Hatching Report

[dc3085]

If you candle an egg that looks infertile, then slowly flip it upside down, a damaged air sac will make it all the way to the bottom of the egg or the egg will light up consistently with not difference in color top to bottom. I'm thinking maybe some of my dead in shell chicks were also in eggs with damaged sacs as well.

To practice seeing the difference in infertile and damaged air sacs candle an egg that you haven't incubated from the fat side (top of egg) and keep track of how the light is "greener" at the top of the egg. Then drop the egg on a hard surface from a foot or so high (it's going to crack), when you candle it now the whole egg should light up evenly since the air sac is now broken and dispersed.

I candle with one of my 1000 lumen hunting flash lights because it is a lot brighter than what you can buy at the store. it makes a difference in how much you can see in an egg, I always thought empty eggs were infertile until I started using that light so I could actually see the sac clearly.

At any rate we did good all things considered. I'm happy with 50% on shipped eggs with all the factors involved.

On another note I'm going to be driving to the Sonora area to pick up a couple hundred more eggs from a large breeder there, let me know if you need more eggs to hatch or eat.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

Thanks for the tip. I almost ordered a 1000 lumen flash light but thought I spent enough money already. But you convinced me lol.

And thanks but no thanks about more eggs. I need to get their cage feeder and waterer situation settled first. Good luck with rebuilding your stock.

 

[dc3085]

Thanks for the tip. I almost ordered a 1000 lumen flash light but thought I spent enough money already. But you convinced me lol.

And thanks but no thanks about more eggs. I need to get their cage feeder and waterer situation settled first. Good luck with rebuilding your stock.

The light I use for the eggs was only $20ish but make sure you order batteries too since the only other place to get them is Fry's. The batteries I ordered on amazon were half the price for twice as many batteries of the same quality as buying them at Frys.

I figure one more big batch of eggs will get me back where I need to be, but I'm going to do 3 or 4 times what i need for production because the quail shelf in my freezer is empty and I plan to eat as few of the JMFs as possible.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

I read that some of the batteries from Amazon (China) were fake so was afraid to buy. They're selling a 1000 lumen unit with 2 Lithium Ion batteries for $12 - could be a bit too good to be true. Anyhow I'll buy it before incubating the next batch of eggs. It was frustrating with my 200 lumen light. Glad to hear that 1000 lumen will work well.

 

[Magic Birdie]

 
- Is 14 (or 18?) infertile eggs out of 52 typical for the eggs bought commercially?  That's at least 25% infertility!  I thought it'd be higher than that.  For those of you hatch your own eggs, what is your hens to roos ratio, and what fertility rate have you found?

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

Be positive - - you had a 75% hatch rate.  A lot of newbys don't achieve this, and you did it with a home made incubator.  If you do an advanced search, you will find that 50% is the average for shipped eggs.
James

75%?

29/52 is about 56%. Are you counting the ones that developed but didn't hatch? (Why would that be counted in the hatch rate?)

 

[1000yearoldeggs]

I read that some of the batteries from Amazon (China) were fake so was afraid to buy. They're selling a 1000 lumen unit with 2 Lithium Ion batteries for $12 - could be a bit too good to be true. Anyhow I'll buy it before incubating the next batch of eggs. It was frustrating with my 200 lumen light. Glad to hear that 1000 lumen will work well.

I ordered that flashlight myself, actually. (Or at least one that's similar. Mine didn't come with batteries) It works well, it zooms and it can light up the woods in back of my house very well. I didn't get it for candling eggs, but I do know it's very bright. It took a long time to arrive since it's from China, but I'm happy with it. I think I paid $11. The only problem is that you need good batteries for it to be bright. Batteries from the dollar store don't seem to work as well in it, from my experience.