Hatching Q on mailed eggs - Ayam Cemani

[maranfarmer563]

I mailed 12 cemani eggs to Florida today. I think it is illegal to get eggs from Indonesia. Please don't waste your money buying from out of the country.

 

[TamiHunter]

Really? I read on the web sight that they do ship to the US...I guess I need to read more about it.

 

[MisfitMarie]

I wish I had better news, but I don't. After waiting, tapping, and candling (and seeing nothing), I finally water candled today. I couldn't see any sign of life. Being Day 24, I decided to poke a small hole at the air cell end of the egg on one of the four cemani eggs. I put the moist end of a Q-Tip into the hole and gently rubbed the membrane, hoping to see some movement. Nothing. After staring it down under the light for a few minutes and seeing nothing, I carefully began to chip away at the shell. Inside, the chick had died at what looked to be around Day 18. Yolk sac completely unabsorbed.

I proceeded to (VERY GENTLY) open two of the remaning eggs. I have left the last one alone, but am pretty certain it is also dead. All three eggs looked the same. I couldn't see any excess moisture. In fact, I am quite puzzled as to what happened with these eggs. Every single one looked to be around Day 18, yolk sac completely unabsorbed, without any signs of excess goo or moisture in the egg.

Also ironic... These four Cemani eggs were incubated along with a dozen SHIPPED random pure bred eggs, all twelve of which have fully developed and are in the process of hatching as we speak... They were only a couple days behind the Cemanis and are also in the same hatcher.

Temp and humidity has held steady through lockdown. I have four monitors in there all reading within one degree and two percent of each other.

Stranger still, inside one of the Cemani eggs, I caught a small glimpse of white feathers. I'm not sure if this is normal or not for Cemani chicks (maybe they eventually get replaced with the black) but there was significant white feathering.

I am so extremely disappointed. When I work up the courage, I'll perform a full inspection of the dead chicks and possibly take some photos for reference.

REALLY confused.... I was so careful with these eggs. I never opened the incubator during a pip, and when I did it was lightning fast to candle or water candle (today). I even made sure my hands were scrubbed clean before even touching any of them. I have only seen consistent temp and humidity...

So confused and disappointed. I was working outside on the coop today and getting excited about a few Cemanis to add to my flock. =( Those eggs were EXPENSIVE, too.

 

[TamiHunter]

Misfitmarie, where did you get the eggs from, just curious. That is sad news, so sorry. :-(

 

[MisfitMarie]

My boyfriend broke the bank and bought them off of Ebay as a bit of a surprise for me. He saw how excited I've been about hatching eggs and thought they were a beautiful breed... This only makes it worse, because more than anything, I wanted to hatch him some chicks.

4/6 made it to lockdown. I candled on Day 18, saw lots of movement in all of them, and put them fat-end up in cartons in the incubator. After the dozen eggs started their own little hatching party, I became worried. Being Day 24, and still no signs of life, I just started panicking.

 

[TamiHunter]

O man....I can't even imagine how upset you are. I am so sorry again for your loss. It's never easy losing them no matter what the breed.

I am looking at getting some Cemani eggs soon. I have never incubated shipped eggs before so I am worried about it. Hang in there!

 

[maranfarmer563]

Marie,I used to get a lot of eggs die day 18 before I switched to the dry method incubation. They say they drowned at day 18 if the eggs have not dryed out enough.

 

[MisfitMarie]

Marie,I used to get a lot of eggs die day 18 before I switched to the dry method incubation. They say they drowned at day 18 if the eggs have not dryed out enough.

That's an excellent point, MaranFarmer. I had some issues with a hatch before I too switched to dry incubation. =( Maybe it's not dry enough? My humidity was never above 25 percent in the incubator. =/ Could it have been the drastic change in humidity in my hatcher? I have eggs hatching in there right now, eggs that were a couple days behind the Cemanis... since they started hatching, it's risen to about 75 percent.

 

[maranfarmer563]

25 to 30 sounds ok first 18 days. Then 65%. I got eggs in now out of Florida that had the smallest air sacks I ever saw. They are looking good now,hatch next week.

 

[MisfitMarie]

25 to 30 sounds ok first 18 days. Then 65%. I got eggs in now out of Florida that had the smallest air sacks I ever saw. They are looking good now,hatch next week.

Do newborn Cemani chicks have white feathers on the chest and wing tips? I also noticed that the poor little guy has white feet, as well. The black color stops just before the foot begins.... and then it's a pale/pinkish skin color. =( This sucks SO much.