Are Chicks Like Fish?

[suzettex5]

i have heard that certain fish will grow to fit their enviroment, ie- small tank= small fish, bigger tank+same kind of fish= bigger fish (not all fish, but some)

My question- If you have a large/heavy breed chicken that is young, or happens to lay a smaller than usual, (but fertile) egg, can the chick survive to hatch in the smaller egg?

I wonder because my Jersey giant hens are just starting to lay (about 2 to 3 weeks now) but the eggs are small. They are fertile though. I want to incubate a few, but I am cocerned the chicks will be way to big to fit in the shell. Or do they stay small, but properly developed?

Anyone know what I mean?

 

[abanjaf]

I do know what you mean. I've not tried to incubate my fertile eggs from hens so young, so I can't really answer you on that one. I can tell you that as my hens have gotten older, they're eggs are much larger now than when they first started laying. Perhaps someone else will have a better answer for you

 

[4-H chicken mom]

It is usually not recomended to try and hatch the first eggs. They don't do well. How long have they been breeding?

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:
I wouldn't recommend it. I just hatched (Saturday) some chicks from eggs that I won in an auction. Some of them were as small as pullets eggs. I have read not to hatch eggs that are smaller than normal but I hatched them anyway

. They had a hard time hatching and they are not very "thrifty". They are w-a-y smaller than the other chicks and just sort of lay around (as if they are still recovering from hatching) while the other chicks are running circles around them. If you wait a few more weeks I think it would be safer for any chick that may hatch from those eggs.

 

[Ariel301]

First off, that is absolutely not true about ANY kind of fish. As an ornamental fish breeder of many years, I can tell you that it does not work that way. The only reason a fish will stay small in a small container is because you stunt it--i.e. the water is so polluted with waste products like ammonia that the fish cannot grow to its correct size because it is sick. If you could manage to keep the water clean enough, the fish would still grow to normal size...or die from stress because it's in a too small area. It would be like keeping a puppy in a small crate all the time so that it would not grow up to be a big sized dog. Sure, it's not going to grow full size. But will it be normal? Hardly.

I haven't tried pullet chicken eggs, but the first few sets of turkey pullet eggs I tried didn't do right. They started off by only making it halfway through incubation and then dying. Then the next set would get a little further. Then the third set started hatching but all died in the hatching process and were not fully developed. It wasn't until the fourth set of eggs that I even got any to survive, and the only real difference is that those eggs were bigger.

With small eggs, I'd say maybe they will work, maybe not. If they do, I can see that the chick would be smaller than normal, and maybe have a harder time surviving.

 

[suzettex5]

Quote:
On the fish thing- I'll bow to your experience as a fish breeder and admit to believing what is apparently an urban legend- and what I'd been told at a fish store, guess they really wanted to sell fish! I just have 3 goldfish in 10 gallons my son won at the fair-dont know much about fish. Was gonna add another, but didnt. But I DO keep the tank very clean and replace all the filtration stuff once every two weeks and clean/vaccum the gravel once a month and clean the glass once a week as well.

So, my hens havent increased their egg size in the last 3 weeks. But from what I'm hearing, incubation of pullet eggs seems to result in smaller, weaker chicks. Is it possible their growth and development is stunted inside the too-small-for-the-breed egg? Does it follow then that the egg size, in fact, determines the size and viability of the chick, and that same chick would have been bigger if it had a bigger egg?

 

[suzettex5]

Quote:
They are about 11 months old (jersey black giants) and have been laying almost a month. Havent seen any egg size increase, except for the very first egg was a little bit smaller. Other wise the eggs have all been pretty dinky, compared to what I get out of my Polish Maran cross hens- whose eggs I did hatch, the chicks are BIG and healthy and have the same roo dad as the pullet eggs I was wondering about.

 

[silkiechicken]

You could probably start setting in a month or so. The eggs are probably getting a tad bigger over time, just hard to notice.

As for your 3 gold fish. I have three carnival type fish, they are about 3 years old now and are 8+ inches long and still growing. I'm sure they are stunted though because they only live in a pool half a year, and inside of a 30 and 20 gallon tank over winter inside.

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:
They are about 11 months old (jersey black giants) and have been laying almost a month.

I've read that Jersey Giants are slow to mature so I would give it a little while longer. Patience, patience, patience....

The 3 chicks that I hatched from the smallish (auction) eggs are still sort of runty looking, 3 days old now, no feathers on their behinds and just plain different looking.