when do you start hatching out eggs from your rangers? How long do you wait, age wise? I tried with my 9/10mo Marans and the chicks were much smaller than the ones from the older girls. But I’m worried that every week brings these little bowling ball hens closer to a heart attack! I can’t wait until they are laying and I can put them on a layer feed with lower fat and protein content.
I don't raise meat birds or meat bird crosses, just my own mix of dual purpose chickens. Since I play with genetics, I often hatch pullet eggs instead of waiting a year. The egg laying process is pretty complicated and things have to be pretty close to right for an egg to hatch. A pullet just starting to lay may have trouble getting all the kinks out of her internal egg-making factory. That's not just the weird things you often see with pullet eggs, it could be things internal you con't see. Usually they work these things out in a couple of weeks. To me it is kind of amazing how many get it right to start with.
The first eggs are really small, but they should rapidly get bigger. The genetics are going to be the same but there aren't enough nutrients or room in those small eggs for the chicks to get very big before hatch. To be honest I have not noticed if those chicks that hatch small catch up or are forever stunted. For my purposes it's not that important but I think they catch up.
One example of problems with the eggs being small and the pullet working things out, the pullet is going to make a certain amount of shell material. If the egg is small that shell may be so thick the chick has trouble getting out. But as the egg gets bigger the shell gets thinner.
One year I had two pullets laying when I collected hatching eggs. They had both been laying about a month. I could tell which pullet laid which egg by color. I got 5 put of 6 chicks from one pullet's eggs, I got 0 out of 5 from the other pullet. Those eggs didn't even start to develop. I think that pullet had not matured enough to squat for the rooster and he didn't chase her down. It's not just the physical size of the pullets, it's also their behaviors.
I typically wait at least a moth after a pullet starts to lay before I set her eggs. I usually get pretty good hatch rates, though the pullet eggs sometimes have a slightly lower hatch rate than regular eggs. Most chicks I hatch live and thrive, though I've notice that if one does die in the first couple of weeks it is usually one from a small pullet egg. If I can get them past two weeks they do fine.
I don't know what happened with your Marans. Usually by 9 to 10 months the eggs are no different in hatchability or survival than mature hens' eggs. Are you sure it was not something else rather than the pullets' age?
In your situation I'd be hatching pullet eggs. I'm not sure I'd wait a month with the risk of the pullets dying, though I probably would. So what if you don't get a great hatch rate. Just getting some to hatch is a win. Those that tell you to wait a year are not breeding for your goals. For example, if you are evaluating them for show potential or for egg laying, there can be huge advantages in waiting. But those are not your goals. Don't let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of good enough.
