Five Tough Chicks and TWO Amazing Embryos!

[Abriana]

They look kind of like Ameraucana chicks. Super cute!

 

[Abriana]

Can I share some of your popcorn while we all sit here and wait?

Me too?

 

[WVduckchick]

Popcorn for everyone!

The coolest eggs I ever hatched and candled were Polish! Clear as a bell, this is my favorite candling photo I've ever taken


And watching them zip was cool too, because they cut a wide zip and I could actually watch them turn before each smack of the shell.

My duck eggs are usually pretty clear to candle also!

But back to the subject of crazy eggs... I have lavender orpingtons at my farm about an hour from my house. I've had a crazy broody for a while, she steals eggs and moves from nest to nest. But I wanted to incubate some eggs, so I wasn't sure if any of the ones I brought home had been sat on or not (I can't separate her, long story). I set some the evening of June 9th, a Friday. Got home from work yesterday (Wednesday) and already had a pip, and it hatched a few hours later. So apparently she had "pre-heated" that one!

Also, same hen had been sitting on eggs for 3 weeks. When I checked on her, she had killed 3 hatchlings. So I took the remaining 4 eggs, travelled an hour home with them, candled and 1 had an internal pip, 1 had previously quit, 2 looked to be a few days behind, but still good development. I put the 3 good ones in the incubator and they all hatched!

 

[Abriana]

Thanks for the popcorn. Thats a cool photo. Very clear.

 

[lastco]

Nice pic @WVduckchick

Also, glad to hear that duck eggs are pretty clear. I've been dying to try hatching some Pekin eggs. Incubating ducks is totally intimidating. I don't know why. I guess I got my chicken incubation process streamlined, so it'll be a lot like starting over completely to figure out how to hatch ducks with the same success. Perhaps I'm overthinking. LOL.

All the chicken breeds I have lay cream, brown, blue, and green eggs. Those big white eggs were stunning. A breeder gave them to me when I purchased more Bielefelder eggs. They're from an Ancona hen and a Whiting True Blue rooster. I guess I'll have light blue eggs to look forward to from those babies. I'm seriously reconsidering how I feel about white eggs though.

We sell a lot of eggs and y'all know how folks are. If they're buying eggs that AREN'T from the store, they want the "better tasting" brown ones....or the pretty blue and green ones. Around here, white eggs = grocery store eggs, and all other egg colors = delicious farm eggs. We all know that home grown eggs are the best, no matter what color, but trying to convince the masses is beyond me. My breed choices are a reflection of my laziness and social deficits.

 

[WVduckchick]

Nice pic @WVduckchick

Also, glad to hear that duck eggs are pretty clear. I've been dying to try hatching some Pekin eggs. Incubating ducks is totally intimidating. I don't know why. I guess I got my chicken incubation process streamlined, so it'll be a lot like starting over completely to figure out how to hatch ducks with the same success. Perhaps I'm overthinking. LOL.

All the chicken breeds I have lay cream, brown, blue, and green eggs. Those big white eggs were stunning. A breeder gave them to me when I purchased more Bielefelder eggs. They're from an Ancona hen and a Whiting True Blue rooster. I guess I'll have light blue eggs to look forward to from those babies. I'm seriously reconsidering how I feel about white eggs though.

We sell a lot of eggs and y'all know how folks are. If they're buying eggs that AREN'T from the store, they want the "better tasting" brown ones....or the pretty blue and green ones. Around here, white eggs = grocery store eggs, and all other egg colors = delicious farm eggs. We all know that home grown eggs are the best, no matter what color, but trying to convince the masses is beyond me. My breed choices are a reflection of my laziness and social deficits.

Duck hatching is not that much different. The biggest difference is more patience is needed! They take their own sweet time and can't be rushed.

All of my eggs are off-white to cream to pink. I have one brown egg layer left. I do have some seramas that lay a white egg, but there's no mistaking them for store eggs! lol

Surprisingly, the worst for me to candle are my pinkish lavender orpington eggs! They aren't all that dark in color, but they sure are dense! Kinda like the birds.

 

[JaeG]

Nice pic @WVduckchick

Also, glad to hear that duck eggs are pretty clear. I've been dying to try hatching some Pekin eggs. Incubating ducks is totally intimidating. I don't know why. I guess I got my chicken incubation process streamlined, so it'll be a lot like starting over completely to figure out how to hatch ducks with the same success. Perhaps I'm overthinking. LOL.

All the chicken breeds I have lay cream, brown, blue, and green eggs. Those big white eggs were stunning. A breeder gave them to me when I purchased more Bielefelder eggs. They're from an Ancona hen and a Whiting True Blue rooster. I guess I'll have light blue eggs to look forward to from those babies. I'm seriously reconsidering how I feel about white eggs though.

We sell a lot of eggs and y'all know how folks are. If they're buying eggs that AREN'T from the store, they want the "better tasting" brown ones....or the pretty blue and green ones. Around here, white eggs = grocery store eggs, and all other egg colors = delicious farm eggs. We all know that home grown eggs are the best, no matter what color, but trying to convince the masses is beyond me. My breed choices are a reflection of my laziness and social deficits.

In New Zealand our production breed is the Brown Shaver and they lay brown eggs. That's all you can buy at the shops. I have a few white egg layers and I love those white eggs! There is still the misconception here that brown eggs are better for you!

 

[lastco]

@JaeG It's funny, when I do see brown eggs in grocery stores here, because they're clearly being marketed towards the health conscious folks. The prices are usually quite high. White eggs are cheap and plentiful. All the misconceptions about color crack me up. People have some crazy questions and theories about the blue and green eggs especially.

I'm nearing the end of my hatch over here. Of course the last few eggs are giving me drama. One of the Ancona X eggs has a pip in a less than ideal place and through a vein. Fingers crossed. Uggghhhh.

This brings me back to the subject of experimenting. These Ancona X eggs were freebies, mostly because they were a few days older than what the breeder would normally sell. Plus they were also the product of an experimental pairing. I like to throw in older eggs on occasion and I've had plenty of success AND drama.

@Wickedchicken6 Got any old egg experience? I have a feeling you've tried some things. Lol. Longest period from collection to incubation? I'm over here with my trying to keep my hands out of my own incubator. Sheeesh.

 

[WVduckchick]

I did a hatch of eggs that were at least a couple weeks old. Loaded some new eggs, skipped some days because of eggs that I sold, then filled up the incubator with the next oldest eggs i had. I think some were pushing 3 weeks.
i can't remember the results exactly, but i do remember that the fresher eggs hatched sooner. The older eggs that hatched were a day or 2 late.
since they were scattered throughout the same bator, set at the same time, etc, age is the only thing that was different. But some did hatch and the chicks were fine.

 

[lastco]

@WVduckchick The eggs I'm stressing over now were 14 days old when set. I think they're the oldest I've tried so far. Usually with anything over 10 days old I get mixed results. Some never develop at all, some hatch on time with no problem, some are late, some need assistance at hatch but grow out just fine. They're def more likely to be trouble makers when compared to fresh eggs. I like a challenge.....sometimes.