HERE WE GO AGAIN Anyone SETTING Aug 30th - Sept 8th join me!!

[Hotpoker]

HOTPOKER that is a great shipped egg hatch rate.....KUDOS!!

Yeah I am totally stoked!

 

[Hotpoker]

HOTPOKER that is a great shipped egg hatch rate.....KUDOS!!

...I guess the eggs do not have to travel as far in New Zealand - perhaps that has something to do with it? They still flew on a plane though to get here.

 

[Hotpoker]

Very good idea to rotate the eggs too.I just read about this recently that hens do it...Must work!!

Mother hen! Makes sense doesn't it!

 

[Hotpoker]

HOTPOKER
congrats!!
Wonder Who did you get your eggs from and what kind?
I ask because....
. i have done the same things to most of my shipped egg hatches with ok sucess.L ast one before this one ..... did great too
Got 10 of 14 eggs I was sent. (one also smothered after pip )So 11 of 14 were perfect.
I ran 99.5-101.1 temp all the hatches and humidity 42-46 .
So my theory on why i did so well on that one is;.... The eggs somehow are more impervious to the shipping jumbling. Genes.

All were packed well none broken etc..all but one from a state or 2 away .south of me so little difference in any .
Even the heat was the same HOT and some had ice packs others not .Good one NOT....

I am sure you had the humidity and temp perfect for your home and area and should use it from now on as it worked so well........but i think genes also have a part in shipped eggs making it. and hatching
.
My great hatch was from BIG DAWG on BYC "show quality Light Brahmas"
Why i ask you about the breeder and breed.
I think anyone who wants your breed might want to try your breeder too for a better sucess.rate.

I got my eggs off this New Zealand breeder:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=93138

But she will be not much use to you folk in the US - as I imagine customs will have something to say about that!

This breeder is about 1.5hr plane flight away, then the rural courier etc. Possibly comparible to 1 state away??

Genes - I am not certain - Good breeding stock - definitely! I got 5 plymouth rock, 4 silver laced wyandottes and 3 golden laced. Non fertile included 1 plymouth rock, 1 silver laced and 2 golden laced.

They were shipped in the early spring months - so high seasonal parent fertility and stable but cool (around 53F) conditions for transport.

I would say that the success has a lot to do with the breeder and how he/she cares for their birds - most importantly - that they invest in high quality feed.

My incubator conditions were similar - although running humidity at 50%, and then 65-70% at lockdown (despite a miss fill of the humidty bowls that saw it spike to 95%!). This is based on readings from my analouge hygrometer. The digital was reading about 5 - 10% higher. Here in Auckland humidty is realitively high so the incubator humidity was comensurate with local conditons too. And this is all in my home made incubator and my first ever hatch.

 

[Brookhavens]

I got my eggs off this New Zealand breeder:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=93138

But she will be not much use to you folk in the US - as I imagine customs will have something to say about that!

This breeder is about 1.5hr plane flight away, then the rural courier etc. Possibly comparible to 1 state away??

Genes - I am not certain - Good breeding stock - definitely! I got 5 plymouth rock, 4 silver laced wyandottes and 3 golden laced. Non fertile included 1 plymouth rock, 1 silver laced and 2 golden laced.

They were shipped in the early spring months - so high seasonal parent fertility and stable but cool (around 53F) conditions for transport.

I would say that the success has a lot to do with the breeder and how he/she cares for their birds - most importantly - that they invest in high quality feed.

My incubator conditions were similar - although running humidity at 50%, and then 65-70% at lockdown (despite a miss fill of the humidty bowls that saw it spike to 95%!). This is based on readings from my analouge hygrometer. The digital was reading about 5 - 10% higher. Here in Auckland humidty is realitively high so the incubator humidity was comensurate with local conditons too. And this is all in my home made incubator and my first ever hatch.

I really do believe that the feed and care of the parent birds has a lot to do with hatchability of eggs. I am sure too that what you feed in NZ is of much better quality than what we get here in the US. All the GMO's that are allowed in our animal and human foods are probably not present in yours. I am having a very hard time finding an organic source of feed for my chicks. I have a problem with the soy that we use here in the states as most of it has been genetically modified and it has been linked to increased rates of fertility problems in both humans and animals.

