Arkansas Blue egg layers

[enola]

My Araucanas are clean faced so I don't have the lethal gene to contend with. But, I don't find them at all difficult to hatch.

 

[johnderosa1]

You got it, Ron.  These chicks as I said earlier are weird hatchers.  They never hatch early.  They usually hatch at 22 days.  They also don't zip like most chicks.  They just bull their way out of the pipping hole.  I don't know if that is some weird hold over from the Araucana because Araucana are also hard to hatch or what.  Araucana though normally are hard to get good hatch rates because of lethality gene and fertility issues with the rumplessness.

How many days do you normally give yours to complete hatch? 

Interesting that you guys had unusual hatches with yours. I dont remember anything unusual with mine. I am getting ready to set some univ ark eggs this weekend so i will really pay attention this time. I have a home made incubator that i added a humidity pump to and have had some great hatches since adding it. 9 out of 11 shipped Black copper marans eggs (got 14 but 3 clears) this december. I was down around 10% or lower on these eggs before. I have a heat pump water heater in my basement that sucks the moisture out of the air... Relative humidities can get down to 8-12% in my basement so i was really struggling with maintaining a reasonable level. My unit keeps it dead on and allows me to fill it without opening it. It also pumps in fresh air so i can close down most of the ventilation which makes it more energy efficient and reduces temp swings to extremely narrow ranges. Best investment ive made in a while. My bcm eggs were $20 bucks each( day olds were $85-100 each) so this hatch rate was a huge blessing!!!!

 

[ronott1]

Interesting that you guys had unusual hatches with yours. I dont remember anything unusual with mine. I am getting ready to set some univ ark eggs this weekend so i will really pay attention this time. I have a home made incubator that i added a humidity pump to and have had some great hatches since adding it. 9 out of 11 shipped Black copper marans eggs (got 14 but 3 clears) this december. I was down around 10% or lower on these eggs before. I have a heat pump water heater in my basement that sucks the moisture out of the air... Relative humidities can get down to 8-12% in my basement so i was really struggling with maintaining a reasonable level. My unit keeps it dead on and allows me to fill it without opening it. It also pumps in fresh air so i can close down most of the ventilation which makes it more energy efficient and reduces temp swings to extremely narrow ranges. Best investment ive made in a while. My bcm eggs were $20 bucks each( day olds were $85-100 each) so this hatch rate was a huge blessing!!!!

What pump did you get?

 

[johnderosa1]

What pump did you get?

I got it from incubator warehouse. Its Digital and it was around $130 i think

 

[ronott1]

I got it from incubator warehouse. Its Digital and it was around $130 i think

I have seen that auto humidifier on their website.

It is on my wish list. It is good to hear a positive review.

Thanks!

 

[KittieChick]

I let my four pullets out today for some sun and to clean the pen. They are a bit dirty from our wonderful clay but are looking good!

Hi Ron. What size pen and coop are your girls in? We're having a problem with over building our coops. I just built a 10'sq quarantine coop for a trio! Plus they have a 10x12' outside space.

Loving those beautiful blue eggs! The birds are pretty, also!

 

[ronott1]

Hi Ron. What size pen and coop are your girls in? We're having a problem with over building our coops. I just built a 10'sq quarantine coop for a trio!

Plus they have a 10x12' outside space.

Loving those beautiful blue eggs! The birds are pretty, also!

I have 4 of them in a ware chicken hutch--not very large but they have an attached run. They are not super large so they do fine in it. The boy gets to visit in the evenings--longer on the weekends.

 

[KittieChick]

I have 4 of them in a ware chicken hutch--not very large but they have an attached run. They are not super large so they do fine in it. The boy gets to visit in the evenings--longer on the weekends.

So what's the reason for limiting the boy's visitation?

 

[ronott1]

So what's the reason for limiting the boy's visitation?

I live in a City.

 

[KittieChick]

After reading through this thread with great interest, I just realized that my chickens are skewed towards meat production! Delawares and Dorkings.

I'd like the chance to give the Arkansas Blue a try. What would be the best way to obtain either a trio or hatching eggs? I'm in Raleigh, NC and am willing to drive a reasonable distance. I would hate to lose a single chick to the postal service!