June Hatch A Long

[CluckNDoodle]

Owls here first time in forever I heard them calling to each other last night and woke up this morning to a bird missing. Adding fencing over the top of the pen and the chicken tractor so that we can protect them from it. Also set up a game camera to get them on tape and got a picture of my horses rear. She's so funny. Rotten pony.

Oh no! I'm so sorry!
I've heard the owls here but they don't seem to come out until the chickens are already in the coop, thank goodness!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@CluckNDoodle you we’re right. I lost another one today. My 10 week old BcM pullet.


She was SO pretty. So iridescent. No chocolate eggs anymore. She is all I kept from the marans I hatched because I dna tested her after helping her hatch and she was a she. I’ll have to hatch some more. :-/

I’m sure it will pass along if I keep them locked up but it’s TOO hot for that.

Oh no!! That is NOT something I actually wanted to be right about!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I was able to save 3 of 5 assists today. That was heart-wrenching! Lost 2 of my malpositions, one of them was simply because I couldn't find the head and I hesitated too long and the other I didn't notice there was an issue until too late. Well if I was questioning whether I wanted to give shipped eggs a go or not, I know I certainly DO NOT want to now. That was hard enough! I can handle the early quitters, not these late quitters.

The final count for this hatch: 64% - started with 33, 11 infertile, 8 quitters (2 were late losses), 14 live chicks.

This was my worst hatch to date, not including the goose hatch that was also this month at 60% hatch rate but it was only 5 fertilized eggs. I'm glad I'm keeping notes so maybe I will be able to see if the time of year or the heat has anything to do with my hatch rates after continuing to document next year.

On a more positive note, I candled my peacock eggs and turkey eggs and it appears I have 100% fertility!

Still sounds like a good hatch to me! You don’t count the infertile eggs towards you hatch rate, do you? That’s out of your control... So these were not shipped eggs? Why do you think that you had the malpositions?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Owls here first time in forever I heard them calling to each other last night and woke up this morning to a bird missing. Adding fencing over the top of the pen and the chicken tractor so that we can protect them from it. Also set up a game camera to get them on tape and got a picture of my horses rear. She's so funny. Rotten pony.

Sorry that you lost a bird!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Trader joe’s Sells a “fertile” egg specifically I don’t know if anyone else has them....

@LilyD ugh. I’m sorry. And @CluckNDoodle you we’re right. I lost another one today. My 10 week old BcM pullet.


She was SO pretty. So iridescent. No chocolate eggs anymore. She is all I kept from the marans I hatched because I dna tested her after helping her hatch and she was a she. I’ll have to hatch some more. :-/

I’m sure it will pass along if I keep them locked up but it’s TOO hot for that.

Oh, just reading your post gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach! I’m so sorry that you lost your prized pullet!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well, the waiting is really getting to me! We’ve had such a difficult incubation period, losing most of our shipped eggs. We even had one of our home bred eggs that looked like it quit very late (not confirmed yet). Now, of the eight eggs that went under the two broodies, we’ve had two hatch under one broody and no sign under the other. Talk about that sinking feeling....

 

[jolenesdad]

Well, the waiting is really getting to me! We’ve had such a difficult incubation period, losing most of our shipped eggs. We even had one of our home bred eggs that looked like it quit very late (not confirmed yet). Now, of the eight eggs that went under the two broodies, we’ve had two hatch under one broody and no sign under the other. Talk about that sinking feeling....

I hope they’re just taking their time!!!

 

[LilyD]

Candled again tonight and was able to see more clearly.
Got movement in 14 eggs
I had 8 infertile 6 from one batch
2 from the other
and 2 blood rings.

I have one egg with a baby moving in it with a large saddle shaped air cell so fingers crossed that one does okay. All the others have normal air cells. I did have about 1/2 that had moving air cells on the first day due to shipping so losing a few to that is okay. It also seems that everyone is having issues with good fertility because of the wet weather this year so only 8 infertiles in the bunch is still pretty good as far as I'm concerned.

For our meat chickens we spent the evening putting up chicken wire over the top of our outside pen (never needed it before they slept in the coop and had no issues. This group likes being on the felled trees out in the pasture instead which makes them dinner. Have to make sure I have them all back in the pen before dark and closed up since it has fencing over the top to protect them. Pretty much in the same boat as jolenesdad with them roaming 2 acres of fenced property no way to contain them during the day. At night however...they are going to have to be good lol.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Still sounds like a good hatch to me! You don’t count the infertile eggs towards you hatch rate, do you? That’s out of your control... So these were not shipped eggs? Why do you think that you had the malpositions?

Thank you, this month has been my worst hatch rates to date though...

They were not shipped, we went on a mini road trip to pick them up, considering I carefully monitored the development of the air cells, the temp and humidity, I'm going to say it's more likely related to an issue with the flock.

Many of the early quitters were in eggs with calcium deposits on the shells. I made note of that because I was curious why built up calcium would cause the embryo to fail. With that, combined with a hatch with the yolk sac not absorbed, and all of the malpositons, plus the eggs I picked up elsewhere hatched without issue, so likely the flock.

I didn't count the infertile eggs in my hatch rate percentage but I always document them to help keep track of my overall experiences and to update the breeders because they often like to know what their flock is doing. I was told to expect 50% fertility from her flock so she knows her flock well and I wasn't upset at all by how many infertile eggs I got because she was very upfront about it. Only sad about quitters.

 

[LilyD]

Thank you, this month has been my worst hatch rates to date though...

They were not shipped, we went on a mini road trip to pick them up, considering I carefully monitored the development of the air cells, the temp and humidity, I'm going to say it's more likely related to an issue with the flock.

Many of the early quitters were in eggs with calcium deposits on the shells. I made note of that because I was curious why built up calcium would cause the embryo to fail. With that, combined with a hatch with the yolk sac not absorbed, and all of the malpositons, plus the eggs I picked up elsewhere hatched without issue, so likely the flock.

I didn't count the infertile eggs in my hatch rate percentage but I always document them to help keep track of my overall experiences and to update the breeders because they often like to know what their flock is doing. I was told to expect 50% fertility from her flock so she knows her flock well and I wasn't upset at all by how many infertile eggs I got because she was very upfront about it. Only sad about quitters.

I swear I am hearing that from everyone. Hatch rates are down and lots of infertiles or early quitters in the bunch. For me humidity has been all over the place we have had almost non stop rain this summer so keeping it below 30 is very hard. Running it dry and at 28% humidity right now and fingers crossed it will stay that low. Humidity in the room is 47%. Mine were shipped and I lost 10 out of 24 early. Fingers crossed the others hatch out well.