I've been trying to read up on this in hope of getting an incubator for Christmas or, at least, having a broody next spring.
After I've chosen the birds I want to breed for their desirable characteristics and after I've eliminated dirty, misshapen, defective, or otherwise generally wonky eggs* what are some things to look for in the best hatching eggs?
How heritable are traits like color, speckling, and level of bloom?
I see in several articles to choose "medium" eggs, neither small nor large.
But does that mean Medium as in 49-56 grams (US standard)? Which doesn't make much sense if you want to perpetuate a laying flock for egg sales when people want to buy Large (56-63g) and X-lg (64-70g).
Or does it mean average for the breed?
Or just "not undersized and not huge"?
Also, should all the eggs set in a single batch be roughly the same size? I've read that bantams might hatch earlier than large fowl, does that mean that the smaller eggs in a batch might hatch sooner than the larger ones?
*I have 2 hens that I definitely won't breed because one is prone to calcium deposits and another lays weirdly-round eggs.
After I've chosen the birds I want to breed for their desirable characteristics and after I've eliminated dirty, misshapen, defective, or otherwise generally wonky eggs* what are some things to look for in the best hatching eggs?
How heritable are traits like color, speckling, and level of bloom?
I see in several articles to choose "medium" eggs, neither small nor large.
But does that mean Medium as in 49-56 grams (US standard)? Which doesn't make much sense if you want to perpetuate a laying flock for egg sales when people want to buy Large (56-63g) and X-lg (64-70g).
Or does it mean average for the breed?
Or just "not undersized and not huge"?
Also, should all the eggs set in a single batch be roughly the same size? I've read that bantams might hatch earlier than large fowl, does that mean that the smaller eggs in a batch might hatch sooner than the larger ones?
*I have 2 hens that I definitely won't breed because one is prone to calcium deposits and another lays weirdly-round eggs.