I put 5 eggs under a hen on 6-27. It was my first ever try and when I candled them at 15 days for the second time I was very excited to see movement in all but the dark greenish/olive egg.
They hatched Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning, all but one. The last time I candled them I noticed a hole the size of a pinhead in the shell but the membrane wasn't intact. Maybe the baby was just sick or deformed, but it's sad to see movement one day and then 5 days later to see a perfectly formed dead chick in a shell. The fluid in with the chick was kinda whitish-yellow and starting to smell.
They're mutts. I have a Turken roo and a Marans. For hens I have EE/Ameraucanas who lay everything from pink to medium dark blue-green; Black Stars, 1 SL Wyandotte and 4 Whites, 2 Marans, a few Californa Grays, some SC Light Brown Leghorns, Turkens, and one that is a mix of a Barnevelder and who knows what else, at least from what others have told me. I know the moms aren't the white layers because I only took 3 brown and 2 green eggs. 3 of the 4 chicks are mostly black right now, and one is mostly gray - two shades. I did get one Turken baby and one that has at least a little Turken in it; I've noticed bare spots where Turkens are more lightly feathered.
Anyhow, it's hard to lose a baby that close to hatching, especially when it comes out looking perfect when it doesn't hatch and you check inside the shell.
I figure I got lucky with an 80% hatch rate the first time around. Maybe I'm being greedy. I don't know.
Trisha in MO
They hatched Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning, all but one. The last time I candled them I noticed a hole the size of a pinhead in the shell but the membrane wasn't intact. Maybe the baby was just sick or deformed, but it's sad to see movement one day and then 5 days later to see a perfectly formed dead chick in a shell. The fluid in with the chick was kinda whitish-yellow and starting to smell.
They're mutts. I have a Turken roo and a Marans. For hens I have EE/Ameraucanas who lay everything from pink to medium dark blue-green; Black Stars, 1 SL Wyandotte and 4 Whites, 2 Marans, a few Californa Grays, some SC Light Brown Leghorns, Turkens, and one that is a mix of a Barnevelder and who knows what else, at least from what others have told me. I know the moms aren't the white layers because I only took 3 brown and 2 green eggs. 3 of the 4 chicks are mostly black right now, and one is mostly gray - two shades. I did get one Turken baby and one that has at least a little Turken in it; I've noticed bare spots where Turkens are more lightly feathered.
Anyhow, it's hard to lose a baby that close to hatching, especially when it comes out looking perfect when it doesn't hatch and you check inside the shell.
I figure I got lucky with an 80% hatch rate the first time around. Maybe I'm being greedy. I don't know.
Trisha in MO
