While farming for hatchlings I used to fight them. Then I read the tip to get metallodious and escape. I have not caught any hatchlings (i caught two frostjacks) since then and i cave been farming for a long time. Does escaping not count towards the counter.
I have been using metallodious to escape and farm quickly…
I took 45 min for Ashie, about 6 hours bluey and 10 minutes galey 
Leafie I found in an egg but I say that the escape ability is quite useful to speed up farming by 200%