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

[FortCluck]

Thanks! I said I would stop hatching until the virus chilled out but I may end up with peafowl eggs...sooooo. LOL!

I said that I was done hatching too, but I didn't know I was going to get two new roosters

Honestly I don't think that I like the Jersey giant growout when you do crosses for meat birds. They are pretty non-meaty which defeats the purpose.

My family and I really discussed this a lot last night and all of us decided that it would be best to let him be rehomed and get two standard sized roosters.

We have a Bantam brahma rooster, but he is practically set on having just one girl and that is one of the chicks that he hatched with. He doesn't mess with anybody else. 'Squatch was being quite the jerk yesterday and trying to mate with his girl. She is a bantam Brahma as well and was screaming at the top of her lungs trying to get away and when she got away it was a feathery mess. That's pretty much what broke the camel's back yesterday.

 

[FortCluck]

I always appreciate your honest feedback! I am still a newbie so it is hard for me to judge when to step in or not. One one hand, I feel like eggs incubated under the same conditions should all hatch out around the same time...on the other hand I've heard of this not always being the case, and duck eggs should take 28 days, so mine were a bit early! This is the second hatch in a row where I've had early hatchers so I'm wondering if I need a better thermometer set up...maybe my temp is too high and it's actually causing issues! I made a hole on the air cell side of the egg I had the least hope for; it was for sure dead. So, I opened it up a bit further and it looks like it died before it even absorbed its yolk. Otherwise it was perfectly formed, so I'm not sure what went wrong. No fluid build up either. I think I'm going to give the other two a day or two more before I do anything, even though my hope is low.

I am quickly learning how much of this process is fueled by gut instinct! Each time my gut has told me an egg has quit, it has. I have only been wrong once so far. This particular batch are pets, so it stings a little harder that only 3 have hatched. But I will try again.

I may see if I can control the humidity better next time around during the hatching. As I mentioned above, there were no signs of drowning (fluid build up) in the egg that I did eggtopsy, but I am still befuddled, and 80% all day is a lot for a long time.

What I can suggest to you is when you are candling later on when it's darker, turn the eggs a little bit like you are twisting a knob... Then candle and see if you see movement. Don't shake it super hard, but just enough to wake up a chick if they are sleeping. I usually rock mine back and forth very lightly and they wake up and give me some type of movement so that I know they are alive.

If you do not see movement then I would suggest moving on to the next step, which would be slowly opening up the egg.

 

[CindyinSD]

These are my new Deathlayers and will be my new breeding project. Sad this will be my last Squatch hatch, but I can't have my hens looking horrible due to aggressive breeding.

Has anyone started the May hatch a long... I'll be incubating eggs in about 3 weeks from these guys.

View attachment 2081867

View attachment 2081868

Do they all have cushion combs like that? Maybe I'll get some...

 

[FortCluck]

They are so pretty!

I am so sad that I have to get rid of my 'Squatch, he is a very good bird but his size is overpowering my hands and I do not like it.

If I ever got Jersey Giants again, I would get only females unless I got females and one rooster.

I have more than one reason for getting rid of him and it was a very hard decision, but it's what's best for my family. The first reason would be that he is overpowering my hens. The second reason would be that his offspring is very pretty, but they are not the type of dual-purpose breed that we want. I know that you have to wait a long time for Jersey Giants to grow out, but crossing them should have done more than it did. It might just be him, but he does have very good offspring if they were just for laying.

I have two red sex links that I've had before any of my other chickens that are really like pets to me and he has been going after them like crazy. It's not in a way where he wants to mate, it's more like he wants to kill them. They are afraid of him at this point.

I'm hoping adding these two standard size roosters will really calm down my flock because they are mature and the person who has them has really worked with them to make sure that they are friendly.

 

[gmjarvi]

What I can suggest to you is when you are candling later on when it's darker, turn the eggs a little bit like you are twisting a knob... Then candle and see if you see movement. Don't shake it super hard, but just enough to wake up a chick if they are sleeping. I usually rock mine back and forth very lightly and they wake up and give me some type of movement so that I know they are alive.

If you do not see movement then I would suggest moving on to the next step, which would be slowly opening up the egg.

Thank you! This seems like the logical course of action since I haven't seen movement in a couple days. I will update everyone on the outcome.

 

[FortCluck]

Do they all have cushion combs like that? Maybe I'll get some...

Yes they do. I honestly have never heard about this breed until my friend's girlfriend was talking about how she had hatched some and she needed to get rid of them. At the time I wasn't really looking for roosters, but last night things changed.

She said that they are very great flock protectors and they are very docile just like my jersey giant. Except they are a lot smaller, which is better for my flock.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I always appreciate your honest feedback! I am still a newbie so it is hard for me to judge when to step in or not. One one hand, I feel like eggs incubated under the same conditions should all hatch out around the same time...on the other hand I've heard of this not always being the case, and duck eggs should take 28 days, so mine were a bit early! This is the second hatch in a row where I've had early hatchers so I'm wondering if I need a better thermometer set up...maybe my temp is too high and it's actually causing issues! I made a hole on the air cell side of the egg I had the least hope for; it was for sure dead. So, I opened it up a bit further and it looks like it died before it even absorbed its yolk. Otherwise it was perfectly formed, so I'm not sure what went wrong. No fluid build up either. I think I'm going to give the other two a day or two more before I do anything, even though my hope is low.

