Day 20...Six of Eight Hatched! Hatch Completed PIC

[d_rooster]

In the pics of your chicks in the incubator, is that the rubbery shelf liner/non-skid material I am seeing on the floor of the incubator? My 'bator has a wire grid that replaces the auto egg turner at Day 18. Would it be more comfy for chicks to cover that wire with the shelf-liner?

~Donald in North Augusta, SC
http://dad-who-spins.blogspot.com/

 

[speckledhen]

I love the shelf liner! It provides traction, the holes let air and humidity through, it can be disinfected or just tossed away and a new piece cut. I highly recommend it.

 

[mthrclckr]

Hi, Cynthia!

BIG congrats on your very nice hatch

!

I'm curious to know how old the Orp hens were that laid these eggs. If they're not yet a year old, I think you may have better luck as they get older. I read somewhere that in the old days, folks were discouraged from hatching eggs from pullets. There may be something to this...

Back in spring, I hatched some chicks with deformed feet (outer and middle toes were fused together). The person who sold me the eggs said that they had also been having really bad hatches and the few that did hatch had the same foot problem. Well, I was recently in touch and it was mentioned that this problem seems to have completely disappeared (and using the same breeders) and hatch rate has improved drastically. Although I don't know how old these birds were when I received my eggs, I'm thinking that maybe the age of the hens had something to do with it, but it might have also been diet or something else.

Well, if your Orp hens are still young, I'd give them time before throwing in the towel. You might have fantastic hatches next year. Sorry about the splash chick, though. I never open up eggs where chicks died in the shell for fear of finding something like that. I'm really squeamish that way... Enjoy your new, healthy chickies!!!

-Naomi

 

[speckledhen]

The oldest Orp girl will be a year old on Feb 1 and the other one is seven months old. They've both been laying for a few months now and the eggs are decent sized eggs as are the chicks. I'm not sure what happened with that one, but I guess, as my friends says, nature isn't always perfect and sometimes things just happen that way.
They are on high quality food, too, with minimal extras. If I hadn't opened the eggs, it would have just been a "dead in the shell" chick, which I've encountered before, but I like to know what is going on with these babies, hard as it is to see what's in that egg.
Good to know about the ages. I had read somewhere that hens over a year old are the best bets for the best chicks, so I look forward to some great little ones in the future.

 

[mthrclckr]

Thanks, Cynthia - interesting... Might you happen to know which Orp hen laid laid which egg? Probably not, but thought it would be worth asking. Seven months is pretty young, although I'm sure there are plenty of young pullets that have perfectly healthy offspring. But maybe the chances of problems occurring in exceedingly young and exceedingly old birds are a bit higher? Sort of like how the chances of trisomy 21 is elevated in older women?

Anyhow, I have a feeling that your luck will eventually change for the better with the Orps. My Faverolles bantam pullet is already over 8 months old and she hasn't laid a single egg, yet! And you probably remember that my bantam EE didn't begin to lay until she was 10 months. So it wouldn't surprise me if there were still "kinks" being worked out of the eggs of a 7-month-old pullet. And if it is a case of this breed needing different incubation conditions, then you can wait until one of the girls goes broody and let them try hatching out their own eggs. Orps are supposed to be good broodies, so I'm sure it'll happen soon - for the older one, at least.

-Naomi

 

[speckledhen]

With those two eggs, I don't know who laid then, and I'm thinking I may have collected eggs two days in a row from the same pullet, but I can't remember. I almost always mark the eggs with who laid it, but didn't this time because I wasn't 100% certain. I've hatched chicks from both pullets before, big healthy chicks, so this was just so odd to me. Anyway, I guess things happen. I do have one in the bator on Day 15 now and I plan to get a few more to incubate the middle of December. Then, I can get enough to really hatch a decent sampling of them and we'll see what pops out of there.
I was wondering if they would go broody, the blues. Of my two Buff Orps, only one has ever gone broody.

 

[mthrclckr]

That's too funny - I have an EE bantam hen that just refuses to snap out of her broodiness, and I don't think EEs are known for being so broody...

I'm sure your Orps will become little broody machines sooner or later. They'll probably be wonderful mama hens, too. My EE was great with her brood for 5 weeks - VERY protective and VERY nurturing. Then one day, she decided she had enough. She started pecking her poor babies and when I separated her from them, she never looked back. So I know she's somewhat limited in the length of time that she will mother chicks, but she does a darn good job for the duration.

I'll also be interested to know (with your future hatches) if you have a more difficult time with getting splashes than blues or blacks. Did you happen to open up the Ameraucana egg that died on Day 18? If you did, what color was this chick?

-Naomi

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, I did open it up and it appeared to be a blue chick. I have the black cockerel and blue pullets so I won't get a splash out of those. I don't want to look, but I can't help myself-I have to know what happened, if there's any way to determine it.
As far as getting splashes, the only two splashes I've hatched from the Orps have been boys. The one that died and wasn't formed properly was a splash and other than that, all mine have been blue or black, mostly blues of varying shades. I'd love a splash pullet!