7th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2016 Hatch-A-Long

[ronott1]

My final hatch was 17 Chicks out of 20. 1 baby died

You had a great hatch!

Thanks to you guys I decided to join the New Years hatch-a-long this year, and boy am I glad you did so
Put 20 Black copper marans eggs in my homemade incubater. There were chicks in 11 of those (hard to see with brown eggs).
1 never made it out of the egg. I helped it a little, but it still died.
1 almost died on me, but it's getting better every hour passing by (walking, eating and drinking)
9 are in perfect condition.
So... 50 % hatchrate. Not fantastic, but still pretty good considering the season.

Easter is a early this year, so I'll still have to paint the eggs myself for easter

Here are som pics:

Marans are tough!

They are so cute too.

 

[Cynthia12]

Florida
And that's a Florida picture
Old Florida that is

I lived in Florida a long time ago. Fernandina Beach. Walking distance from home to the Beach, loved it. I'm thinking now that I already asked you this, and you have already heard my walking to the beach story. See what old age does to you? I used to ..hear..about it.. but now, the time is here.

 

[Cynthia12]

I'll send some today! Our mail goes out at 3:30, you should get them Thursday or Friday.

What do you sell? You are cleeaarr across the country from him...do they do well?

 

[dowgirl71]

It's going on 72 hours since the first two chicks hatched and nothing has happened with the remaining 3, but my broody continues to sit. She has gotten up off them a couple times but goes back, even acts a little protective of them. Should I take them? Has anyone ever had a hatch take this long? The eggs are Silkie & Polish.

 

[TheGonzo]

Nice, in your homemade bator! Question if you come back...I hatched some Blue Copper Marans a while back, just a couple of months old, but am wondering, how long do they usually take to start laying? Are they one to start around the 5 or 6 month time?

They can begin as early as 18 week olds, under the right conditions. I expect mine to begin laying eggs medio to end May, so 5 months is a good guess

I feed them like this:

1st day: boiled egg and, chicken starter food
2nd day - 7 weeks: chicken starter food
8 weeks - 15/16 weeks: Growth food (sorry, don't know the english word )
from 16th week - egg laying food

 

[LocalYokel]

What do you sell?   You are cleeaarr across the country from him...do they do well?

I had a fair amount hatch out for me, DESPITE the shipping people.
WAY bad saddles, one almost touched the pointy end of the egg.

 

[LocalYokel]

I had a fair amount hatch out for me, DESPITE the shipping people.
WAY bad saddles, one almost touched the pointy end of the egg.

Wanted to add that they were packaged beyond correctly.

Like OCD.

@TJChickens is an expert egg shipper!

 

[TheGonzo]

Marans are tough!

They are so cute too.

What do you mean? Is it hard to incubate them with good results in general?

 

[Pensmaster]

...

What addiction?  No one here has an addiction..ya hear..it's called..  A HOBBY!   Man, I thought you knew this by now!

Hobby . Hobby . Hobby .

 

[ronott1]

Got my new (to me) incubator! I'm going to be ready for the Easter hatch a long

Nice Incubator!

What do you mean? Is it hard to incubate them with good results in general?

Yes, they are generally harder to hatch because of the shell and coating. They have moisture issues and often they are so dark that it is hard to see into them.

If shipping stress is added, you can get very low hatch rates from them.