David Walsh
In the Brooder
- Jul 10, 2017
- 3
- 8
- 39
I wanted to share a pretty horrible experience in the hope I can help others avoid something similar.
Currently hatching half a dozen eggs from a copper blue Marans hen - beautiful chocolate dark brown eggs.
I’ve found candling particularly challenging due to the darkness of the eggs, but found a few online guides and videos recommending that for dark eggs the float test was a good idea at 17-18 days before lockdown.
Perhaps foolishly I followed this advice, and five out of the six eggs passed with flying colours. The sixth not only showed no movement, but the egg didn’t float either. All the guides I’ve read said this means either dud to start with or died along the way.
So I popped the five back in and out of sheer curiosity opened the sixth to see how far along it got before dying. To my absolute devastation I could still see a flicker of movement and what looked for a few moments like a little heart beat. I’m now sure the egg was viable before my intervention.
I feel like a murderer and a fool for following the advice. Totally devastated. I don’t know why it didn’t float - perhaps it proves the air sac wasn’t right and the chick maybe wouldn’t have made it.
But I do know it had a chance.
Please don’t do the float test. I know many people swear by it and many chicks have successfully hatched following it - but it’s clearly not reliable enough to trust.
Currently hatching half a dozen eggs from a copper blue Marans hen - beautiful chocolate dark brown eggs.
I’ve found candling particularly challenging due to the darkness of the eggs, but found a few online guides and videos recommending that for dark eggs the float test was a good idea at 17-18 days before lockdown.
Perhaps foolishly I followed this advice, and five out of the six eggs passed with flying colours. The sixth not only showed no movement, but the egg didn’t float either. All the guides I’ve read said this means either dud to start with or died along the way.
So I popped the five back in and out of sheer curiosity opened the sixth to see how far along it got before dying. To my absolute devastation I could still see a flicker of movement and what looked for a few moments like a little heart beat. I’m now sure the egg was viable before my intervention.
I feel like a murderer and a fool for following the advice. Totally devastated. I don’t know why it didn’t float - perhaps it proves the air sac wasn’t right and the chick maybe wouldn’t have made it.
But I do know it had a chance.
Please don’t do the float test. I know many people swear by it and many chicks have successfully hatched following it - but it’s clearly not reliable enough to trust.
