All the Pretty Chicks!

We had our first big hatch of the year on Wednesday.  Most of them hatched Wed night and then were 3 late hatchers on Thursday.

They are a mix of Pure Barred Plymouth Rocks, bantam RIRs, silkies, 1 Buckeye and some Barred Rocks crosed with Easter Eggers. 

They are in a brooder on the porch and I have a 175  watt and a 100 watt heat lamp in there.  I plugged the 175 watt one into an outlet dimmer switch. Today it was so warm I was able to dim the 175 watt to almost off.

They are so nice and plump looking today, all fluffed out.  There is just no comparison between chicks you order from a hatchery that have a long stressful trip and chicks you leave in the incubator until they are fully dry and then pop them right out under a heat lamp with lots of feed and water.  The hatchery chicks always seem so frantic at first, loud and scared.

We have 1 big brooder filled w/ Dominique chicks, one with bantam RIRs and now the porch one as well.  I have a hatch set up for every week now, and tomorrow I hope to put in the duck eggs.  G has two dozen collected for me now.  I will put them in the hatcher so I can hand turn them and then just put them over to the bottom of the incubator while I am hatching in the hatcher. 

Hope that works out ok? 

Finally had a really warm day, it is amazing how that green grass sprouts up so suddenly, I saw chives and green onions and rhubarb starting today, yay!

I love the look of this little silver EE X chick:

Snow Day

It was very well predicted and yesterday we got hit with one heck of a blizzard: high winds and about a foot of very wet snow which fell for most of the daylight hours.
Because it was so mild there was not too much worry about the animals faring ok although I was a little uneasy about a possible power outage.  H was out checking the generator to make sure it was ready to run just in case.  I have the large incubator loaded with eggs and 2 brooders full of chicks so it was a bit of a concern.
Thankfully the power only blipped on and off here 3 or 4 times and was back on again right away.
I had planned to go to a neighbour's house to quilt so I headed out after chores.  Although she lives fairly close it took me a long time to get there because visibility was terrible...I could see the fields on either side mostly but it was hard to judge where the edge of the ditch was!
Coming home was much better as the snow had mostly subsided.
The school bus made it ok with only getting stuck in 1 yard.
I was a little worried for my chicks overnight as the forecast was for -13 but it did not drop until about the middle of the night.
I have the young ones in a brooder box lined with foil bubble wrap insulation and a 175 watt heat lamp in there.
The older ones are in a large metal stock tank w/ 2 lamps, a 175 and 100 watt one.  I am so glad I wrapped the outside around with the bubble foil and also covered the top mostly up.
   I put my 2 Dominique roosters back with the others last night as they were getting snow blown on them in their summer digs and the heavy snow had collapsed the net over their run.
  G has 1 duck laying and so we are getting a duck egg every day now.  Hopefully the others will start soon as well.

Hard to believe that just last week we were riding and moving the cows back to better grass, coming home with our coats undone and fresh sheds tucked under our arms!
The snow is pretty deep but the sun is working as hard as it can to melt it now and we always appreciate the moisture!

It is beautiful out in the sun with all the fresh snow but today does not really feel like the first day of Spring!

3 leetle chicks!

Although the little upside down chick pipped first, he was the last one out!  But at least he did make it out all by himself!
Here you can see the second one hatching and the one with the window still inside:

 I had pretty much given up on the first little one and was determined not to help him or her out in any way so imagine my surprise when Tuesday morning there were three little black fluffballs cuddling in the mini incubator!
Now what to do with only 3 little chicks?  I ended up putting them back in the Brower incubator which is round and has a 40 watt lightbulb in the middle for the next few days....they seem pretty comfortable in there but now they are starting to make  more of a mess so I have set up the first brooder box out in the shed and hopefully I can get them out there today.
We have 6 dozen eggs ready to go in the OvaEasy 190 today and so I plan to load it around 1:00 PM....so hopefully there will be lots more chicks by the end of the month!
Here they are all fluffy and cute:

2 out, 1 peeking through a window, 1 still unknown!

Today was hatch day for the 4 remaining eggs in E's mini incubator...last night there was a pip in the wrong end of one of the eggs and you could hear peeping.
This morning there was a pip in another egg, at the right end this time and by the time E left for school, he/she was out!
Black w/white hairs on head...Barred Rock daddy for sure, but looks like it has a rose comb so maybe Dominique mom?
By the time I checked at noon there was another one, all zipped and I got to watch it hatch, also black, not sure about the comb yet...
No action from the last egg but there is still time, the first 1 with the window in the wrong end is not doing much...it is hard but I learned my lesson last year, I won't help them out, it is not a kindness after all...
At least I have two out, it is so important to have a buddy!

I finished the top now!

Well I finished the top of the table runner, now I need to buy some quilt batting and some more pink fabric to back it with!

And already I have an idea for another one, I think I need some green to go with these what do you think?