I set eggs 2/27/10 ** DUE 3/20th-3/21st** WE"RE HATCHING!!!!

[Sweetfolly]

Well, I didn't get my pictures up last night like I wanted - the computer didn't want to upload them (something about the files being corrupt, but I think it's because my camera battery needs replacing) and by the time I deleted the corrupt files from the camera and took new pictures I was pooped and went to bed.

So, today is Day 4 for my duckie eggs and I have 3 strong, beating little hearts as of this morning! Hopefully they'll be clear enough to get pictures of tonight. 1 egg looks questionable - I think it's okay, just a slowpoke, and I'm 99.9% sure that the remaining two have quit. Interestingly, the two quitters are the two oldest eggs in the 'bator (they'd been stored for 5 and 6 days), and they were laid during the two coldest nights of any of the eggs - one of them is the one that I suspected may have frozen a bit. I never expected better than a 50% hatch from this setting, so I'm very pleased with my three little beating hearts!

Here's a picture taken last night - at that point, I could not yet see the hearts beating, but I put an arrow pointing to the spot where the heart was beginning to form:

 

[kayla_sayswa]

Results for me so far:

(local mixed mutt eggs)
1 - under broody
2 - quitter - blood ring - pulled today
3 - clear - pulled out today
4 - under broody
5 - developing
6 - developing

shipped eggs
7- under broody
8- under broody
9- developing
10 - doubtful - shell has lots of hairline cracks. this was a golden cuckoo maran

11 - can't see anything so doubtful but egg in better shape. my only other GCM

12 - developing
13 - developing
14 - developing
15 - developing
16 - doubtful - black copper maran
17 - developing
18 - developing
19 - developing
20 - developing - black copper maran

21 - developing
22 - developing - black copper maran

23 - doubtful - black copper maran
24 - can't tell egg is too dark - black copper maran

Aside from the iffy marans, I'm having really good luck so far with the favorelle shipped eggs. Are marans harder to ship & hatch?

 

[Happy Chooks]

I think you're doing great! You have a lot developing. And I've read on here that lots of people have difficulty hatching Marans.

 

[fordmommy]

I haven't heard that Marans are harder to hatch than others myself. I have some Blue Copper Marans (shipped) that we can compare to at the end. Mine are WAY dark. I don't think I'll see a thing candling, even at the end. But I'll try.

I had some Black Copper Marans under my broody last month. I got them from a friend for free. Kinda test eggs. One ended up fertile but barely developed. That was the one that she broke at the end. Poor girl sat like a trooper though. But I would try to candle and never saw a thing.

Finally on day 22 I carefully cracked them open one by one and found out that the rest were not fertile. Still yolks. Oh well.

 

[Sparkelrose]

I candled for the second time last night with a flash light my husband brought home from work. It worked better, but stilll could barly see into the green eggs. 1 was moving, one had veins and the eye thing (or is that the heart?), didn't see movement and all the others I wasn't sure how they were doing. If it's really dark on one side is that a good thing? Well I have to go to work but just wanted to do a quick update! Have a good day ladies... I have to worrie that the eggs get turned, and the temp stays while I'm gone

 

[fordmommy]

Those green eggs ARE hard to see through. I think that if you have a dark shadow figure in there, I would assume that they are good.

P.s. Have a good day at work.

 

[KDbeads]

Yeah the green eggs are a royal PAIN!!! I had 2 pen sized maglites that I would position on either side of the ones I did a while back and still had trouble figuring them out. I can't imagine how bad Marans are!

Well, my broody has decided to push all the shavings and lint out from under her and incubate the eggs right on the plastic bottom of the crate I'm trying to find a piece of felt or something similar to line the bottom of the entire crate with to help cushion the eggs a little. She was turning them earlier and they scraped all over the bottom, I could hear it almost 20 feet away. She's only eating ever other day or so, is that normal????? I have the food and water right next to her but she refuses to touch either of them unless I add a couple teaspoons of scratch to the feed.

 

[fordmommy]

Quote:
Just a thought. Could you use an old towel or rag to go under her? My girl was doing the same thing with the hay. Fimally I gave in and put pine shavings under her. She's better now, but that is what I was going to do if the shavings didn't work.

 

[KDbeads]

Quote:
Just a thought. Could you use an old towel or rag to go under her? My girl was doing the same thing with the hay. Fimally I gave in and put pine shavings under her. She's better now, but that is what I was going to do if the shavings didn't work.

Duh!! Geeze I've been thinking too hard or out in the sun too long or something! Thanks!!!

 

[fordmommy]

Hey, no problem. We're a little over welmed right now with all these babies coming. Take me for example and that power outage. If it wasn't for Babylady4 and Buck Creek Chickens, I wouldn't have know what to do either.