It's Official...

[PeepsCA]

No, the egg size was normal, and air cell looked normal, keet was active in the egg when I locked them down etc, so I'm not sure why it was a runt... my only guess is that the sperm that fertilized that particular egg was maybe nearing it's expiration date, lol. I hatched several other eggs from that flock in that batch (flock of 2 yr olds) and they are healthy/hearty/huge keets. I have yet to narrow down what produces the runts in my flocks... but out of 166 keets hatched so far this season that's only the 2nd runt, so I can't complain to much. Runts happen!

ETA...
I set my next batch of eggs on the 4th, when did you set yours?

I bought a new incubator (a Dickey

) and once it gets here and I test run it a few days I'll be moving all of these eggs over to the new 'bator, plus shoving as many more eggs I can collect in there too LOL. (There is NO hope for me, hatch-o-holic X10 now).

 

[Mmmatt13]

That's interesting. I kinda have a soft spot for runts. They're special!

 

[PeepsCA]

Yah, they are, in their own way... except the typical Guinea runt isn't what you want reproducing in your flock. They usually have some type of congenital defect you don't want to pass along (well at least I don't), and they don't live as long as they should.

 

[Mmmatt13]

That's true. Natures defects are just that, defects. Shouldn't be something to aim for.

 

[PeepsCA]

These are 2 of my keepers from 2 hatches back. The Pied Pearl Grey is a little more Pied than the last one I kept

The Coral Blue isn't nearly as Pied, but still looks better than the 3 Pied Coral Blue adults I kept from last season so it's worth keeping as a breeder

Now let's just hope it's a Hen, lol.

 

[Mmmatt13]

Gorgeous babies, as always.

 

[JLeigh]

Do pieds keep the proportion and balance of white v. color into adulthood, or does it change as they grow?

 

[PeepsCA]

Watching the older Heavily Pied Pearl Grey grow (from my very first hatch this season) this time I'd say that they keep all the White that they first feather out with. I've never really paid much attention to my Pieds and if they change much as they matured before tho. The pretty keets just went into the keeper grow-out pen after the brooder stage, then before Winter I weeded thru the keepers and kept the prettiest birds, sold the rest (so professional huh? lol).

So... many... birds, so... little... time...

 

[JLeigh]

I had a chocolate pied last year that was as beautiful as the darker keet in the picture above. I sold it, and am now kind of sorry. I was really taken with that little bird. Went to a great home though.

 

[PeepsCA]

Actually it was a Pied Brown, with blended down (no stripes). I just looked at the pics you emailed me of your hatch (the set of pics I labeled for you and sent back. (They are still on my laptop lol). Chocolates have broken/squiggly head stripes, like the Coral Blue in my pic.