 

[Brookhavens]

thank you cinders , doing just fine now running around the brooder eating and drinking with 2 more YES 2 more hatches yesterday , BUT my poorly blue silkie passed away last night i am so surprised that it lasted that long bless it . i have 4 more eggs but i dont hold out much hope now as they are 2 and a half days late now but i had one hatch only hours ago so

. i must be mad but ive set my other batch 3 lavender silkie eggs , 12 mixed silkies and 6 sultans so doing it all again in 20 days

So sorry to hear about your little chick passing. These are the ones that cause so much heartbreak. When an egg doesn't hatch is one thing but to actually see the little guy pip, zip and then hatch and then struggle to live it just breaks our hearts. You are not mad you have just caught the "fever"...LOL. I am setting a new batch this Thursday or Friday so looks like I will be joining you.

 

[Kel35]

So sorry to hear about your little chick passing. These are the ones that cause so much heartbreak. When an egg doesn't hatch is one thing but to actually see the little guy pip, zip and then hatch and then struggle to live it just breaks our hearts. You are not mad you  have just caught the "fever"...LOL. I am setting a new batch this Thursday or Friday so looks like I will be joining you.

So it's us 3 hatch buddies again then I've ordered my eggs should be here 2moro then

 

[Hotpoker]

I really do believe that the feed and care of the parent birds has a lot to do with hatchability of eggs. I am sure too that what you feed in NZ is of much better quality than what we get here in the US. All the GMO's that are allowed in our animal and human foods are probably not present in yours. I am having a very hard time finding an organic source of feed for my chicks. I have a problem with the soy that we use here in the states as most of it has been genetically modified and it has been linked to increased rates of fertility problems in both humans and animals.

I have little understanding of the US agricultural system - but I have I had to audit one of the feed mills for one of the main poultry produces in NZ - Tegal. So I got to see the ingredients and processes first hand. It was really fasinating, and impressed to be honest. The have a team of dedicated chicken dieticians!

The only GMO grown in NZ is in strictly controlled research centres. Unfortunately the soy is all imported - and these days they cannot certify that GMO free as a lot of the stock is "contaminated". Soghram - an Austrialian native grain is used alot as a high protien, soy substitute - but still a lot of soy is used to lift the protein content of the feed, along with ruminant protein (which is all grass fed in nz).

 

[Brookhavens]

So it's us 3 hatch buddies again then I've ordered my eggs should be here 2moro then

YEAHHHH!!! It really is addicting. I think if would have gotten an "A+" if chicken math would have been offered as one of my classes in school...LOL. With each hatch you do you learn so much. My first hatch I had several problem chicks (wryneck, spraddle leg, hernia) and being the research nut that I am I had to find out all I could about the different conditions each chick had and how to treat them. Now I am prepared if a chick should hatch with one of these problems again. I have all the supplies (think chicken first aid kit) on hand and don't have to run out to the store all the time.

 

[Brookhavens]

LOL...like it a lot....hatch gods. My first 2 incubations I had hatches....even with my bad first homemade incubation and the high temps spikes...one it got to 107 and 2 power losses (first hatch) I had 7 out of 15 I think and I got them around december 23 so the shipping must had been wild. Next one was 7 out of 12....next was o out of 53 eggs, 1 (with help) out of 15, now with this one lets see. Maybe the hatch gods are trying to tell me to stop spending money in this...who knows.
I am expecting a box of eggs and looks like is lost in the mail. For me the worst part is not that the eggs are lost...the worst is that the seller is a first timer shipping to Puerto Rico (she never ships out of the continental USA and she did it for me) and I dont want her to feel she should never send again to here..It is really the first time one of this boxes take more than 5 days.And I understand the risk is mine and only mine.

I sometimes wonder if the post office does this intentionally. I have a small business on ebay and ship things out all the time. I pretty much know how long it is going to take my packages to get someplace. Every few weeks I have a package that should take 3-4 days to get there and it actually takes 7-8 days. I only ship from Mondays-Wednesdays so I know the packages should arrive by Saturday and they end up taking until Tuesday or Wednesday of the next week.