Hatching Newbie Questions

[duckking]

Just rec'd some beautiful Blue Splash Maran hatching eggs from Julie at Gabbard Farms. I am so excited, but nervous as heck!

Have the incubator going at 99.5F It's a Brinsea Advance, so no humidity monitor, but they say to weigh the eggs before putting them in and watch that they loose weight at a certain rate until they reach 13% weight loss......does this sound right? Just filled up one of the 2 humidity wells as per the Brinsea instructions, to be adjusted if the eggs are losing too much or too little weight.

As per Gabbard, have the eggs sitting in their egg box pointy end down in 70F temp for 18-24 hours, which means getting them into the incubator around noon tomorrow. I believe they were laid on 20th or 21st of March.

So how am I doing so far?

A couple of the eggs are HUGE (about the size of my mallard eggs), some medium, some smaller, some light, some dark. I can only fit 7 in the bator so will have to cull a couple. Any ideas how to pick the best of them?

I will be doing more research, but any info would be hugely appreciated!

THANKS

****EDIT**** For putting my chicks before the egg!

 

[ajacskr]

Quote:
I'm thinking that you meant laid not hatched on the 20th or 21st.

As to choosing, I always choose by color and the by size. I try for the darkest eggs but at the same time a larger egg will produce a larger and usually a stronger chick.

Good luck hatching

 

[duckking]

Quote:
I'm thinking that you meant laid not hatched on the 20th or 21st.

As to choosing, I always choose by color and the by size. I try for the darkest eggs but at the same time a larger egg will produce a larger and usually a stronger chick.

Good luck hatching

Ummmmm yup! Thanks so much for catching that! I also said they were Blue Orps when I meant Blue Splash Marans....I'm a mess!!!!

I believe their eggs are supposed to be dark like other Marans, but Julie warned me she is breeding for dark eggs. At this point it's very hit and miss. So I should definitely go for the dark ones I guess. They tend to be the smaller eggs. The lighter ones are the big ones. Guess we'll see what happens! Thanks for the advice.

 

[NonnasBabies]

I know I've heard people say that as the marans get older their eggs will get lighter. BUT I've also heard just the oppsite!! Maybe someone that raises them can chime in here!!