July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[FortCluck]

First shipment of “colorful” mix eggs came this morning. This one, like the 2 other dozens I have on the way from eBay, was due on Saturday but came early. This is from My Pet Chicken. The other 2 shipments are BCM’s and Delaware.
I had to chuckle at the types of breeds they highlighted, indicating what I got.
I have some olive eggers and BCM’s, no surprise there. A couple of blue/black/splash Amerucanas, lavender EE. And get this, something they’re calling “SUPER Chocolate Egg Layer”...whose eggs aren’t near as dark as the BCM’s, lol. They included several “mystery eggs”, which a couple are very small eggs, maybe some type of Bantam I’m thinking, and an olive egg, which isn’t such a mystery I guess.
Maybe the small eggs will be silkies? I can dream can’t I?

Now for the Brinsea Ova Scope report.
This turned out just like @TheBajan reported. I’ve learned that reading this forum for 6 years doesn’t help me figure out what the heck I’m seeing, and I’m as clueless as any newby can be.
With a flashlight, and with egg cupped in my hand inside a dark utility room, I think I can see the area called the airsack, and that is it. That area moves a little bit, but not much. I can’t even see that with this “fancydangschmancy” candler, so back it goes to Amazon ASAP, and a high power flashlight will replace it.

2 questions:
Each egg was identified with pencil, the abbreviation for the type or breed. There was also a number on each egg, some were marked 4, 0, one was 5, another 9.... is this supposed to be the number of the airsack area? I’ve never read anything about that here, but the Ova View shows a diagram with airsack lines with numbers next to them. The email I received from MPC didn’t say anything about a number.

#2: Although I can begin the incubation process, I might be waiting a few days to receive the other eggs, not due till Saturday...and I know it can be Monday before I get them. If I set these now, with the turner off, I’m going to need to still keep the turner off for the later arrivals...I’m thinking it might be better all around if I just wait until I have the others to begin incubating...am I on the right track? It would also mean that I won’t have to remove chicks that hatch (ever hopeful) 3 to 5 days earlier than the others and risk messing up lockdown.

Thanks if you’ve read this book. I appreciate this place to get the conversation and encouragement I need, since hubby is uninterested.
(At least he’s kind and willing to finish my coop, so bless his heart)

Are you sure it is not the days they collected them... Like the 0 one is brand new. The 4 day one is 4 days old. And so on and so forth.

I would not wait honestly because you do not want the eggs to sit longer than they have to. You can just sit the other eggs upright in an egg carton for 24 hours when they are unpacked then add them into the turner.

 

[slbenter]

Are you sure it is not the days they collected them... Like the 0 one is brand new. The 4 day one is 4 days old. And so on and so forth.

I would not wait honestly because you do not want the eggs to sit longer than they have to. You can just sit the other eggs upright in an egg carton for 24 hours when they are unpacked then add them into the turner.

Hmm...I’m going to snoop around and try contacting MPC to ask them. One of those eggs has what looks like a 9 on it, and even if I’m reading them upside down, that would still be 6 days old.
They’re dirty too. A note on the bottom of the page that came with them said to excuse the “mud”, as they sometimes get muddy feet.
I’ve read that they need a dip in some diluted bleach, but I’m gonna read some more about dirty eggs before I do that.
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[kelseyk]

I actually have this one in my watching list. They are just a bit pricey for shipped eggs but they are closer to me so it might be worth a try.

They are AMAZING to work with! Out of all the eggs I have ordered from them, I have only had 1 that was cracked, and that was this latest shipment and it was just a really small hairline crack that I was able to patch. They even tried their hardest to accommodate a special color request for my daughter. Their hens went broody in the 2 pens my daughter wanted, but they were going to try and pull whatever eggs they could find in those pens for her. And they are great with communication. They only occasionally send extra eggs, but their eggs are packed really well. Air sacs are usually still intact even. I think they are totally worth the cost.

 

[FortCluck]

Hmm...I’m going to snoop around and try contacting MPC to ask them. One of those eggs has what looks like a 9 on it, and even if I’m reading them upside down, that would still be 6 days old.
They’re dirty too. A note on the bottom of the page that came with them said to excuse the “mud”, as they sometimes get muddy feet.
I’ve read that they need a dip in some diluted bleach, but I’m gonna read some more about dirty eggs before I do that.
Thanks for the suggestion.

You do not have to clean dirt eggs. Brush them off with the scrubby side of a sponge that’s dry. The eggs I got that were extremely dirty I did that and most hatched just fine. Sometimes I use a spray bottle and water, but that’s rare. I do not use any chemicals on my eggs anymore.

