How could I be so unlucky?

I went through a dozen salmon faverolle eggs and only got one to hatch... she is a little beauty... we had a Partridge Cochin roo over her for some designer chicks... but have a BW Ameraucana now.

 

It is really the luck of the draw on shipped eggs. You can never guarantee the results of one shipment on comparison to another, especially if they come from different locales. There really no telling what those boxes go through until they get to their destination. I'm sorry you are not having good luck with these. Maybe try for some started birds. You may pay more, but consider the lost efforts with eggs and growing out chicks, it really is not all that bad.

 

I tell ya, I learned my lesson from buying a dozen Copper Black Marans hatching eggs from someone who sold me Bev Davis lines for $200. None hatched. asked for some more, was sent 6, ONE hatched. That baby commited suicide in its water dish. That made me reconsider my ways of building a flock. Now I find it is better to buy chicks, or better yet somewhat grown out juveniles. At least you then get going faster an don't have to worry as much. Especially the grown out birds. That is the best way to go. The only time from now on I buy hatching eggs, is when I am buying from a VERY HIGH END ( Exhibition quality ) breeder. Who I know he/she knows at a very early age the quality of the bird being sold. BUT, with EXHIBITION QUALITY eggs, you are doing GREAT to get one out of twenty chicks to be true EXHIBITION QUALITY. So, I guess it comes down to what you want. I think buying a pair of living birds is best,for quickest results..

 

I am so afraid to buy shipped eggs that I will travel several hundred miles to pickup the eggs I want. I figure its cheaper to pickup fresh eggs and know they should hatch, than risk sending money for a package that is handled by machines and careless individuals who could care less whats in the box. Plus I can buy today and put in the incubator tomorrow and know I am starting with fresh eggs.

 

The very first hatch I attempted I got 12 Australorps, and 12 Cochin Bantam eggs. They were all happy and growing in the incubator at day 16 when my dogs were playing too close to the incubator and knocked it over....well, actually one dog was launched into the incubator demolishing all 24 eggs. All the eggs broke and were crushed beyond help. I cried for hours after seeing all the dead chicky babies. I had put soooooo much time and effort into those eggs.

After that painfull lesson I only stayed at small hatches. For one, it can get VERY expensive and for two, I've learned with each hatch what to do and not do. You just have to realize that its a gamble. That is part of the fun as long as you go into it without expectations.

Remember: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

 

Just keep in mind that it is a hobby. If I counted right you ran your incubator 3 time for that $64. Thats 63 days of doing your hobby for $64 an you got 2 chicks out of it. Most Hobbies I have had can eat that kind of money in one night. Hatching eggs is way cheeper than shooting pool or online gaming. Its all in how you look at it.


I did good hatching Giant Frizzles but when I tried long crowers all I hatched was one an it was a hen. Not the best outcome but I;m going to put her in to my EE cage an try to add that long crowing gene to my EE bloodline. There mutts anyway, might as well be the coolest mutts I can get.

 

IF all she does is sell eggs, you have to go and start all over. And once you do get some to hatch and grow out, you'll forget how aweful a start you had. I had to buy a good foam incubator, like a Hova-Bator or Little Giant with the auto turner before I started getting great hatches. Even then, the best hatches are from my own birds eggs, not those I buy. I even drove near 150 miles to get some BCM eggs only to have a decent hatch. But, those birds are so inbred everyone eventually croaked. So, I mix ALL my lines in all varieties I own.