January 2021 Hatch-A-Long

[Willow2253]

I’ve got a broody that started sitting on some mixed breed eggs on Sunday or Monday. The rooster is a Japanese bantam so any chicks will be a mix of those. Broody is a 6 month old wyandotte/leghorn mix, I’m just hoping she got her parenting instincts from the wyandotte side.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

8 brown eggs added: 2 speckled, 2 tan, 4 with nice bloom. I would have loved to add even more but I'm really trying to keep my hatching this year to replacement layers only. Hoping for 2-3 pullets from these 8 brown eggs. There has been about 75% or greater fertility on these but they were purchased as table eggs so I'm not complaining.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

7/8 brown eggs are fertile! Many of the TJ eggs look clear but 7 of them also have changes consistent with fertility.

Odd thing about the TJ store eggs. There was a couple of comments in a different thread, specific to TJ eggs, about them being slower to develop because of how long they'd been refrigerated. I wrote that off because when hatching my own, or local, fridge eggs that wasn't true. Even after 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
However these TJ eggs do look consistently 1 day behind in their incubation. Right on track with the brown eggs, 20 hours along, rather than the 36 hours they've actually been in the incubator. Possible causes: the grocery store keeps them much colder than my home fridge, shipping to the store, weaker layer flock in general (also comments on those), incubator running cold that first day. Thoughts? It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

 

[hysop]

7/8 brown eggs are fertile! Many of the TJ eggs look clear but 7 of them also have changes consistent with fertility.

Odd thing about the TJ store eggs. There was a couple of comments in a different thread, specific to TJ eggs, about them being slower to develop because of how long they'd been refrigerated. I wrote that off because when hatching my own, or local, fridge eggs that wasn't true. Even after 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
However these TJ eggs do look consistently 1 day behind in their incubation. Right on track with the brown eggs, 20 hours along, rather than the 36 hours they've actually been in the incubator. Possible causes: the grocery store keeps them much colder than my home fridge, shipping to the store, weaker layer flock in general (also comments on those), incubator running cold that first day. Thoughts? It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

What changes are those consistent with fertility? I’d love to learn!! I never know if mine are fertile until day 4 or 7 or if I crack them open

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

What changes are those consistent with fertility? I’d love to learn!! I never know if mine are fertile until day 4 or 7 or if I crack them open

The yolk develops a small, slightly darker, circle within it as the blastoderm cells rapidly start dividing. It's the beginning of the "blood island" that will develop over the next few days (blanking on the technical term for that). I'll see if I can get a picture of it. It'll be tricky since some of these eggs are brown and the white ones are not developing properly but I'll give it a shot.

I don't see this subtle change talked about much but I do see it referenced occasionally or photographed (usually unintentional). In order to see it you'll need to have candled some infertile and fertile eggs (it would be difficult to see changes without something to compare it to), bright light (400+ lumens minimum, 1000 lumens better), and have reasonable powers of observation. You should be able to see in it in eggs of all colors but porous or Olive eggs are exceptionally hard. It's there but these are not the eggs to learn on. Off to take pics!

 

[HuffleClaw]

Good luck! I’ll follow along, but my batch is due Dec. 29th. Hopefully that’s close enough to January

Umm... I’m JUST now seeing INTERNAL pips on these, so I guess I’ll be having a January hatch after all

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

Good luck! I’ll follow along, but my batch is due Dec. 29th. Hopefully that’s close enough to January

Have your chicks hatched yet or are they just hatching

 

[HuffleClaw]

Have your chicks hatched yet or are they just hatching

They have only internally pipped. So I think they’ll hatch tomorrow.

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

They have only internally pipped. So I think they’ll hatch tomorrow.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Here is early development in a brown egg. It's been incubating 20 hours. My flashlight is 1240 lumen. I hold the egg horizontal and have the flashlight underneath (not the air cell end).

Can you see the slightly smaller circle within the yolk? I outlined it in one pic. It's kind of a "you see it or you don't" kind of thing. Same brown egg all pics except for the last one whick is my "blank" probably infertile brown egg. I took some of white eggs too. I'll do a different post for that egg.