Are these worth setting?

[Sally PB]

A friend of mine who has all girls is interested in hatching eggs if one of his girls goes broody. I said I could set him up with some fertile eggs, but I want to be sure my cockerel is doing his job with both of my current layers. I've seen him mate with one of them, but not the other. A third should be laying again soon.

My girls are still pullets; "promotion day" is March 21. Right now, all the eggs are in the medium range, 50-57 grams. I'm hoping they will size up sometime soon! The third layer laid the largest eggs, so maybe hers will be better candidates when she gets going again. Is there a minimum size I should aim for, for hatching eggs?

The cockerel is a Buff Orpington, the pullets are all Black Australorps. Yeah, mutts. The friend is fine with that.

The color difference is me not knowing how to edit pictures on my phone. I enlarged and cropped them, but also altered something else on one of them. Now, if I were printing negatives in a dark room, I'd know how to make them match...

 

[SulkyBantam]

It's hard to tell... @JadeFarms

 

[MarkJr]

Lighter yolk is fertile. Darker is a maybe.

 

[Chickensandhorsesforlife]

Lighter yolk is fertile. Darker is a maybe.

X2

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is there a minimum size I should aim for, for hatching eggs?

Not as far as I'm concerned. Different hens lay different sized eggs. If you just went by pure size some hens would never lay eggs that meet your criteria although they can hatch very well.

My criteria is more how long has the pullet been laying. I find that if the pullet has been laying for a month or more the eggs usually hatch and the chicks do fine. And if one stops, molts, and starts back up laying, they are good to go immediately.

Could you please post photos of those chicks in down soon after they hatch and again after they feather out. In theory those chicks should all be solid black but a mix of buff and black often gives some really interesting colors and patterns. They could turn out to be very pretty.

 

[JadeFarms]

It's hard to tell... @JadeFarms

Thanks for the tag.

I agree, the lighter yolk looks to be fertile but the darker one does not.

 

[ButtonHoarder]

I think the yellower one is, and possibly the oranger

 

[kyeschicks]

I agree with everyone

 

[Sally PB]

Could you please post photos of those chicks in down soon after they hatch and again after they feather out. In theory those chicks should all be solid black but a mix of buff and black often gives some really interesting colors and patterns. They could turn out to be very pretty.

Just texted with this friend... he says it's up to his wife, as she is the chicken boss, as to whether they will want to set eggs. Last fall, he said she said she might want to, and was leaning toward it. So, we'll see.

I was thinking of hatching one or two. Still might do one, but I really, really want some Blue Australorp chicks this spring. Straight run BO got me three cockerels last year, and I had to cull two. Hubby is very against having to do that again, and I agree. I know getting pullet chicks can still get me an oops boy, but if that happened, I'd be inclined to get rid of the BO guy I have. He's a bit of a jerk. But not recently, so maybe he's growing up...

Either way, nothing could stop me from posting pictures!

 

[jher77]

Doesn't look like it:

Kinda looks like it: