How to DYE CHICKS before they hatch?

[LuvMyPeeps7]

I've seen pics but never thought you did it before hatch.....cool.

 

[Papa Brooder]

I had never seen this before today. Wow!

 

[quintinp]

I have done it before, but I didn't know what I was doing when I did it. I did it 2 weeks before they hatched, and I think it killed the little embryos.

You have to inject 0.5 cc of food coloring; 1/8 of an inch; into the pointy end of the egg; 4 hours before they are do to hatch.

 

[msmeower]

The article says 1/2 cc on day 16 or 17. It seems to me like this would drown the chicks. Wonder what the hatch rate is on these eggs?

 

[quintinp]

The article says 1/2 cc on day 16 or 17. It seems to me like this would drown the chicks. Wonder what the hatch rate is on these eggs?

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

 

[DirtCreature]

how long does it last?

 

[meshellrose]

till there feathers start coming out. we ended up buying some from our local feed store last year. I don't know why, but my dogs did not like those chickens..plus they ALL were roosters!

 

[chickmashnoon]

Wow. I'd almost want to try this on a hatch. It could be really useful in sorting out chicks from different lines in the same hatch. Too bad my favorite breed is black . . . I guess I'll just have to stick to berry baskets or wire baskets.

 

[DirtCreature]

Baskets?

Wow. I'd almost want to try this on a hatch. It could be really useful in sorting out chicks from different lines in the same hatch. Too bad my favorite breed is black . . . I guess I'll just have to stick to berry baskets or wire baskets.

 

[chickmashnoon]

Oh, yes, the baskets are sanitized and then the eggs are sorted into the baskets on lockdown so that the chicks stay grouped after they hatch. I'm doing this so that my local eggs and my shipped eggs of the same breed will stay seperate and identifiable in the incubator. But colored chicks would be even cooler! My serama will probably go into the baskets with the opening facing upright- they are so little I don't think they can hop out of them. My La Fleche eggs are getting berry baskets inverted over them so that they stay seperate from my other possible black mixed breeds. The description on how to dye chicks in the eggs says that it is often used to mark waterfowl hatches, so I thought it would be useful for sorting out my lines of chickens when I start breeding. But it also says it works best on light colored breeds, and my La Fleche are mainly black so I don't think it will do any good. Therefore the berry baskets

Even tho colored chickies look pretty cool. I don't think I could talk myself into doing it without a good reason, tho.