You made out far better than I did. Out of 12 FBCM eggs, from a small hatchery "up the road" about 20 miles, only 4 hatched, & 2 of them had to be culled. There were 4 I didn't have a lot of hope for from the beginning, but I stuck with them anyway, just in case I was wrong. the remaining 4 looked good from the start, but here on day 23 have shown no sign of doing anything beyond just sitting there occupying space. I'll give them a couple more days. The 4 that hatched all came between day 19 & 21.Hey guys! Just wanted to share that I had an AWESOME hatch with my french black copper maran and EE's. All the FBCM have hatched except for two, one of which was either infertile or a very early quitter, and one who is currently pipped and chirping loudly! EE's and OE's were very similar. Over 90% hatch rate and very vigorous chicks! Will buy from this breeder again for sure!!! Thanks for all your advice too! I ran the incubators at 38C (just under 101F) and ran it dry (14-30% humidity depending on the weather) until day 19 when I ran the humidity up to 70%. I am so stoked! The breeder also threw in two "whoopsie" eggs that were from when he had to put his silkie hens in his FBCM pen, so I've got two silkie/FBCM crosses too- which I am stoked about! I hope they lay little chocolate eggs!!
I'm not ready to say that the breeder sold me that many bad eggs; not yet, anyway. An incubator that was holding steady at 99*-100* for two days prior to introduction of eggs suddenly went bananas once the eggs were in, and I don't know why. For no more incubating than I do, I'm going to leave it to Mother Nature's incubators from here on out. Have 5 likely broody candidates out there right now....month-old Buff Orpingtons, 2 of which I'll keep, and save the Hova-bators as backup in case the hen quits.
