Hatching Bantams

[FarmerJessie]

Hi everyone,

I have a few clutches of eggs hatching out this week. It is my first attempt at hatching bantam cochins. First set were set in an incubator I have not used before. There were 7 eggs and I have three healthy chicks. When I disposed of the unhatched eggs, three of the eggs had what looked like completely (very close if not completely) developed chicks inside.

In another incubator (one I have used a lot), I have standard wyandotte and more bantam cochins eggs. The wyandottes are hatching like crazy, but one bantam chick died while hatching. One other bantam eggs has pipped, but there appears to be no other activity from the bantam eggs. There are a dozen eggs of each breed.

Do bantams typically have issues hatching? Is there something I should be doing differently for them? I keep my humidity at 45-55% before bumping it up to 55-65% for hatching.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[sourland]

Is there any possibility that your cochins are an inbred strain? Generally I have found bantams to be vigorous hatchers. At one time I hatched WCB Polish for a friend who had a heavily inbred family. They were extremely poor hatchers . His philosophy was that if he raised 5 chicks from 40 eggs he would most likely have a show winner.

 

[FarmerJessie]

Thank you for the reply!

Yes, there is definitely a chance. These birds are Mille Fleur cochins and from show quality birds. One thing I have learned about animals with good color and confirmation... They are usually always inbred or very closely line bred. The three birds who have hatched are doing excellent though one has a bulging eye. I purchased eggs from two different breeders. I have a few more in the process of hatching and I am praying they have success!.