Chicken Breed Focus - Sussex

[Eggsakly]

I realized how useless the plugs were as soon as I removed them. The temperature is much easier to maintain within a tighter range without them. Unfortunately, the instructions on the incubator say that the vent plugs MUST be in place throughout incubation.

I may not have done too much damage to the chicks, but I may have. We will see.

 

[Leela NH]

Any news on your hatch Eggsakly?

 

[Eggsakly]

Hi, Leela. Thanks for asking. The news is that nothing obvious is happening. The 21st day has come and gone and not so much as a single pip. I'm not writing them off yet, but I don't feel confident. I'm coping by planning my new incubator, the parts for which I now have on hand.

I will follow up tomorrow.

 

[3riverschick]

What day are you on? I've had Sussex eggs hatches latest day 24

 

[Eggsakly]

Hi, Karen. Thanks so much for chiming in. I am in the 2nd hour of the 22nd day, so there is still time. Nice to know that you have had some hatch as late as the 24th day. I'm pretty sure I ran the incubator a little cool. I was quite scared of overheating the eggs . . .

Thanks for the company during this watch. It helps.

 

[Eggsakly]

There are now just 2 hours remaining in the 22nd day. I have 2 pips. I did candle the other eggs, per Sally Sunshine's general egg-hatching advice, and could not detect any movement or additional pips in the eggs at all. I was convinced the remaining 6 eggs/embryos were dead. I tried the water test, however, and all were low floaters, indicating live embryos.

No doubt I sent them over the edge, but I quickly dried them off and placed them back in the incubator. Hopefully the warm water helped compensate for removing the eggs from the incubator briefly.

Oh, dear. I'm just so grateful I won't ever have to do this for the first time again.

 

[3riverschick]

Oh please let it be a cockerel and a pullet!! One of the best matings is Cockerel to older females. So if you get 2 pullets, you can obtain a started Cockerel from painted feathers farm in OH or from Skytop in FL. Both have Skytop. By the time you get him, the girls will be older and that is also a good thing.
Either way you win.

Best Regards,
Karen

 

[Eggsakly]

Hi, Karen. Even though things are not looking all that good right now, I still consider the entire experience quite valuable. I have learned a great deal through the process. I am planning on building a new incubator, and hoping for greater success in the future. There are 6 hours remaining in the 23rd day. 20 hours have passed since I first discovered the two pipped eggs. One chick is proceeding apace, zipping around the egg, chirping, and lively. It looks like I will have at least one chick. The other pipped egg has not changed substantially in the past 20 hours, however, some very slight additional cracking around the hole has occurred and I have seen the egg moving this morning.

The other eggs I haven't touched for 20 hours, and if there are pips they are on the underside of the eggs and I cannot see them. (The first two eggs pipped on the underside of the egg and I didn't see the pipping until I removed them from the incubator.) I haven't been able to detect additional chirping but that doesn't mean that much.

No matter how many chicks make it through this hatching, I have every intention of finding more Sussex eggs and trying again, and attempting to hatch some bantam Orpington eggs, also. Those are my two top breeds that I want to raise (right now).

 

[Faraday40]

Hi, Karen. Even though things are not looking all that good right now, I still consider the entire experience quite valuable. I have learned a great deal through the process. I am planning on building a new incubator, and hoping for greater success in the future. There are 6 hours remaining in the 23rd day. 20 hours have passed since I first discovered the two pipped eggs. One chick is proceeding apace, zipping around the egg, chirping, and lively. It looks like I will have at least one chick. The other pipped egg has not changed substantially in the past 20 hours, however, some very slight additional cracking around the hole has occurred and I have seen the egg moving this morning.

The other eggs I haven't touched for 20 hours, and if there are pips they are on the underside of the eggs and I cannot see them. (The first two eggs pipped on the underside of the egg and I didn't see the pipping until I removed them from the incubator.) I haven't been able to detect additional chirping but that doesn't mean that much.

No matter how many chicks make it through this hatching, I have every intention of finding more Sussex eggs and trying again, and attempting to hatch some bantam Orpington eggs, also. Those are my two top breeds that I want to raise (right now).

If you do get a bantam orp, you may no longer need an incubator. LOL Ours goes broody about 4-5xs per year! They are fun little chickens.

Hope your tiny, new chicks make it.

I hatched some shipped Coro Sussex eggs. Ordered 8, got 10. All had detached air cells, several had rolling air cells, & one had a thin crack line. 4 developed veins, 4 made it to lockdown, & 1 hatched late on day 22. On day 24 I removed the 3 unhatched / unpipped eggs. All 3 were mal-positioned (upside down). Two were dead & to my surprise one was alive. It sadly was very weak but at least the yolk was absorbed. It died a couple hours later. Although this was a sad hatch, I learned a lot. I especially learned that the giant Coro Sussex eggs take slightly longer to hatch. All the eggs were started at the same time, but the EEs & backyard mixes hatched on days 20-21 while the CS waited until almost the 23rd day. Not sure if it was their size or the shipping that delayed them, but we're always learning.

 

[3riverschick]

Can you turn the other Sussex eggs upside down to see if there's a pip on the bottom . also is there any way to get a little sugar water in the beaks of the hatching chicks without drowning the chicks ? maybe give them a little energy to keep pipping.