hatching speed breed dependant?

[cbradio]

So my first hatch was a batch of black copper marans and cuckoo marans. They hatched well (17 of 28 made it out alive with no brooder deaths) for shipped eggs. it took the marans atleast 12 hours from pip to hatch.

My current batch is roughly 20 white leghorns and 8 rhode island white eggs. They are hatching in under 2-3 hours from pip!

I guess I didn't realize that this "hatching speed" was so variable based on breed.

Has anyone else noted this phenomenon? Anyone have comments about what breeds are faster or slower?

Thanks,

Cam

 

[Fred's Hens]

Not so much breed dependent but the vigor of the particular line of birds. A line with great vigor will pop out of the shells, while a line with poor vigor will be hard to breed, hard to incubate and hard to hatch.

It's a rather length discussion as to how this comes to be and how best to overcome these challenges.

 

[dekel18042]

Interestinig. I don't know the answer to this, but it is something I will be watching for. I did have a thought. Any difference in the thickness of the shells of your eggs?
Just wondering would a chick from a hen who lays heavily near the end of her clutch (thin shell?) or one of the production breeds hatch more quickly then an egg from a pullet who only recently started laying or a hen who perhaps laid less eggs (thicker shell)?
My first hatch came from hens who had been laying less than a month when I set eggs. (I was anxious.) My husband noticed the first
pips when he got up (7 A M?) and the first peep was out at 3:00 P.M. Followed by another within twenty minutes. Six hatched by the time we went to bed and two more overnight. We helped the last one out at noon the next day.
The eggs in the bator now are from established hens. Will see how long they take.

 

[cbradio]

well the shells on the marans were particularly difficult and we thought they appeared to be thicker. I didn't do any testing with calipers to confirm this, however.

Unfortunately I am away on business and my wife gets to watch it all happen while I'm stuck in a hotel room! I'll be home tonite and will take a few measurements of shell thickness and will report back. It will be 6-7 months till I can get any data on the marans egg thickness, though.