Dark Egg Breeds Thread

[drom]

Quote:
Yes, I never thought they would be so much fun either or I would have built a little coop years ago.

 

[pinkchick]

TNBarnQueen!!!!!!

Yes.....Marans are addicting, VERY!!!! Once you one of those pretty dark eggs, there's no going back!

 

[Lotsapaints]

Pictures for ya Pink and everyone else too

normally they look the right color when I take pictures but sometimes the sun does funny things so these look lighter than they are or were I ate some this morning the bottom row are my just starting Golden Cuckoos the rest are Cuckoos and a few Black Coppers these are all babies I hatched so this is my starting point as we all have to start somewhere but the lighter eggs have those splotches of extra color on them and the eggs keep getting darker some start off that dusty rose color then get darker.

and a baby fix for you too hatched out yesterday

now I run my humidity at 35% until lock down then bump it to 65-70% but I am getting a couple of chicks stuck from the last 2 hatches and it looks like too much humidity......so maybe I should only go up to 55% any ideas? I've had real good % from my eggs 7 from 8 and my pictured ones 7 from 9 and they were shipped....

 

[drom]

Quote:
Hello HSR, that is a nice web site. Pretty roosters you have!

 

[pinkchick]

Lotsa~

Beautiful yummy eggs. I am a fancier of all Marans eggs and love everyone of them!

 

[drom]

now I run my humidity at 35% until lock down then bump it to 65-70% but I am getting a couple of chicks stuck from the last 2 hatches and it looks like too much humidity......so maybe I should only go up to 55% any ideas? I've had real good % from my eggs 7 from 8 and my pictured ones 7 from 9 and they were shipped....

I guess it's time again to start talking about these things again. I am the least experienced here with hatching. My first gen of chicks, I picked up from Bayhorsebonne. With my second gen I sent her eggs and she hatched them for me in her Sportsman and my third gen were hatched in my RCOM 20.

I used 45 and 58 for the humidity. Out of 19 eggs, 14 hatched and the 4 that didn't had fully developed chicks in them. I believe only one of them wouldn't have hatched-the rest were my fault. I moved each chick as soon as it hatched to the brooder so I kept opening the incubator. Which isn't a big deal with that incubator as it goes back up to temp and humidity within a minute but it was just too many times. Reason why I did is because the floor is so slick/slippery in that incubator. So next time on day 17 when I shut off the auto egg turning, I am going to lay down a little non-slip liner of some type and keep them in there until all are hatched out.

 

[Medicine Man]

I think (hope too) that will help very much Drom - to leave them all in there until the hatch is completed. Good luck!

 

[drom]

Quote:
Thank you MM

 

[HSR Marans]

Yes, I agree. Leave them in until all are hatched. I have a sportman and I used to take them out as soon as they were dry. Big mistake! The chirping that the hatched chicks do encourage the other chicks to hatch.

Sometimes I have to help the chicks out of their shells. I don't like doing this, but at day 24 if I hear piping I help them out. If the humidity is too high, the inner lining becomes tough and jelly like. The chicks can't break through it and they drown. Incubation techniques vary to some degree with everyone I've ever talked to. It also varies from location to location.

Last year in Northern California, the weather was soooooo weird. Wet and cold, hot and muggy, then cold and dry and then hot and dry. All within a three month period. It really messed with my hatch rates. At one point I covered my incubator in a blanket just to stabilize the temp. I placed over 200 eggs and lost almost half. It was the most awful hatch year ever. I was always crying. The chicks would quit around day 15. Man, I pray it is good weather this year. I have 32 orders to fill. lol

 

[drom]

Sometimes I have to help the chicks out of their shells. I don't like doing this, but at day 24 if I hear piping I help them out.

I did that with one of mine in that hatch. A week later when I realized I'd saved a cockerel, I thought, oh great that's all I needed was to make sure I have one more cockerel.

But he turned out to be one of my favorites