April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[gmjarvi]

I'd put her in a different coop within the main run, but she left that to go back to the main coop to be broody! The broody coop isn't big enough to totally shut her in...so I left the door open

I wonder if it's because she associated the main coop with "home"? Chickens are habitual to a fault!

I brought mine into a totally foreign location to her and she has nowhere else to go except sit on her eggs. I also moved after about 10 days, so she was so broody and attached to these eggs that she wouldn't even stand up on her own. I can literally pick her up and move her in broad daylight now and she will brood whatever I put her on. (I only did this to change her straw...she made a nice big broody poop next to her eggs).

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Yes I've done that very successfully before

She's a first timer sooooo...

They're all first timers at some point, lol! I'm always weary of a newbie but out of all of my broody hens, I've only had a couple that failed in one way or another and one hen that would only accept chicks that she hatched herself, lol, the snob doesn't live here anymore.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I've been told that ducks do better incubating on their sides, just FYI.

Good to know!

 

[Akoharski4]

This was asked in a Facebook hatching group I'm part of. Some pretty experienced hatchers felt it was impossible to check fertility after incubating an egg. That the incubation temperature will cause the blastoderm/blastodisc to change regardless of fertility. Looking for a bullseye is no longer possible. There was also a study mentioned on this somewhere but I haven't found it yet.

With my own eggs I still call them "infertile". But shipped eggs I just say "no development" and leave it at that. Too much trauma to the egg to really make the call with certainty one way or the other.

Thanks for the response! They are definitely not scrambled. I can see a distinct yolk. I ended up pulling them today (day 7) and cracked them open. Absolutely no growth.

 

[gmjarvi]

Thanks for the response! They are definitely not scrambled. I can see a distinct yolk. I ended up pulling them today (day 7) and cracked them open. Absolutely no growth.

Such a bummer when that happens!

 

[Akoharski4]

Such a bummer when that happens!

For sure! Especially when you’re paying for them I have four more “odd ones” that I can’t confirm one way or another. Gonna give them a few more days and see. Not the best first experience with shipped eggs, but I don’t think I’ve learned my lesson yet hehehe.

 

[gmjarvi]

For sure! Especially when you’re paying for them I have four more “odd ones” that I can’t confirm one way or another. Gonna give them a few more days and see. Not the best first experience with shipped eggs, but I don’t think I’ve learned my lesson yet hehehe.

Yes, I had 7 unfertilized eggs out of 22 on my first hatch and my husband was NOT pleased since I spent nearly $100 on them. I didn't think it was the time to mention that that's not all that bad for almost 2 dozen eggs . Made me rethink how many orpingtons I really want to have .

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Wow, guys! Check out the difference in candling from this morning to now. About a 10 hour difference between these two photos. They've been incubating for a solid 48 hours now. Zero question about who's fertile. Still too early to pull blanks but it appears 7/12 eggs have babies growing! I only paid $3 for the dozen so I'm super happy with these results.

On a funny note I find myself singing "Baby Shark" whenever I'm handling them. But changing the words to "Baby DUCK, Doo doo doo doo!"

 

[Akoharski4]

Fellow hatchers- can anyone comment on a fair price for a dozen silkie eggs? I wanted to purchase some locally in addition to the ones I bought online, and the lady asked $60 for them. It seemed high. I paid $38 for 10 off eBay including shipping...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Fellow hatchers- can anyone comment on a fair price for a dozen silkie eggs? I wanted to purchase some locally in addition to the ones I bought online, and the lady asked $60 for them. It seemed high. I paid $38 for 10 off eBay including shipping...

That is going to vary a lot based on the bloodlines of the Silkies and where you're located and when I say varies a lot I'm talking anywhere from $10/dozen to $100/dozen. There are plenty of people with pet quality Silkies that may even have some show quality possibilities and they might not charge very much but someone that takes their chickens to shows is going to charge for their fancy birds.