California - Northern

[BCollie]

No chicks were harmed in the making of this picture

 

[18Peeps]

Wait until one goes broody in the weeds....Any time I see production drop I start searching for hidden nests....Some hens are very crafty.....

I love that they are smart enough to hide in the brush or tall herbs to make nests...they must get great hens.

 

[18Peeps]

I was afraid we were going to weed wack a hen on a clutch so we searched each section before cutting. I was shocked by the piles of eggs we found. I figured some were being laid in the weeds, but I did not realize we were loosing so many.

Maybe they are fertile and growing? That would be fun!

 

[ronott1]

So many chicks! Are you the one stocking all the feed stores

?

Most of them are being hatched for others. I am taking some to the Small Animal exchange next Saturday and will be sending some to Fresno With My oldest DD in several weeks. I will will be finished hatching for myself soon but will be continuing hatching for the two projects I am helping out with.

Did you figure out how to incubate all those guys? I have an incubator you could borrow if you want. It's nothing special, but it would fit 35 eggs pretty easy.

Thank you for the offer! I have 35 ish hatching next Sunday so I will be fine after that. The incubators are all working well so I hope to have a bunch hatch.

The local ones do well. The Black Penes are likely not going to hatch. They were pretty beaten up in shipping. I really hope the Horstman eggs do well....

and I am also happy that Mimi is hatching 4 as my Broody SG Dorking. She is very determined now.

 

[chicksnthestiks]

My Langshan eggs arrived today!!!!! They are huge and beautiful!!! Out of 35 shipped, only 5 arrived with cracks or crushed areas. They were shipped in the foam with egg holes. Only one of the broken ones leaked a slight amount. It was interesting because only 1 egg in the top layer had a hairline crack. The rest of the ones with dented in areas were in the bottom layer and were damaged by the eggs in the top layer. There was a foam layer in between the two layers. They are sitting at a slight angle, big side up in my turned off turner. 24 hours, right?

Beautiful eggs you have there. I remember that rooster at the Stockton show, I hope you get more like him!

 

[18Peeps]

Pretty Langshan eggs! Good luck with your hatch.

I don't like the foam shippers either. I received some eggs pack in it from another breeder. 2 were broken and several had detached air sacs. Out of 14 eggs, I got 2 to hatch. It wasn't the bator either, I had some other eggs in there and every single one hatched.

What you are saying made me feel better. You have hatched many many eggs, so I trust your experience! My first hatch was from shipped eggs...out of 18, I only had 8 grow to the end and only 4 hatch. I was beginning to think it was our incubator until these threads. Now I'm on day 14 of some Barnevelder eggs from tls_ranch and 27 out of 30 are growing very nicely. I can see movement in every one. All 30 were fertile. The quality in the egg makes all the difference and these eggs are seem so healthy. In a way it is a relief to know I didn't do anything wrong with that first, it was just the shipping. Thank you for reaffirming that.

 

[PetRock]

Beautiful eggs you have there. I remember that rooster at the Stockton show, I hope you get more like him!

Me, too!

 

[18Peeps]

Those are some pretty eggs!

For all you seasoned hatchers out there...is it better to have eggs shipped large end up? The air cell is supposed to be at the top of the egg and when they ship them sideways would they be more likely to have detached air cells? I'm new to this, but have wondered if it would help...

 

[PetRock]

No chicks were harmed in the making of this picture

I LOVE this pic!!!!!

 

[debs_flock]

No chicks were harmed in the making of this picture

That is adorable!!! And I love the intensity drool!

Of course, I might not be impartial since it's a BC.