Cross breeding for hatching eggs

[Marinewife0111]

I am new to hatching eggs. I have Icelandic, Dominique, EE, leghorn and buff Orpington in with my Icelandic rooster. In my other flock I have RIR, white rock, Australorp and black sex links in with my barred rock Cochin rooster. What would be some good things and bad things that would come from these breedings? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gimmie birdies]

Sounds like a good group of birds! the second group sounds more like egg producers, although the first group has the leghorn.

I have fancy birds, but this last hatch I went for egg layers, because fancy birds are not producers.

put up your chick pics!

 

[beetandsteet]

Expect "hybrid vigor" from this hatch as you are outcrossing all the birds. Hybrid vigor means the chicks will have exceptional livability. All your hens sound like good egg layers (except the icelandic, I don't know much about this breed). However, genes controlling rate of lay generally do not have high heritability in the first generation (in my experience). At this point all the chicks I hatch are mutts (some are crosses of 6+ breeds), so I love to see just what kind of colors they're going to have! x2 on what gimmie birdies said, please do put up pictures of your mutts when they hatch!

 

[jcopeland29710]

Same question, different birds....I have Buff Orp's, RIR, EE's and Plymouth Rocks with a RIR rooster. What can I expect? I am just starting to read up and learn about incubating and want to start my first batch after the holidays.

Another question (and I understand it may be for a different thread) but my RIR rooster is 7 months old. He is definitely active with the ladies. Outside of cracking open the egg, how do I know if an egg is fertile. Should I take a couple of days worth and crack them open until I see a few fertile eggs?

If I put them in the incubator, I understand that after 7 days I should she heavy veins on the fertile eggs. If I don't see ANY veins, does the egg go in the trash or is it still good to eat? I know it sounds like a weird question, but like I said, I a very new to incubating.

 

[junebuggena]

If any of your Rock or Easter Eggers have a silver base color, then their chicks will be red sexlinks.
Cracking a few eggs open is the only way to be sure that the eggs are fertile prior to incubation.
Fertile eggs have a white 'bullseye' on the yolk, like this egg.

Eggs must be kept at a near constant 99.5 degrees for healthy development. An egg kept at those temperatures for several days is not safe for eating.

 

[lazy gardener]

Same question, different birds....I have Buff Orp's, RIR, EE's and Plymouth Rocks with a RIR rooster. What can I expect? I am just starting to read up and learn about incubating and want to start my first batch after the holidays.

Another question (and I understand it may be for a different thread) but my RIR rooster is 7 months old. He is definitely active with the ladies. Outside of cracking open the egg, how do I know if an egg is fertile. Should I take a couple of days worth and crack them open until I see a few fertile eggs?

If I put them in the incubator, I understand that after 7 days I should she heavy veins on the fertile eggs. If I don't see ANY veins, does the egg go in the trash or is it still good to eat? I know it sounds like a weird question, but like I said, I a very new to incubating.

Check out these charts: You should get at least some sex linked birds. The trick will be to distinguish which hen is laying which egg. In your group, your RIR x PBR = BSL. The best way to check fertility is to crack some eggs open and inspect them before cooking your breakfast. If you want to go the incubation route, you could feed the eggs to the chickens after the 7 day test. I'd not eat them, as they would be quite bloody. Personally, I don't put eggs in the incubator unless I do so with the intent of hatching chicks. Once I commit to incubation, I wouldn't want to sacrifice a chick to check fertility.