 

[kelseyk]

First shipment of “colorful” mix eggs came this morning. This one, like the 2 other dozens I have on the way from eBay, was due on Saturday but came early. This is from My Pet Chicken. The other 2 shipments are BCM’s and Delaware.
I had to chuckle at the types of breeds they highlighted, indicating what I got.
I have some olive eggers and BCM’s, no surprise there. A couple of blue/black/splash Amerucanas, lavender EE. And get this, something they’re calling “SUPER Chocolate Egg Layer”...whose eggs aren’t near as dark as the BCM’s, lol. They included several “mystery eggs”, which a couple are very small eggs, maybe some type of Bantam I’m thinking, and an olive egg, which isn’t such a mystery I guess.
Maybe the small eggs will be silkies? I can dream can’t I?

Now for the Brinsea Ova Scope report.
This turned out just like @TheBajan reported. I’ve learned that reading this forum for 6 years doesn’t help me figure out what the heck I’m seeing, and I’m as clueless as any newby can be.
With a flashlight, and with egg cupped in my hand inside a dark utility room, I think I can see the area called the airsack, and that is it. That area moves a little bit, but not much. I can’t even see that with this “fancydangschmancy” candler, so back it goes to Amazon ASAP, and a high power flashlight will replace it.

2 questions:
Each egg was identified with pencil, the abbreviation for the type or breed. There was also a number on each egg, some were marked 4, 0, one was 5, another 9.... is this supposed to be the number of the airsack area? I’ve never read anything about that here, but the Ova View shows a diagram with airsack lines with numbers next to them. The email I received from MPC didn’t say anything about a number.

#2: Although I can begin the incubation process, I might be waiting a few days to receive the other eggs, not due till Saturday...and I know it can be Monday before I get them. If I set these now, with the turner off, I’m going to need to still keep the turner off for the later arrivals...I’m thinking it might be better all around if I just wait until I have the others to begin incubating...am I on the right track? It would also mean that I won’t have to remove chicks that hatch (ever hopeful) 3 to 5 days earlier than the others and risk messing up lockdown.

Thanks if you’ve read this book. I appreciate this place to get the conversation and encouragement I need, since hubby is uninterested.
(At least he’s kind and willing to finish my coop, so bless his heart)

I would not wait, at least not longer than 7 days). The numbers may be related to a chicken if their chickens are identifiable by a number, or it could be the nest box it came out of.

 

[FortCluck]

I would not wait, at least not longer than 7 days). The numbers may be related to a chicken if their chickens are identifiable by a number, or it could be the nest box it came out of.

I put shipped eggs in ASAP. I never wait on them.

 

[kelseyk]

Hmm...I’m going to snoop around and try contacting MPC to ask them. One of those eggs has what looks like a 9 on it, and even if I’m reading them upside down, that would still be 6 days old.
They’re dirty too. A note on the bottom of the page that came with them said to excuse the “mud”, as they sometimes get muddy feet.
I’ve read that they need a dip in some diluted bleach, but I’m gonna read some more about dirty eggs before I do that.
Thanks for the suggestion.

I try to rub off what I can of the dirt/poop lightly with a cloth or sand paper and then spray the eggs with hydrogen peroxide and let them sit in a cardboard egg carton to dry. That should kill most of the bacteria.

 

[kelseyk]

I put shipped eggs in ASAP. I never wait on them.

I let them sit in an egg carton large end up on the table for around 24 hours before I set my shipped eggs.

 

[FortCluck]

I let them sit in an egg carton large end up on the table for around 24 hours before I set my shipped eggs.

I set them in the turner that’s not plugged in. If I already have eggs incubating (which you know I always do) I do the sane as you. I place the carton on the incubating table and wait as hard as it is.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Hmm...I’m going to snoop around and try contacting MPC to ask them. One of those eggs has what looks like a 9 on it, and even if I’m reading them upside down, that would still be 6 days old.
They’re dirty too. A note on the bottom of the page that came with them said to excuse the “mud”, as they sometimes get muddy feet.
I’ve read that they need a dip in some diluted bleach, but I’m gonna read some more about dirty eggs before I do that.
Thanks for the suggestion.

For my batch of eggs from my own flock, it started raining heavily for days mid collection. So the earlier eggs were pristine but the later were muddy. I gently used some warm water to soften the mud then with a gentle warm stream rinsed them and dried them on paper towels. A few I gently rubbed the mud off with a finger, then rinsed and dried.
I marked the washed ones so I knew which were which, just in case, but all the washed eggs hatched just fine for me.