The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[NikkiCole5]

Congratulations!!

Awesome! Congratulations

 

[ellymayRans]

I candled Friday since we'd be gone for the weekend and out of 31 all appear to be developing! Thrilled but I had some shipped that wouldn't all fit under a broody (3) and thought for sure I'd have a few to pull but nope! Not yet anyway!

I have 4 Mille Fluer Cochin (banty) eggs that are on day 21 today under another broody and have 1 hatched and 3 others are externally pipd...can't wait to see these little cuties! Having a broody is great but hate not getting to see the babe's for so long!

 

[down-home Dave]

On your question..I've had air sacs be pretty high up, and still have a chick hatch just fine.  Not a good thing though, as most have problems turning when they go pretty far up the side.  I also have a couple of those in my smaller eggs.  :/ 

Thanks for the reply and the info. Good knowledge to have.

 

[Cynthia12]

How to peel fresh eggs....

DONT try this method for fresh eggs. It will turn into an EPIC fail. One of my eggs fell completely apart and the other ones just got "cracked" up.



After the eggs are boiled, immediately put them in a nice bath and wait 5 minutes. For some reason this helps separate the membrane from the white. HOWEVER, we are dealing with FRESH eggs (these were ones I collected today....yes, I did say that right. They don't come more fresh than this! Store bought eggs peel easier because they are older. I personally did 2 ice baths. If you look closely, you will see big and small ice cubes.



Next is a VERY important step. You really need to crack the shell very good without splitting the egg. Then go to the wider end where the air sack is and open it. A spoon is a wonderful tool when dealing with fresh eggs. I like to use my grapefruit spoon. It works well for me. Insert the spoon under the shell and membrane. Then start to peel. Now, my first couple eggs looked hand peeled and were a choppy mess but then I got the hang of it. I learned this trick from my 70 year old friend that cooks up fresh boiled every week for her husband without fail! She likes to use week old eggs because they peel better, but as you can see, it is easy only at 2 (?) hours old. Well, let me rephrase that...PEELING fresh eggs is hard!

But, when you learn these tricks

and practice them, it can be easy and you don't feel like you want to pull out your hair when you are done.



SEE? This is the egg....yes, I know, it has a little imperfection but it is something to be proud of conquering.

I tried the shake it up method. Boiled..then I just ran cold water over them until the water stayed cold, I tried a container like the one you are showing here..that didn't work, so went to a small pint size jar and put a bit of water in it. Shook it up..and wal lah! The shell just fell off. I did 10 eggs in about 5 mins..no kidding. Don't use a flat container..use a glass or a jar. Wonderful. Oh, one egg at a time!

 

[Cynthia12]

Here's mine..only 9, I ate one.

This container is the one I tried to do it in first. Rinsed it out after doing it with the jar, then
used it for storing them in the fridge.

 

[Math]

I am usually more of a forum dweller, but i am set to hatch some cream legbar chicks on april 4th, so i will be hatching along with everyone... So exciting! My hatch rates had been lower than i wanted, and I tried many things before, i have a sportsman incubator with a separate hatcher with a plexiglass door... So i started supplementing my breeders with sea kelp. the first week there wasn't a huge difference in viability, as that batch (due next week) only had 4 viable fetuses out of 20 eggs, but the second week saw 16 out of 21 viable cream legbar chicks! WOO! so far my april 4th hatch is looking a heck of a lot better, and the biggest variable seems to be the sea kelp supplements! Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

Nice. What kind of nutrients or benefits do you believe the sea kelp added?

 

[Cynthia12]

Here is the process..fast and easy..I think someone posted it on here earlier..that's why I tried it today.

http://lifehacker.com/quickly-peel-a-hard-boiled-egg-by-shaking-it-in-a-glass-1683335985

 

[Math]

Seeing as I am only just about a month along and am already getting headaches, temperature spikes, and nausea...and based off of my two previous pregnancies I am gonna guess it is another girl. I was never as sick when I was pregnant with my son as I was when pregnant with my daughter.

Congratulations!!! May God bless you and your baby.

 

[Math]

My incubation is about halfway. Ten more days to go.

 

[NikkiCole5]

I'm curious about early embryo death?
Will they lose their veins when they die?
My eggs look alive but kinda odd, they have nice thick veins, but the dark spot is towards the pointy end of the egg not floating in the middle? I think I saw them move but I don't know for sure because this incubator loses heat fast and I noticed that they don't like to move when they are cooler