90% Hatch rate club anyone?

[casportpony]

Wow, 100%, congratulations, enjoy your holiday.

-Kathy

 

[frenchblackcopper]

My 90% hatchrate on my Midnights is going to come down with the remaining eggs in the bator because last week when the temps was in the upper 90's here,my wife forgot to open the garage door and one night I came home at 4:30 and the incubator was 103.6 degrees inside.Don't know how long it was that way but each day afterwards with the heat just as high,when the garage door was open the bator stayed right on 100.8 degrees. Wife was severely reprimanded and put in time out

 

[casportpony]

How do eggs that I stored improperly (too long, too hot, etc...) count in calculating percentages?

-Kathy

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I would say they still count because if in nature and a hen began laying a clutch of eggs,she has little capacity to control outside temp unless she covers or shades the entire clutch until she begins to sit.Granted she would probably lay in a shady hidden location but when it's 100 degrees outside,90% humidity for days on end,even in the shade eggs would get warm. I keep track of every laid egg from each pen,even if the egg is laid while the hen is on the perch and it breaks when it hits the ground. This plays into her flock index number,or flock group number for eggs laid average per bird in that pen. It amazing what figures you can arrive at and what stats you can get if proper notes that are very accurate are kept. Some percentages I keep track of may seem strange to some but as in the case of next breeding season,I know which hens-pen of hens produces the most eggs,most fertile eggs,developing eggs percentage per pen,or per bird if divided by number of hens in the pen,,the best breeding male by either fertile developing eggs,,and by actual hatched chicks.You can also tell which males are faster breeders by keeping track of dates such as when males was put in with hens,,how many eggs was indeed fertile from first group incubated,ect. Some of my colors took over 2 weeks before eggs was fertile,and these males was with the exact same hens as last summer. Age of the male vs fertile eggs is another stat.First date of the males train feathers dropping compared to last fertile eggs date collected from that pen,,and the list goes on and on what you can accomplish by keeping detailed records. We are 100% controlling these birds feed-water and enviornment so everything should be accounted for. JMHO

 

[casportpony]

Looks like there's lots of room for improvement here, lol. Total eggs laid so far are 72 and that includes three laid from the perch. From those I have 18 chicks, 11 viable eggs under hens and three that I set yesterday. So if all 14 hatch, that will be 32 chicks total.. 32 of 72, that's BAD!

-Kathy

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Kathy,,your NOT alone with your stats. I've spoken with breeders from Texas to the Dakotas and this has been one trying year. First the long cool spring, then intense heat for 3 weeks, now down in the upper 40's at night. I have 8 IB hens all 3 years old and all season the most eggs I collected at night was 2,meaning 6 were slacking. Thang dropped his train 6 weeks ago. Identical breeders in the exact same breeding pens as last year yet fertile egg count was down 65% on one of my colors. What has me scratching my head is my black shoulder silver pied pen. I originally took both bssp hens out of this pen and added to my Taupe pen but the Taupe male almost killed one of those hens so once nursed back to health she went back in with Roadtrip-bssp male. Once my Taupe male started losing his train 2 weeks ago, I took the other bssp hen out, and added her back with Roadtrip. Roadtrip now has 5 hens with him, his train is still full, and he is still displaying like a youngster and is 6 years old. I get 2 eggs one night and 3 eggs the next night and so far since these last 2 hens has been reunited with Roadtrip, both their eggs has been fertile since within 3 days after they were re-penned.
My two new Opal hens added this season began laying later but 80% of their eggs has been fertile with over 75% hatching out. My pen of Midnights has stopped laying now but they too excelled this year.

 

[Arbor]

Looks like there's lots of room for improvement here, lol. Total eggs laid so far are 72 and that includes three laid from the perch. From those I have 18 chicks, 11 viable eggs under hens and three that I set yesterday. So if all 14 hatch, that will be 32 chicks total.. 32 of 72, that's BAD!

-Kathy

Hey Kathy,
That's still better than me. I've collected nearly 100 eggs, of which 4 have been fertile (all from one hen). The first I had to help out of the shell this past week, and the second hatched this morning. The remaining two are due to hatch next week. If I hatch all four, I'll have 100% hatch rate on 4% fertility.

I was really looking forward to this breeding season, but so far its been the worst I've ever had.

 

[casportpony]

100% hatch rate from an incubator? If so, that's great! 4% fertility, well, that sucks, lol! Are they young hens? Fingers crossed for your next two.

Add two more to my lost count, one got eaten, the other had a blood ring on day 7.

-Kathy

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Arbor,Kathy,,next Feb I'm going to start a special diet blend.I've spent several hours now on the phone with Nutrena feed nutritionalist Twain Lockhart. Seems there was once a big peacock breeder near him in Minnesota that they worked with on a peacock specific feed and he says that persons hatchrates changed significantly enough to justify the added cost for the entire year. Pea Palace west edition will need constructed before next spring for whites,peach,straight purple b/s and my Charcoal male is coming out from under his "roofed" aviary. At this point I'm going to add at least 15 hens next year,and possibly move some hens out of larger groups so only 2 hens per male in younger birds.This means my older birds will have to pull double duty making up for the poor egg laying abilities of 2 year olds,and the added feed cost. This man has University contacts in avian nutrition. Last eve I candled eggs and moved the good ones to the hatcher,started with 52,,moved 23 to hatcher and I'm sure 3 of those was quitters because the air sack hadn't elongated.This group of eggs went thru the afternoon incubator heat rising to 103 degrees for who knows how long 2 weeks ago,when the garage door was closed and it really warmed up inside so thats my excuse for this,and the next bunch next week.

 

[Arbor]

I know for sure it is not nutrition that's affecting my fertility, I haven't changed feed type or quality in over ten years with my breeders. On a side note, all eggs were incubated upright in a gqf sportsman, with eggs being placed on their sides only for the last three days of incubation. I even had an 8 hour power outage during the incubation, with the temp dropping into the high 70s for over 2 hours. I was shocked when the first one even pipped, though 2 days late. Most of my breeding hens are 4-6 years old. Out of the three 2year old hens, only one layed any eggs. I have never had any luck with 2 year old birds. Next year I should have over 13 hens to work with, with only 4 that are going to be 2.