Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Rebel58]

The neighbor who I gave guinea chicks to had asked if I could hatch her some chicken eggs also. My buddy from work gave me a barnyard variety mix. Won't know what we have till they hatch. But since these eggs had to travel 125 miles home from work with me, I treated them like shipped eggs prior to setting. So these won't be 14 day till July 4th but looking good already.

 

[Morrigan]

@Cerise1924 It wasn't a true crow, just a thin screech, very different from the various peeping sounds chicks make. I've read that's what crowing sounds like for very young roosters, or I wouldn't have known it to be a crow. It's frustrating watch so many show rooster signs, knowing this is just room for one.

@HenniesInMyHeart So sad to hear you lost your babies. How did it happen? Glad to hear your incubator is peeping! Enjoy the hatch and let us know what happens.

@Rebel58 That's great you neighbor want you to hatch for her. Barnyard mixes are fun.

 

[Zinjifrah]

I clearly need a better source for eggs. Papa's Poultry let me down this last shipment, and this eBay batch was not worth it. Can anyone recommend a good mail-order egg supplier who will sell small quantities?

What I ended up doing was going to the Ameraucana Breeders Directory and emailing people until I found someone who was still breeding Lavender Bantams (I learned not to trust what the directory says people are breeding!) and was willing to sell me some eggs. Maybe try the breeder directory for whichever breeds you want to hatch?

It wasn't a true crow, just a thin screech, very different from the various peeping sounds chicks make. I've read that's what crowing sounds like for very young roosters, or I wouldn't have known it to be a crow. It's frustrating watch so many show rooster signs, knowing this is just room for one.

Out of my last batch of shipped eggs, Blueroo got his name for being a blue splash - and crowing at six days old. I thought one of them was dying! Turns out it was just a VERY precocious little Serama cockerel chick. I had to find this video -

And post a thread on BYC to be sure that's what he was doing!

I hear you on the rooster excess. I'm sitting at six Serama cockerels, and only one pullet.

 

[Morrigan]

What I ended up doing was going to the Ameraucana Breeders Directory and emailing people until I found someone who was still breeding Lavender Bantams (I learned not to trust what the directory says people are breeding!) and was willing to sell me some eggs. Maybe try the breeder directory for whichever breeds you want to hatch?



Out of my last batch of shipped eggs, Blueroo got his name for being a blue splash - and crowing at six days old. I thought one of them was dying! Turns out it was just a VERY precocious little Serama cockerel chick. I had to find this video -

And post a thread on BYC to be sure that's what he was doing!

I hear you on the rooster excess. I'm sitting at six Serama cockerels, and only one pullet.

Some get to it early, don't they? 6:1 roo to hen is pretty crummy.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Some get to it early, don't they? 6:1 roo to hen is pretty crummy.

Yep. Picking who to keep is going to be hard.

 

[Morrigan]

Yep. Picking who to keep is going to be hard.

Yes it is. It's also going to be heartbreaking to replace Duke, but I really need some new genetics in my flock and, as much as I like Duke, I'm not sure the hens really do. No one squats for him -- he has to chase them down.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Yes it is. It's also going to be heartbreaking to replace Duke, but I really need some new genetics in my flock and, as much as I like Duke, I'm not sure the hens really do. No one squats for him -- he has to chase them down.

Yeah - that doesn't sound like he's popular! I plan on keeping the most polite of the boys, with the best feathering. Unfortunately, my favorite - and top of the pecking order - who is marvelous at keeping the peace and breaking up any squabbles, has the worst feathering of the older boys - his sickle feathers are the smallest feathers in his tail, while the other two older boys have glorious sickle feathers now. Jet's a butthead that none of the girls like, and Copper's the standoffish polite fellow, with the best body type and overall tail quality. I'm thinking I may keep Scotch and Copper, but it depends on how the younger three turn out. So far, they're looking very long in the body.. and CB hardly ever carries his tail upright. Blueroo does, and is the 'dominant' of the younger three. Deuce has the best tail and carriage, but he's very, very small still.

 

[Cerise1924]

My one Olandsk Dwarf x Cream Legbar crossbreed is such a cutie, but clearly a cockerel even at 4 1/2 weeks. He has a red comb, big legs, and is sparring with the biggest Svart Hona.

I've ordered another dozen eggs from the breeder, even though I only had one hatch out of 14. I really like the mix, and want more blue egg layers. I give away many of my eggs to families, and the kids love the colour. So, I'll be setting more shipped eggs within the week. The cost is low. Even with shipping, it's less than $2 per egg.

 

[Zinjifrah]

My one Olandsk Dwarf x Cream Legbar crossbreed is such a cutie, but clearly a cockerel even at 4 1/2 weeks. He has a red comb, big legs, and is sparring with the biggest Svart Hona.

I've ordered another dozen eggs from the breeder, even though I only had one hatch out of 14. I really like the mix, and want more blue egg layers. I give away many of my eggs to families, and the kids love the colour. So, I'll be setting more shipped eggs within the week. The cost is low. Even with shipping, it's less than $2 per egg.

Quite trying to tempt me into getting more eggs. I do like the sound of that mix.

My Bantam Lavender Ameraucana eggs should get here the 5th! Wish me luck... they're coming from all the way on the East Coast, so I'm hoping the post office doesn't scramble them too much. I've been trying to think of ways to infuse the incubator with more oxygen, but so far all I've come up with is to mug some little old lady for her oxygen tank... and she'd probably beat me up while I was trying to apologize. Little old ladies are feisty! I had two (who were my grandmothers, of course), and you didn't mess with them.

It's too bad there's no way they could get here tomorrow, so they were set on the 4th... But the 6th will have to do. The breeder has been absolutely marvelous.

 

[Cerise1924]

Quite trying to tempt me into getting more eggs. I do like the sound of that mix.
Turnabout is fair play! I like the sound of Lavender Ameraucanas.

My Bantam Lavender Ameraucana eggs should get here the 5th! Wish me luck... they're coming from all the way on the East Coast, so I'm hoping the post office doesn't scramble them too much. I've been trying to think of ways to infuse the incubator with more oxygen, but so far all I've come up with is to mug some little old lady for her oxygen tank... and she'd probably beat me up while I was trying to apologize. Little old ladies are feisty! I had two (who were my grandmothers, of course), and you didn't mess with them.
Don't mess with granny!
My eggs are also coming from the East Coast. Do you think the heat wave will cause early development?

It's too bad there's no way they could get here tomorrow, so they were set on the 4th... But the 6th will have to do. The breeder has been absolutely marvelous.

Glad you found a good breeder to work with!