BYC's 2026 Valentine's Day Hatch-Along

[redinator]

I had to look up Crele Penedesenca and they sure look neat and have very dark eggs. What drew you to them if I can ask?

I actually saw the eggs in the Halloween hatch along someone else was hatching. When I saw them I assumed they were Marans eggs due to the color. When I researched them I found out the Crele variety are autosexing, like Cream Legbars, so I started trying to figure out where to get them. It took awhile because the Partridge variety is more common.

I figured it'd be nice to have two auto sexing breeds that lay specific egg colors, rather than getting EEs and OEs that may/maynot have certain egg color genetics.

I plan to breed some pure and cross the two breeds (Pens/Legbars) to get F1 Olive Eggers. It'll also be interesting to see if the autosexing trait holds in the offspring since both breeds are auto sexing. (Don't tell me if you know the answer you'll ruin my fun )

 

[gullinkambe]

ME, ME, ME!!
I was hoping someone would make a hatch-a-long, it's always fun to have somewhere to share the excitement.

I set 9 Muscovy duck eggs, evening the 6th. Very few to do the whole process of incubation, but that's the eggs I got...

And then I added 3 more yesterday that suddenly showed up in the duck coop. Muscovy-hatching can vary by many days, and I got a separate hatcher, so the time difference shouldn't be a problem.

The eggs were very cold when I collected them, and some were old and improperly stored for a while (before I made up my mind to incubate them). I've been candling them every day since day 1...
Day 4, yesterday, I clearly saw life in 8 out of 9! Which is fantastic! Eggs sure are resilient.

The point of the hatch is to get one magpie-patterned drake for a breeding project.

 

[redinator]

ME, ME, ME!!
I was hoping someone would make a hatch-a-long, it's always fun to have somewhere to share the excitement.

I set 9 Muscovy duck eggs, evening the 6th. Very few to do the whole process of incubation, but that's the eggs I got...

And then I added 3 more yesterday that suddenly showed up in the duck coop. Muscovy-hatching can vary by many days, and I got a separate hatcher, so the time difference shouldn't be a problem.

The eggs were very cold when I collected them, and some were old and improperly stored for a while (before I made up my mind to incubate them). I've been candling them every day since day 1...
Day 4, yesterday, I clearly saw life in 8 out of 9! Which is fantastic! Eggs sure are resilient.

The point of the hatch is to get one magpie-patterned drake for a breeding project.

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A friend keeps telling me I should get ducks. I've been resisting so far, but this may be the hatch that pushes me over edge

 

[gullinkambe]

A friend keeps telling me I should get ducks. I've been resisting so far, but this may be the hatch that pushes me over edge

I'm happy to be your Enabler for this hatch-a-long

I love my Muscovies. I've had/cared for a lot of different types of birds, and they're my favorite. Calm, BIG personalities, funny to watch, quiet. I also love how connected they get to me as ducklings when I'm their "mother".

Oh, I found another 5 eggs in the duck coop, 3 intact. I clearly need to do better searches The 3 will be joining their fellows.

 

[redinator]

I'm happy to be your Enabler for this hatch-a-long

I love my Muscovies. I've had/cared for a lot of different types of birds, and they're my favorite. Calm, BIG personalities, funny to watch, quiet. I also love how connected they get to me as ducklings when I'm their "mother".

Oh, I found another 5 eggs in the duck coop, 3 intact. I clearly need to do better searches The 3 will be joining their fellows.

I have 19 pullets in the yard and several are just starting to lay. I only had 3 layers before winter hit. Now I keep finding eggs just dropped around the yard and under their roost bar. I'm getting an average of 7-9 eggs a day in the nest box, and 3-4 I have to hunt for.

 

[Debbie292d]

A friend keeps telling me I should get ducks. I've been resisting so far, but this may be the hatch that pushes me over edge

I had toyed with getting ducks over the years, and even hatched some of my neighbor's pekins for her. She offered to let me keep any I wanted and I didn't. A few years later we got talked into taking two juvenile buff orpington ducks and fell in love. One had reproductive issues and didn't make it, so we got the other one two friends. So now there's three. I wouldn't give them up for anything!

We had bought a giant doghouse on Marketplace for their hutch and gave them their own secure pen and a turtle pond. For winter, they have a heated bucket for water, and the chickens all have nipple buckets so they can't muck up theirs.

 

[redinator]

I had toyed with getting ducks over the years, and even hatched some of my neighbor's pekins for her. She offered to let me keep any I wanted and I didn't. A few years later we got talked into taking two juvenile buff orpington ducks and fell in love. One had reproductive issues and didn't make it, so we got the other one two friends. So now there's three. I wouldn't give them up for anything!

We had bought a giant doghouse on Marketplace for their hutch and gave them their own secure pen and a turtle pond. For winter, they have a heated bucket for water, and the chickens all have nipple buckets so they can't muck up theirs.

My concern is I heard drakes would injure a pullet/hen if they tried to breed. Also drakes are evil when ducklings are around, so I've heard.

 

[Debbie292d]

My concern is I heard drakes would injure a pullet/hen if they tried to breed. Also drakes are evil when ducklings are around, so I've heard.

They can injure a chicken hen, yes. I've not heard about the latter though. We got lucky the first two were both females, so when I went shopping for two more, I made sure to get females.

Those three mingle with the chickens but free range on their own. They seem happy, and make us smile.

 

[Debbie292d]

Goose eggs are on deck! Two days for most!

 

[redinator]

For little levity and because waiting is boring . . .

Don't mess with a Black Jersey Giants girls or you might just . . .