Dark Egg Breeds Thread

[HSR Marans]

I've been helping chicks out of their shells for years. Sometimes they end up being cockerels, sometimes hens. You get what you get, right? There are times that they survive only to die later. Mother nature usually knows best. There is a reason why some don't make it.

Debi

 

[berkeleysprings]

i always go 43 and 64but could be the bator is running to hot rather than a humidity thing
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[berkeleysprings]

my small flock of wheaten marans just started laying again after a 2 month vacation , not sure what hens lay waht egg and i only gotter around 8 eggs this year so they will darken hopefullly some of my 2 year old pullets are judst starting to feather in from a long molt and some are a long way off from frathering in.i hate posting egg pics they never show the true color beut here is a few eggs and some are thee first eggs ever and some of the season the birds are wet and moulting looking

 

[drom]

I think your eggs look great. I finally figured out how to take flash pictures indoors without reflecting so much light off the eggs that they look washed out. You just can't get up real close with the flash. You need to be close enough obviously to get a good image and light everything up, but if you get too close, the glossy finish on the eggs will reflect back and wash out the color. So, you move back a bit and use your zoom if you need it to move in to the image a bit and take a few pics until you are able to reproduce the true image and color.
I use a Fuji point and shoot bare-bones camera that has actually taken some great photos for me, but I am currently looking at getting a DSLR so I can move up. I'm really interested in capturing wildlife, particularly birds. We have the most wonderful Red Shouldered Hawks here. They hang out in my eucalyptus trees and I really want to capture some images of them. They are small very beautiful birds with big wild looking eyes.


FYI- your Wheaten hens are just gorgeous Berkeley

 

[kathyinmo]

Drom,
Have you had any problems with your incubator? Is this the one you have ...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=313427

I had planned to get this kind, until I read this thread.....

 

[Medicine Man]

I wont help a chick out unless I have made a bad error with humidity or something and that is why it has a hard time. by day 24, not me. to me that is perpetuating weak stock.

 

[HSR Marans]

Well..............I help them out. I have noticed after having bred Marans for over five years, that their eggs are very hard. My average time for Marans eggs rangeds from 22 to 26 days, even with "Ideal" temp and humidity.

 

[drom]

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Hey Kathy

Thanks! That one is the King Suro. That is another RCOM incubator with a different design than the one I have; the RCOM 20. Actually, I can't say enough good things about the RCOM incubators. I think they are marvels of technology. They're all digital, have memory (so if you lose power or unplug the bator by accident, your settings are saved in the memory and you don't have to do a thing when the power comes back up) and they automatically control temp and humidity flawlessly.

The King Suro has a design similar to the Brinseas where you place your eggs in the bator point down and the incubator is rocked by a cradle. The RCOM 20 is a flat wide table top model where you lay the eggs down on their sides and floor moves once every hour and rolls the eggs.

A lot of people have mentioned they don't like the egg dividers in the King Suro because they are flexible, so they just put egg carton bottoms in the Suro which seem to fit perfectly and they hold the eggs in the carton rather than using the egg dividers.

The only thing about the one I have (RCOM 20) is that the floor is a little slippery. So on day 17 when I pulled out the dividers, I should have thought to lay a little piece of rubbery shelf liner or something down so the little chickies wouldn't slip. Rather than doing that, I just moved each one to the brooder as soon as it hatched. It was my own inexperience, not a problem with the incubator. Actually, I think RCOM has a floor liner you can purchase.

Berkeley has a Suro. I wouldn't hesitate to get one if I were you. I personally got the RCOM 20 rather than the Suro because the water well for the humidifier is built in to the unit so it is just all one piece. Nothing external for my cats to knock over or chew on.

 

[kathyinmo]

Thanks, Drom! I wasn't sure which one you had, and I thought you were happy with it last time you hatched. Just wanted to check.

 

[berkeleysprings]

love the suro ,used it many times now perfect temp ,humitity and it has a rubber removeable floor mat and almost everything is dishwasher safe


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