My first hatch!

Wowza!! I set a dozen eggs for my SIL and 23 eggs for myself, which I won from Briarwood (was 24, I broke one when I was messing around with the incubator).

8 of SIL's eggs made it to lock down and a whopping 16 of mine, and they are busily hatching! So exciting! So far, I have one Silver Sussex out and my SIL has three barnyard mix chicks out.

I didn't have much hope for this hatch initially,  I started them out in a second hand Brower Top Hatch incubator and quickly found out it had major issues with hot and cold spots.  In a last-ditch effort, I bought a Brinsea Octagon 40 Advance and transferred the eggs into it on about day 5.

Anyway, I am just happy that I have healthy-looking chicks popping out! One hatched overnight, and three of them went from pip to out in just two hours, when I was outdoors working on the coop.

I will post pictures when they're finished up and in the brooder.

Woot woot!

Fingers crossed for you!

And you may be surprised with your results.  5 days is not that long.

Schipperkesue wrote:Woot woot!

Fingers crossed for you!

And you may be surprised with your results.  5 days is not that long.

Yeah, I just have to wonder if I would have had more eggs developing if I'd had the Brinsea from the beginning. Although 66% development from both the shipped eggs and the eggs that were driven here is not too bad. There's always the what-if, right?

I find that shipping issues tend to affect eggs and cause problems further along in incubation.. they usually start and stop.  If they candled clear from the start they were likely infertile.

One for sure was scrambled. All the others candled clear and looked normal when I cracked them open for the dogs to enjoy.

Count is now up to six for my SIL, and three for me. Mine weren't really due to hatch until late tonight/sometime tomorrow, so this is fun!

Yay! Happy hatching!!

I was up to five of mine last time I checked! Two silver sussex, two BLRW and one olive egger.

Now you need to change your signature!

So nerve wracking, but such fun! Congratulations.

I am up to 7 now!

Up to 10, with one more egg peeping! The other eggs look like they quit a few days ago. Not bad for a first hatch, though - can't wait to do it again!

They are going to be so spoilt going into that completely refurbished coop!
You have worked so hard on it.

Yep, lucky chickens for sure!!! The coop is looking great. I am very happy with it. Have had a marathon few days of working on it. Still more work to do, though!

Yay! 10 chicks! Well done  Hope you got a nice variety.

Woohoo, congrats on your new chicks!

Yes, thank you SO MUCH Briarwood!! I am so pleased with my chicks!

There are four little chipmunks (BLRW?), two black (silver sussex?), two olive eggers (I think) and two coronation sussex. The 11th egg that was peeping has not pipped and isn't peeping anymore, so I don't think that one is a go. I will leave the bator on for another day or two just in case, but I have moved the others into the brooder and they are eating like champs.

Still, for my first hatch, I am so very pleased!!

Awesome! Sounds about right, the black ones will either be black orps or silver sussex, if it said SS on the egg it was a silver.

Here are my little peeps! My kids are pretty excited about them. The baby (14.5 months old) watched them for a long time (for her) and then said bok bok bok BRAWK! I've been training her. 

The little chipmunks are my favourites, but my oldest prefers the yellow chicks. 

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Beautiful! You'll be hooked now!