American serama thread!

[Ra_]

Egg Handling

I've been thinking about hatching & have done a lot more research.
I think about the people who hatch my eggs, the money they invest & the time and hope they put into hatching them.
Maybe most of all, I think of the potential beautiful birds that may never hatch because I could have done my part better.

I am now using these guidelines from someone called Kekko.
Would you modify any of these?

When my hens hatched eggs, I left them in the nest as they layed them.
They lay every other day so 10 eggs might take 3 weeks to lay.
The eggs are subjected to temperature swings & high temps.
Despite that they sometimes hatch 7 out of 10.

I'm now collecting the eggs a few times a day.
I put a thermometer with an alarm in a cooler & am keeping them between 55 & 65 degrees.
I put a can under the cooler so I can rock it back and forth throughout the day.
I'll combine the eggs from my trios so they're only stored 1/2 as long.
I'm hoping to get a 100% hatch rate on occasion with this method
and also hoping others can get much better hatch rates when I decide to sell eggs again.

 

[nchls school]

Egg Handling

I've been thinking about hatching & have done a lot more research.
I think about the people who hatch my eggs, the money they invest & the time and hope they put into hatching them.
Maybe most of all, I think of the potential beautiful birds that may never hatch because I could have done my part better.

I am now using these guidelines from someone called Kekko.
Would you modify any of these?

When my hens hatched eggs, I left them in the nest as they layed them.
They lay every other day so 10 eggs might take 3 weeks to lay.
The eggs are subjected to temperature swings & high temps.
Despite that they sometimes hatch 7 out of 10.
As you know, I leave the eggs in the nest and my hens go broody. An exception is summer when temperatures get to high. Lucky for me, my hens lay 3 days and then a day off. "3 weeks" is too long and I would do the same as you-collect the eggs.

I'm now collecting the eggs a few times a day. Replacing eggs with dummies as they are laid will work just the same as leaving eggs in the nest. Hens go broody just as fast.
I put a thermometer with an alarm in a cooler & am keeping them between 55 & 65 degrees.
I put a can under the cooler so I can rock it back and forth throughout the day.
I'll combine the eggs from my trios so they're only stored 1/2 as long.
I'm hoping to get a 100% hatch rate on occasion with this method
and also hoping others can get much better hatch rates when I decide to sell eggs again.

I think your plan is a good one and you will have better hatches.

 

[nchls school]

Egg Handling

I've been thinking about hatching & have done a lot more research.
I think about the people who hatch my eggs, the money they invest & the time and hope they put into hatching them.
Maybe most of all, I think of the potential beautiful birds that may never hatch because I could have done my part better.

I am now using these guidelines from someone called Kekko.
Would you modify any of these?

When my hens hatched eggs, I left them in the nest as they layed them.
They lay every other day so 10 eggs might take 3 weeks to lay.
The eggs are subjected to temperature swings & high temps.
Despite that they sometimes hatch 7 out of 10.

I'm now collecting the eggs a few times a day.
I put a thermometer with an alarm in a cooler & am keeping them between 55 & 65 degrees.
I put a can under the cooler so I can rock it back and forth throughout the day.
I'll combine the eggs from my trios so they're only stored 1/2 as long.
I'm hoping to get a 100% hatch rate on occasion with this method
and also hoping others can get much better hatch rates when I decide to sell eggs again.

The only modification you might want to consider is replacing collected egg as they are laid with dummy eggs. Hens will go broody just as fast as leaving their eggs in the nest.

I typed this when my first attempt didn't take. Now I see my original post went through.

 

[Ra_]

The only modification you might want to consider is replacing collected egg as they are laid with dummy eggs. Hens will go broody just as fast as leaving their eggs in the nest.

I put golf balls in 2 nests last weeks & both hens almost immediately tried to hatch them.


> I typed this when my first attempt didn't take.

I hate when that happens.
It only seems to happen when you type a long post.

 

[nchls school]

I put golf balls in 2 nests last weeks & both hens almost immediately tried to hatch them.


> I typed this when my first attempt didn't take.

I hate when that happens.
It only seems to happen when you type a long post.

Yep. Very frustrating. On real long posts I "edit-copy"-before clicking "submit". That way if the post does not go through it is easy to "paste" on another new post.

