Hatching pullet eggs

[LaurenRitz]

My sister's roo went missing. He was an amazing roo, took good care of his girls and not a hint of aggression to us. We would love to have one of his sons as the roo for this group. The problem is that the pullets all just started laying in the last month or so and their eggs are still pretty small. They're RIRs.

We're going to try to incubate the largest, but I need to know what to do to give them the best chance.

Any suggestions?

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Sorry for your loss

The recommended minimum weight for hatching eggs is 52 grams. Any smaller and you're going to potentially have weaker chicks. But it's more than doable of course if he was mating the girls and they are fertile.

What I would do is make sure that the humidity doesn't get too low. A small egg already doesn't have much liquid volume to work with, so you don't want to lose more during incubation. During the first 18 days keep it around 45%, then 80% during lockdown (last 3 days). Also, don't leave the chicks in the incubator for too long. They won't have as much yolk to absorb as regular chicks, so I would get them started on feed and water ideally within an hour of hatching (give them a little time to dry off, of course). Putting the chicks on paper towels and scattering some feed works really well.

Incubate at the normal temp of 99.5 F - they may hatch a bit sooner than 21 days because they are smaller eggs but that's ok. And incubate as many eggs as you can - the more the better given that they are pullet eggs. He may not have been mating with all of them yet, especially if he was young himself. Roosters often have favorites in the beginning (the ones that submit themselves to mating first).

 

[LaurenRitz]

Thanks. My sister said all the eggs she cracked were fertile. I have 8 eggs. We picked the largest eggs that were under a week old. He disappeared three days ago. He was about 9 months old.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Two eggs hatched. Of the 15 eggs incubated, 2 were probably unfertilized and failed to develop. Others made it to lockdown but failed to pip.

The two survivors are Jersey Giant x RIR.

 

[LaurenRitz]

One hatched last night from the last group, so we have a total of 3.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Crazy large eggs don't have the best chance. But since you are going with pullets I understand.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Crazy large eggs don't have the best chance. But since you are going with pullets I understand.

The eggs were all tiny. All the girls had been laying less than a month when he disappeared.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

This gives me hope for a couple of young broodies I have right now, sitting on pullet eggs. Fingers crossed.

 

[LaurenRitz]

 

[NatJ]

We would love to have one of his sons as the roo for this group.

In the newest post, the first photo looks like a cockerel. So congratulations, since you were hoping for a male