Author Topic: eggs are pipping yippee (Read 4879 times)

sunloving · « **on:** April 22, 2012, 08:41:27 »

Woke up this morning to hear cheeping under my broody girl.
Eggs have small holes in!

Im so excited, there will be very cute photos of chicks later on..
They will be black as they are silver sussex bantams.

x sunloving

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2012, 13:44:46 »

That is exciting. We watched a duckling emerge from its shell last night. Awesome how life begins!

steve76 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2012, 14:01:29 »

My kids would love to see that, any pic's

sunloving · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2012, 14:42:09 »

Mum is very protectvie of them so photos are tricky.
Here is the best one so far two fluffed up chicks ones asleep the other is upside down! Really adoreable black bundles

Its been a weird hatch as the girls stopped being broody before the eggs arrived so days 1-3 they were cold then 3-6 they were sat on half the day then i popped 3 in my heated propagator with the seeds overnight then all six 6-25 under Ginger my tiniest hen. So i had low hopes of anyone hatching I expect the next three in three days time and still hoping for first set number three hatching.

Rolls eyes but hey the propagator worked!
x sunloving

jesssands · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2012, 22:44:37 »

lovely, thanks for sharing ;D

sunloving · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2012, 19:36:12 »

Well one chick was carried of by a magpie a couple of weeks ago which was a disaster and mum hasnt let me near until today so i scooped up the survivor who is looking very scruffy for a check up and a picture. love this one its so adoreable! x sunloving

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2012, 08:36:27 »

She (or he) looks lovely. Don't they grow quickly?

We're due another hatch next weekend. We set 20 eggs in the incubator, of which 9 were fertile, so with luck we'll have a few chicks to add to our collection. But ours are plain white birds, so not quite as pretty, even as chicks!

sunloving · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2012, 08:43:18 »

OOh white/yellow chicks they are adoreable hope you have a chick filled weekend.

I just set six more under one of my girls only to have her sister try to take over . So now i have two birds trying to share the nest box and a lot of clucking. They are good natured and first and second in the pecking order and so pretty equally matched so eggs have been warm all day long without a break! but theres an occasional squabble.

any pipping yet?

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 24, 2012, 19:06:12 »

To be VERY precise, ours are due at 10:30am on Saturday morning. The incubator switched into hatching mode yesterday morning, and I've carefully transferred the eggs from the egg carrier to a nice padded non-slip map.

Last time we had one chick a day early, two a day late, and the rest on the due date. So maybe we'll see something happening tomorrow. But of course I'd rather they went to full term and were strong and healthy than that they arrived early and were a bit underdeveloped.

goodlife · « **Reply #9 on:** May 24, 2012, 19:29:00 »

Ohh..it is sooo exciting to wait the new ones to hatch...I hope to see more photos of the young ones. I just had a look at my girls when they were just tiny...I can hardly remember those days and they grow so quickly... ::)
I was planning to have a 'change' to new ones this year..but decided not to..my girls are so beautiful..big and plump..just perfect. They don't lay as much anymore being 4 yrs old..enough for us but not that many spare eggs to sell anymore.
What sort are you incubating Melbourne?

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 25, 2012, 06:59:32 »

We've got Ixworths (named after the village in Suffolk where they were first bred). They're white with pale pink legs and a rose comb. They're utility birds, so the surplus cockerels are destined for the freezer.

The first batch that we hatched, we put in 7 eggs from our own flock, and a dozen eggs bought in from professional breeders. None of ours were fertile at all, but we got 8 chicks from the ones that we bought.

This time we put in 14 of our own, and 6 bought in. 8 of ours were fertile, and just 1 of the bought ones (the eggs spent 48 hours in the postal system, so I can't blame the breeder).

I'm not counting anything before it hatches, but we're looking forward to having some chicks bred from our own birds this time around!

sunloving · « **Reply #11 on:** May 25, 2012, 19:34:58 »

Hope you have a fab hatching morning tommorow. looking forward to seeing some cute pics!
x sunloving

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 25, 2012, 20:25:14 »

Right! Here's the first of the cute pix! :)

The first couple of eggs pipped this morning, another couple this afternoon. I missed the actual hatch, but this one emerged around 6pm:

[attachment=1]

We're both out on different jobs tomorrow (as ill luck would have it), so we'll miss some of the action. But I'll do a post on Sunday at the latest with an update!

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 26, 2012, 07:13:21 »

This morning we have 6 hatched and looking good. 3 eggs to go.

Jayb · « **Reply #14 on:** May 26, 2012, 11:59:00 »

Exciting or what, can't wait for more piccies :)

sunloving · « **Reply #15 on:** May 27, 2012, 06:15:27 »

Very sweet, hope that you had a good hatch and everyone is happily cheeping and gobbling down food this morning.
x sunloving

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #16 on:** May 27, 2012, 06:47:16 »

I've just refilled the little flowerpot saucer that we use as an early days feeder. Photos when we get back from Church. :)

The less good news is that the remaining three eggs haven't pipped. I'm not disappointed with our 6 chicks, but it's always a bit sad when an egg develops right up to hatching and then doesn't make it.

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #17 on:** May 27, 2012, 14:14:22 »

Right. These are the pictures that everyone wants - day old chicks.

They spend most of their time under an "electric hen". The first picture shows them as the electric hen is lifted, nicely lined up and enjoying the warmth.

[attachment=1]

But as soon as the warmth disappears, they go into a huddle in the corner! We reinstated the electric hen as soon as we'd finished the photocall. :)

[attachment=2]

goodlife · « **Reply #18 on:** May 27, 2012, 16:51:32 »

AWWWW..sweet..

Have you got new 4 tier staging from Wilkos?.. ;) ;D

Melbourne12 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 27, 2012, 22:46:57 »

Quote from: goodlife on May 27, 2012, 16:51:32

AWWWW..sweet..

Have you got new 4 tier staging from Wilkos?.. ;) ;D

However did you guess? ;D

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Author Topic: eggs are pipping yippee (Read 4879 times)