 

[flockofbantams]

Hi everyone!
Been off byc for a bit and I've missed alot!.I see a lot of talk and pics of chickens and eggs and broodys!!!! Yay! It's time of year!

For those of you who remember my little porcupine rescue her is an update on her...

She is doing great! I have had her with some full size chicks that quickly out grew her and then tried her with my other adult seramas but she was getting picked on again and was looking her brand new wing feathers so I pulled her out and put her back with the chicks again. Then a fox came to my dad's and killed his rooster and grabbed vanilla (white olive egger hen in the pic with porcupine) and broke her leg in two places by trying to pull her thru the fence.
But she had the will to survive so I brought her home and casted her leg. (fingers crossed and holding for it to heal). Then vanilla was getting depressed because she was alone so I put porcupine in with her and instantly they were the best of friends and get alone so well and vanilla started to get more motivated and has learned to hope around and stand and balance while she probs herself and can even hope up on the low roost in the picture all by herself. So both my special girls are doing really good concidering!!!!

 

[Staley]

What a sweet story.

 

[prizepete]

Hi everyone!
Been off byc for a bit and I've missed alot!.I see a lot of talk and pics of chickens and eggs and broodys!!!! Yay! It's time of year!

For those of you who remember my little porcupine rescue her is an update on her...


She is doing great! I have had her with some full size chicks that quickly out grew her and then tried her with my other adult seramas but she was getting picked on again and was looking her brand new wing feathers so I pulled her out and put her back with the chicks again. Then a fox came to my dad's and killed his rooster and grabbed vanilla (white olive egger hen in the pic with porcupine) and broke her leg in two places by trying to pull her thru the fence.
But she had the will to survive so I brought her home and casted her leg. (fingers crossed and holding for it to heal). Then vanilla was getting depressed because she was alone so I put porcupine in with her and instantly they were the best of friends and get alone so well and vanilla started to get more motivated and has learned to hope around and stand and balance while she probs herself and can even hope up on the low roost in the picture all by herself. So both my special girls are doing really good concidering!!!!

Im so glad that she is doing well! any more porcupine eggs?

 

[nchls school]

Hi everyone!
Been off byc for a bit and I've missed alot!.I see a lot of talk and pics of chickens and eggs and broodys!!!! Yay! It's time of year!

For those of you who remember my little porcupine rescue her is an update on her...

She is doing great! I have had her with some full size chicks that quickly out grew her and then tried her with my other adult seramas but she was getting picked on again and was looking her brand new wing feathers so I pulled her out and put her back with the chicks again. Then a fox came to my dad's and killed his rooster and grabbed vanilla (white olive egger hen in the pic with porcupine) and broke her leg in two places by trying to pull her thru the fence.
But she had the will to survive so I brought her home and casted her leg. (fingers crossed and holding for it to heal). Then vanilla was getting depressed because she was alone so I put porcupine in with her and instantly they were the best of friends and get alone so well and vanilla started to get more motivated and has learned to hope around and stand and balance while she probs herself and can even hope up on the low roost in the picture all by herself. So both my special girls are doing really good concidering!!!!

Glad to hear they are doing well; especially Porcupine.

 

[flockofbantams]

Hi everyone! Been off byc for a bit and I've missed alot!.I see a lot of talk and pics of chickens and eggs and broodys!!!! Yay! It's time of year! For those of you who remember my little porcupine rescue her is an update on her... She is doing great! I have had her with some full size chicks that quickly out grew her and then tried her with my other adult seramas but she was getting picked on again and was looking her brand new wing feathers so I pulled her out and put her back with the chicks again. Then a fox came to my dad's and killed his rooster and grabbed vanilla (white olive egger hen in the pic with porcupine) and broke her leg in two places by trying to pull her thru the fence. But she had the will to survive so I brought her home and casted her leg. (fingers crossed and holding for it to heal). Then vanilla was getting depressed because she was alone so I put porcupine in with her and instantly they were the best of friends and get alone so well and vanilla started to get more motivated and has learned to hope around and stand and balance while she probs herself and can even hope up on the low roost in the picture all by herself. So both my special girls are doing really good concidering!!!!

Im so glad that she is doing well! any more porcupine eggs?

Just a couple more, she's lays about 1 egg every 10 to 12 days or so....??? It's not diet related so it's either age related or the fact that she's still trying to feather in...