Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Rebel58]

Pips and zips all over the place this morning before I left. 2 had hatched and were drying off. More pics later.

 

[Morrigan]

Pips and zips all over the place this morning before I left. 2 had hatched and were drying off. More pics later.
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That's great news! Can't wait for the pictures.

 

[Rebel58]

Well this had to be the worst hatch all summer. (Mille Fleur d'Uccle and Blue Laced Red Wyandotte). This was my most anticipated clutch besides my peacocks. I just don't understand what went wrong. The two that hatched a day early are thriving. The two that externally pipped before I went to work were dead in the shell when I got home. The 8 remaining had definite movement on day 18 at lockdown. Air cells were the right size. Humidity at and during lockdown was between 65 and 70. Temp steady 101.5 in still air hatcher. I waited 3 extra days hoping they were just late bloomers. Eggtopsy revealed all fully developed and all but one had absorbed yolk. Membranes fully intact, no internal pips. Shells seemed to be extremely thick and hard during exam. Happy but heartbroken at the same time.......

And my silkie Frizzie...

 

[Morrigan]

The little ones are adorable. I have no idea what when wrong with the others. I always find it incredibly frustrating to do an egg-topsy and see a fully formed chick that didn't hatch. Here is a link to a spreadsheet I found that talks about hatching mortality. I'm pretty sure "transfer" means "lockdown". Poor genetics or vitamin deficiencies in parent stock may be the culprit.

http://animalsciencey.ucdavis.edu/avian/pfs33.htm

 

[Rebel58]

Thanks @Morrigan I tend to agree with you. Genetics plays a huge role in successful hatching. Some people sell eggs for profit but don't tend their own flock so well to keep costs low to gain that profit. I'm done hatching for the year except for 4 Polish that the neighbor asked me to incubate. Local eggs. She wants to give me 2 if they all hatch.
By the way, thanks for the link. Very informative.

 

[ohgoodnessguineas]

Out of 20 viable eggs we have hatched 11 Guinea keets. Only 8 of the jumbo were viable to start and only 4 of them have hatched.

3 died by drowning in what I call the yellow kill-plasm. I've never had a chick hatch or survive once I see a drop of this clear yellow goo run out from the pip. I've always had at least 1 egg have it, but never more than 2, which leads me to believe it's a defect with formation, not incubation. To have four of them go that route (I think I may have one more doing so right now) is really sad. I candled the remaining eggs after all the chicks were removed, with the rest yet to pip, and all but one showed movement and/or internal pips. One has since pipped out but isn't doing much, I'm afraid it'll go the way of the others.

Very grateful for the healthy ones I do have, though, excepting that one is either a coral blue or lavender, and I ordered all pearls.

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I know for most this is a more desirable color but we're out in the forest and wanted all of our birds to be the traditional polka dot pearl color for camouflage purposes. This poor fellow is not only going to stick out like a sore thumb, but draw attention to his/her flock as well. Not so desirable in our case.

Super cute though! I can see why people would want them.

 

[Naturegirl37658]

How many different types of breeds can be in one shipment of hatching eggs?