Cream Legbar Pictures

[Amy King Hanson]

I have been hatching eggs since January. So not total newbie but still learning. I have two hatch rates. My barn yard mix eggs hatch really good. My Cream Legbar eggs have a really bad hatch rate. I hatch out one or two. When I break open the other eggs 24 hours after due date, they are no longer living but in hatch position. The boys hatch a day early. I've only hatched out one girl. I do open the lid to remove chick after a while (especially when they are a day early) but the humidity doesn't drop. I do this with my other eggs and it's fine. In this last batch I had my CLx Golden Laced Wyandotte eggs in with my CL eggs. All but one of the other eggs hatched (it was a quitter). I'm wondering if I should have my settings different for my CL eggs vs other's. Any suggestions?

Here is a picture of my incubator. I usually keep humidity at 60% until hatch and then up it to 80ish% at lock down. I've tried a low humidity and high humidity hatch. I mark where the air sac is on day 18 and lay it down so lowest dip of air sac is up. They are 5/6 days old when I put them in. I'm half tempted to start breaking eggs open after first hatches. But I'm confident someone on here will give me that one nugget I need, right.

 

[Bantambird]

My humidity is between 25-30% for incubation. Try lowering your humidity during incubation. Weigh your eggs; you are aiming for 18% weight loss from set to hatch. I've found that more pigmentation means less moisture loss on your eggs during incubation. Also, many cream Legbars lay rounded eggs and it can be hard to tell the big end, so make sure you are candling as you set to double check the location of your air cells.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

My humidity is between 25-30% for incubation. Try lowering your humidity during incubation. Weigh your eggs; you are aiming for 18% weight loss from set to hatch. I've found that more pigmentation means less moisture loss on your eggs during incubation. Also, many cream Legbars lay rounded eggs and it can be hard to tell the big end, so make sure you are candling as you set to double check the location of your air cells.

The dry hatch that I tried I had the humidity at 45% and 65% At lock down. The air sac was huge. None hatched from that attempt. Here is a picture of one of my eggs. I drew where I prefer my air sacs to be at. I read you always put where the air sac dips down to up.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

My other thought was that maybe cream legbareggs were more sensitive to temperature, causing them to grow too fast and that's why the males are hatching a day early. I usually keep my temp at 37.7° C (100° F).

 

[ChicKat]

My other thought was that maybe cream legbareggs were more sensitive to temperature, causing them to grow too fast and that's why the males are hatching a day early. I usually keep my temp at 37.7° C (100° F).

Don't know if this will help you.

Lately, my hatches have been pretty good for all the eggs that make it to lockdown. I don't add water to the incubator until lockdown, now-a-days. Before, when I did egg-topsy it seemed that the chicks were too 'wet' that had died in the eggs. I set the incubator at 99.6. At lockdown or even a day earlier-- I fill both reservoirs in my little incubator with water....

My climate is excessively humid, but the incubator is in a room that is air conditioned, so I don't think outside humidity is identical to the humidity in the room where the incubator is. For example the weather station right now says 99% humidity outdoors and 55% humidity indoors.

Try lower humidity would be my best piece of insight.

Good luck with all your future hatches. Oh, my chicks often hatch when the incubator countdown says day 1 also. Regarding gender hatching earlier -- I have a mix M/F often it is a female that hatches first.

ETA
Bantambird has the best advice to traack weight loss for egg humidity -- and that method allows you to self correct if they get off the trendline.

Here is what my incubator manufacturer says:

"Typical ideal weight losses for species groups:
Poultry 13%
Parrots 16%
Waterfowl 14%





....the most reliable is egg weight method and is recommended – particularly where poor hatch rates are experienced or if eggs of high value are being incubated. "
If you can see the magenta colored line -- you can see where they were below the desired weight loss at around day 15 - and then achieved it around day 18. Another thing about CL eggs is that they may look a bit smaller than other chickens, however they will weigh in with more density. Have you noticed that anyone? --- Does it have to do with just the breed -- or is that a characteristic of the shell differences with blue egg gene?

Lastly -- in the picture where you have drawn the line, to my eye if that indicates the air cell - it is at the small end of the egg? Am I seeing it wrong? (The aircell is up, correct?)

 

[Amy King Hanson]

Thank you all soooooo much for your thoughts. I will try another dry hatch/high humidity lock down. It's funny. I wouldn't mind if I was getting mostly girls. But I have 4 orders waiting to be filled and most customers wasn't girls. On a positive note, here is my one girl that I have hatched and am keeping. Her name is Precious.

 

[ChicKat]

Here's another thought... it would be a pain in the rear end if your incubator couldn't do it automatically, but my incubator instructions says that they found better hatch rates when there was a 'cool down period'. The objective is to simulate the hen as closely as possible. -- If my incubator didn't have it as a set up option, I know I would plan for an hour's cool down then forget to warm it up again and have fatal results. If your incubator has it -- you may want to activate the option.