I am quickly learning how much of this process is fueled by gut instinct! Each time my gut has told me an egg has quit, it has. I have only been wrong once so far. This particular batch are pets, so it stings a little harder that only 3 have hatched. But I will try again.

I may see if I can control the humidity better next time around during the hatching. As I mentioned above, there were no signs of drowning (fluid build up) in the egg that I did eggtopsy, but I am still befuddled, and 80% all day is a lot for a long time.

Gah, that sucks, I'm sorry! There really does seem to be a lot of staring at the incubator and watching the process that really starts to give you a "feel" for when something is up and when to step in if you even choose to.

Even when dealing with pets there is a bit more ease in handling hatches the way Cindy suggested because it's as simple as deciding what will be will be.

Early on in my hatching experience I think I learned more from assists and eggtopsies as to how to fine tune my hatching processes and increase my hatch rates because it really was different in every type of incubator. I learned a lot from opening up eggs that failed but still to this day sometimes I'm just guessing as to what happened.

When you opened the egg did it appear that it was in the correct position for hatching? Malpositions can be some of the more difficult issues to determine and you'll have an increased number of malpositions with shipped eggs or eggs that aren't turned properly.

 

[CindyinSD]

Yes they do. I honestly have never heard about this breed until my friend's girlfriend was talking about how she had hatched some and she needed to get rid of them. At the time I wasn't really looking for roosters, but last night things changed.

She said that they are very great flock protectors and they are very docile just like my jersey giant. Except they are a lot smaller, which is better for my flock.

I've often thought about the Jersey Giants, but also heard about their bone-heavy frames and that from a feed conversion standpoint they're not efficient as meat birds. For some reason I thought the deathlayers had vulnerable combs--single or maybe double... I must have been mixing them up with some others. I'll have to keep an eye out for some. The new roosters are really beautiful! Congrats! I really hope they'll work out well for you.

 

[gmjarvi]

I am so sad that I have to get rid of my 'Squatch, he is a very good bird but his size is overpowering my hands and I do not like it.

If I ever got Jersey Giants again, I would get only females unless I got females and one rooster.

I have more than one reason for getting rid of him and it was a very hard decision, but it's what's best for my family. The first reason would be that he is overpowering my hens. The second reason would be that his offspring is very pretty, but they are not the type of dual-purpose breed that we want. I know that you have to wait a long time for Jersey Giants to grow out, but crossing them should have done more than it did. It might just be him, but he does have very good offspring if they were just for laying.

I have two red sex links that I've had before any of my other chickens that are really like pets to me and he has been going after them like crazy. It's not in a way where he wants to mate, it's more like he wants to kill them. They are afraid of him at this point.

I'm hoping adding these two standard size roosters will really calm down my flock because they are mature and the person who has them has really worked with them to make sure that they are friendly.

I know he was special to you it cannot be easy to rehome a special bird!

We have a SLW rooster that I raised, but he is kind of turning out to be a total hole. I'm torn on what I should do because we have a toddler running around and I don't want him to get hurt. The rooster is young enough that he doesnt even have his spurs yet, but if he did he would surely use them! I'm hoping it's just because spring has sprung and he will calm back down. He does a great job alerting my hens to danger, and has only mated one of them too much. I feel like his offspring will make better meat birds than my frizzle's offspring, so I'd like to keep him around for that. But if he keeps being a jerk he just might turn into pot pie.

I hope these Deathlayers make lots of pretty babies for you! And that your flock feels more at ease even though you will miss Squatch ❤.

 

[gmjarvi]

Gah, that sucks, I'm sorry! There really does seem to be a lot of staring at the incubator and watching the process that really starts to give you a "feel" for when something is up and when to step in if you even choose to.

Even when dealing with pets there is a bit more ease in handling hatches the way Cindy suggested because it's as simple as deciding what will be will be.

Early on in my hatching experience I think I learned more from assists and eggtopsies as to how to fine tune my hatching processes and increase my hatch rates because it really was different in every type of incubator. I learned a lot from opening up eggs that failed but still to this day sometimes I'm just guessing as to what happened.

When you opened the egg did it appear that it was in the correct position for hatching? Malpositions can be some of the more difficult issues to determine and you'll have an increased number of malpositions with shipped eggs or eggs that aren't turned properly.

Thank you ❤. Luckily I love learning, so all the watching and note taking doesn't bother me so much. It's crazy how much I've learned already in just 3 hatches, and I'm learning more all the time! At this point, I think eggstopsies and assisting when possible will be more beneficial for me for the learning aspect.

I don't know the terms for all the malpos and I totally spaced on taking a picture, but this one had its head tucked in towards its body so it was stuffed between its body and the yolk instead of having it positioned under the wing. This particular egg also had a terrible air cell, which I had noted in my hatching notes. It was saddled pretty much all the way up the side of the egg. Its bad aircell and lack of movement is what made me choose it to poke around in first.

So far I am liking the turner in the NR360 better than the turner in the Brinsea...the way the turner in the Brinsea is designed, your eggs have to be pretty much the perfect size and shape in order to turn completely. Now that you mention turning, I'm wondering if the shipping process and wonky turning has contributed to spotty success this time around. Next time I have shipped eggs in there I may just turn by hand?