want to dip the beaks of the chicks in the waterer to teach them where the water is. The first to 'get it' will show the others.

Meryy Christmas!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

pridegoethb4thefall said:
			
		

> Gorgeous!! Just a little reminder- you might want to dip the beaks of the chicks in the waterer to teach them where the water is. The first to 'get it' will show the others.
> 
> Meryy Christmas!!


Thanks   Already have them drinking and pecking at the crumbles.  A couple aren't totally on board yet so I will do them again this afternoon. Love watching them scurry around and then suddenly decide to take a nap.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 25, 2012)

Your marans should have feathers on its legs. 

Awesome pictures.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

> Your marans should have feathers on its legs.
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> Awesome pictures.


I feel really dumb...I read this and was like OH YEAH.  So I started picking them up and found one right away that had feather legs and feet.  I called over DH and told him I found it.  But then he picked up one and noticed that it had them too.  And another.  And another.  Almost all of them have feathers.  Then I remembered, um yeah, the rooster who breed all of these hens is a feather-legged French Black Copper Marans   .  We need a forehead slapping emoticon.  

They are all BCM crosses (barnevelder/australorp/ameracauna/barred rock/cuckoo marans) except for one who is actually purebred but no clue which at this point. Once they get their big girl/boy feathers in, it should be apparent.


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## Bridgemoof (Dec 27, 2012)

How are the chicks doing Pearce? They are such little fluff balls of love   Hope your kids are having fun with them!


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 27, 2012)

What was your total hatch?


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

They are sweet and fluffy, nine in total.  7 eggs haven't hatched and I am thinking I might put on in a baggie and open to see if there is even anything going on.  Today at 6pm would make 23 days and I haven't seen anymore twitching eggs.  4 of them are Black Copper Marans eggs, 1 is s Cuckoo Marans x Black Copper Marans, and the other I am not sure.  I am wondering if the BCMs, which we got from a friend, just weren't fertile, or maybe like she suggested, the eggs are too small yet since she is a newer layer (they are good sized though, similar to the other eggs that hatched).

My kids loved this and I am so glad we went ahead and got this. I already want to do another set 

Side note---thank you for letting me share this here and for all of the pointers on this first time hatching.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

Pearce, I always open my unhatched eggs too...in a bag to check if they were fertile or not...but learned to do this carefully, as I have opened a few eggs and there was a live chick 

I've quickly put them back in the warm incubator and they lived...on my last hatch several that I opened were dead, but completely formed and have no idea why they didn't hatch...only thing that was different about them was their size...they were huge!  Out of 14 eggs, only one was not fertile.

Yes...I know you are tempted to set another batch right away...this gets addicting...trust me...


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Dec 27, 2012)

All this talk of eggs reminds me of rotten eggs. Yeah that's a nasty smell. I would be scared of opening the eggs if the didn't hatch...


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

Strangely, none of them smelled rotten ever...don't know why, but they didn't.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

That is what I was wondering---sniffing these, there is not odor and I have definitely smelled rotten eggs through the shell before.  I'll be opening one soon so we will see.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

Well no more chicks for us this time.  We did that float test thing---one was a bobber and just to be sure, I opened it inside a plastic bag---pretty well dehydrated and nothing discernible as an embryo.  The others did a low float, so I candled them and could see anything, then just set them on the counter to watch for any movement.  Nada.  Opened them inside baggies and all but two were just yolks, nothing else.  The two had almost totally grown chicks inside but still a lot of yolk and no signs of life.  I am not sure what happened with them but I suppose it is just one of those things.  

I got the incubator are cleaned up and drying.  Not sure how long it will stay empty though


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

Yup...I knew it!!!!  Incubating chicks is addictive...I love it   But...won't be doing anymore now since keeping the temps in the shed with the heat lamp is turning out not so good...another dead one today 

Down to only 5 surviving now...will wait until early spring to start up the incubator again.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 27, 2012)

Oh, so sorry bonbean.  That stinks.  Ours are still in the house until we set up the box outside later.  Can't keep in the house though because they will eventually get to smelling bad.


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## bonbean01 (Dec 27, 2012)

Kept mine in the house longer than usual and yeah...doing 5 or more clean ups a day to keep the smell down was getting way too much 

They were all bigger and fully feathered when we brought them to the shed brooder which is bigger and had a heat lamp on them...it has a tray below it that pulls out for easy poop cleaning...but this is not working out obviously...was hoping it would...then I would have that incubator fired up again, but alas...will wait a few months now.

An incubator with chicks hatching for Christmas is just the most awesome gift for your kids!!!!


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