Here is what their manual says about it:

11. Periodic Incubation Cooling

Bird breeders have known for many decades that eggs can be cooled for limited periods of time during incubation without causing problems but recent research has shown that hatch rates can increase significantly as a result of cooling.

This research was carried out with poultry but it is generally accepted that the benefits can apply to waterfowl too.

Cooling is an entirely natural process as most birds will get off the nest at least once a day and leave the eggs unheated for a significant time. From Brinsea’s 35 year experience, the best hatch rates are always achieved when the incubator can best mimic the natural nest conditions.

The precise details of which days and what cooling period each day should be used for best effect are not known but Brinsea® have assessed the available research and recommend the following daily cooling periods from day 7 through to 2 days before they are due to hatch (the same point that automatic turning would normally be stopped).

• Smaller poultry, waterfowl and game bird eggs: 2 hours each day
• Larger species eggs (e.g. duck and goose): 3 hours each day
• Cooling is not recommended for parrots and birds of prey because the results of cooling haven’t yet been established.

For further details please visit the Brinsea website at www.Brinsea.com/cooling.html

11.1 The periodic cooling feature turns the incubator’s heater and low temperature alarm off for a selectable period but keeps the fan running. After the cooling period is complete the incubator reverts to normal temperature and the alarm is automatically reset.


For my incubator I have set the cooling period to 1 hour per day.....

 

[ChicKat]

Thank you all soooooo much for your thoughts. I will try another dry hatch/high humidity lock down. It's funny. I wouldn't mind if I was getting mostly girls. But I have 4 orders waiting to be filled and most customers wasn't girls. On a positive note, here is my one girl that I have hatched and am keeping. Her name is Precious.

Beautiful !!

Taking orders makes me soo nervous. LOL -- you set the eggs, you plan for them to pick up the chicks -- my person wanted to be here on hatch day -- arranged to be able to heat them in their car on the way home using a cigarette-ligheter plug in device to make a transportable brooder for their 3-hour drive home...and I was struggling to hope 1. I would get enough that were girls and 2. that they would successfully hatch etc.

The one really good thing is that when I sent them home with girls I know for certain that they are girls.

Your Precious CL is one of the reasons that the breed is so loved.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

Here's another thought... it would be a pain in the rear end if your incubator couldn't do it automatically, but my incubator instructions says that they found better hatch rates when there was a 'cool down period'.  The objective is to simulate the hen as closely as possible.  -- If my incubator didn't have it as a set up option, I know I would plan for an hour's cool down then forget to warm it up again and have fatal results.    If your incubator has it -- you may want to activate the option. 

Here is what their manual says about it:

[COLOR=0000FF]11. Periodic Incubation Cooling[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]Bird breeders have known for many decades that eggs can be cooled for limited periods of time during incubation without causing problems but recent research has shown that hatch rates can increase significantly as a result of cooling.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]This research was carried out with poultry but it is generally accepted that the benefits can apply to waterfowl too.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]Cooling is an entirely natural process as most birds will get off the nest at least once a day and leave the eggs unheated for a significant time. From Brinsea’s 35 year experience, the best hatch rates are always achieved when the incubator can best mimic the natural nest conditions.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]The precise details of which days and what cooling period each day should be used for best effect are not known but Brinsea

have assessed the available research and recommend the following daily cooling periods from day 7 through to 2 days before they are due to hatch (the same point that automatic turning would normally be stopped).[/COLOR]

• [COLOR=0000FF]Smaller poultry, waterfowl and game bird eggs: 2 hours each day[/COLOR]
• [COLOR=0000FF]Larger species eggs (e.g. duck and goose): 3 hours each day[/COLOR]
• [COLOR=0000FF]Cooling is not recommended for parrots and birds of prey because the results of cooling haven’t yet been established.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]For further details please visit the Brinsea website at www.Brinsea.com/cooling.html[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]11.1 The periodic cooling feature turns the incubator’s heater and low temperature alarm off for a selectable period but keeps the fan running. After the cooling period is complete the incubator reverts to normal temperature and the alarm is automatically reset.[/COLOR]


For my incubator I have set the cooling period to 1 hour per day.....

I will definitely read this and try it out.

 

[Amy King Hanson]

I know my incubator is a cheap one. At the time I bought it I didn't but now I do. I have put a thermometer in to check temp (because that was my first concern) and it was pretty much right on. I haven't checked the humidity yet. Mine (actually it's my 8 year old daughter's Christmas present that I've taken over, lol) doesn't have just one or two reservoirs. You just pour water in different divided spots in the bottom and there is a plastic grate that sits above that the eggs are on.

So my incubator hatches out 42 at a time. Obviously does just fine with my other eggs. What would you suggest, if I bought another? I can't do more than $100.

I had messaged the breeder that I bought my pair from asking what her methods were. She just replied that she was only getting 2 out of 10 eggs to hatch also.