First Egg Countdown

[Pele]

Woohoo! Just candled last night on day 4 for my new Marans, and I could see embryo growth! Ok, so only in two, because the eggs are freakin dark and hard to see into...

But of course they're all going to hatch, and absolutely all will be female. Right?

 

[Happy Chooks]

But of course they're all going to hatch, and absolutely all will be female. Right?

Wish you luck! It's been the year of the cockerel for me.

 

[off-grid hen]

Pele- hoping for many girls for you!

 

[Nikki99]

Woohoo! Just candled last night on day 4 for my new Marans, and I could see embryo growth! Ok, so only in two, because the eggs are freakin dark and hard to see into...

But of course they're all going to hatch, and absolutely all will be female. Right?

WTHeck! I posted about this the other day but it didn't take for some reason.

Anyway, congrats *again* on the eggs w/babies!! That's really exciting! Wish you luck and can't wait to hear how it turns out!

And yes, of coarse they will all be girls!!! Lol

 

[Pele]

Lol thanks everyone. I always get Incubator Itch around December. I actually just found out yesterday that our new Whole Foods in town carries fertile eggs in the grocery section.


Hm....... yeah ok I'm going to try to hatch them

 

[chicken pickin]

Lol thanks everyone. I always get Incubator Itch around December. I actually just found out yesterday that our new Whole Foods in town carries fertile eggs in the grocery section.


Hm....... yeah ok I'm going to try to hatch them

What is Whole Foods?

 

[Pele]

What is Whole Foods?

It's an organic hoity toity grocery store chain. I think it originated from CA. But yes, they carry eggs that are organic and free-range, and lable the cartons 'fertile' if they don't take much effort in weeding out roos.

You can actually incubate most 'cage free' eggs from grocery stores. There's always an oopsie roo wandering around the crowd, and refrigeration doesn't lower the viability of the eggs.

 

[chicken pickin]

It's an organic hoity toity grocery store chain. I think it originated from CA. But yes, they carry eggs that are organic and free-range, and lable the cartons 'fertile' if they don't take much effort in weeding out roos.

You can actually incubate most 'cage free' eggs from grocery stores. There's always an oopsie roo wandering around the crowd, and refrigeration doesn't lower the viability of the eggs.

Really?! That is very interesting. Have you actually tried to incubate grocery store eggs? So weird LOL. Brings me back to when I was little, of course kids dont know how things actually work. We all thought babies were in the eggs. So once my sister an I tried to warm up an egg out of the refridgerator under a lamp to see if we could get a chick lol needless to say that doesnt work. I cant wait to get an incubator. Only problem is I want to hatch out all these chicks but I have no where to keep any of them even if I wanted,all my pens are nearly filled up

. I really need a huge chicken barn.

 

[Pele]

Really?! That is very interesting. Have you actually tried to incubate grocery store eggs? So weird LOL. Brings me back to when I was little, of course kids dont know how things actually work. We all thought babies were in the eggs. So once my sister an I tried to warm up an egg out of the refridgerator under a lamp to see if we could get a chick lol needless to say that doesnt work. I cant wait to get an incubator. Only problem is I want to hatch out all these chicks but I have no where to keep any of them even if I wanted,all my pens are nearly filled up

. I really need a huge chicken barn.

This is my first go around, but there is a really awesome group of gals that have a thread going on in the hatching forum recording thier efforts. Apparently Trader Joes uses Leghorns for the majority of their eggs, because that's the majority of what hatch on that thread. I think you can find it under Trader Joes and other Grocery Store Hatching Thread. Or something like that.

I've already cracked open two eggs from the carton I just bought yesterday, and both had perfect bullseyes. Fertility confirmed. Very excited!

 

[off-grid hen]

Ok guys, I am very confused about something. I have a "Domindotte" mutt that was hatched in June that has been hanging out in the covered cat box nest in the coop. I already have a barnevelder who started laying in there. Two days ago, I saw the new girl in the box. A little while after, I went back out t the coop to find a very tiny green egg. I thought, "ok that's strange- it probably wasn't this girl, because sheis supposed to lay brown eggs. Her mom is a Dominique and her dad is gold laced Wyandotte. It must be that one of my EE's started laying again." ( I have 3 EE hens, only one is laying right now. Even though they hatched in April, 2 stopped laying 3 weeks ago. Not sure why, but that's another post...).

Yesterday I saw the barnie in the catbox nest and a while later pulled out the little brown egg on the left in the photo. Today, I went out to watch the girls for a bit. I saw the Domindotte in the nest box. I also saw my EE that is laying in a different box. Went out an hour later, and pulled a tiny olive green/taupe egg from the cat nest box. (Center of the photo). The egg on the right was collected today from the box that my dependable EE laid.

Am I seeing things? This egg IS green, right? It's not a funny colored brown egg? I know it is probably coincidence and that a different EE has come out of retirement, but... I went out very soon after I saw her in the box, because I was excited that she was "playing house". And that egg is tiny. I have never seen any other hens besides the barnie and Domindotte in that catbox. Or ... Is it possible that the sire was an EE and not a GLW?

Here is the Domindotte. She is a rose combed black sex link due to the red gene from dad and barring gene from mom.

Here is a photo of the dad. He is since deceased and I know with complete certainty that we had no other roosters at the time. Here he is.

A photo of when he was younger, his chest feathers are shown. I was told he was a GLW.

So what do you all think is happening? These chickens are making me cuckoo.