Marans Thread for Posting Pics of Your Eggs, Chicks and Chickens

[AHappychick]

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I have one looking like it is gonna have those markings, by chance did you get the eggs from me? I have been waiting to take pics of mine when it feathers out more. I was disapointed as none of my birds have those types of markings at all. Anyway if you did get from me then I guess I am going to have to figure out who the hen is who is doing it and remove her. or could it be my roo? I hope not. I wonder....

 

[ruth]

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My BCM eggs and my olive eggs seem to actually hatch better/easier if I use my little styrofoam hovabator because I can really get the humidity up in it. But I mostly use my big Sportsman so I have to fill the tray with water and use the water wicks/pads and put newspaper in the bottom of hatching tray and wet that. I have to literally have the water running down the sides of the bator and out the door before the eggs can hatch and then I still have to keep opening the bator and peeling them out of the shells or they will just dry up in there and never make it out. I just lost a whole batch, 18 or so, beautiful dark olive eggs because the water ran out and I didn't keep on top of the hatch date. We had a sudden/rare snow and I got busy with generators and everything else and forgot about hatch date. None even pipped. They are too dark to candle but I knew they were all fertile. Plus, the ones the two days before all hatched. So I opened the air cell end of each egg and sure enough, completely developed chicks, dead in the shell.

I'll also put wet towels in bottom, plus all of the above steps - so I'm not sure how people are getting them to hatch with the almost no humidity approach I've read about. The one time I did that, accidentally, they all died never having pipped. I find they have a lot of yolk that just shellacs them in their shell as soon as they pip so the humidity has to stay really high till they get out of the shell. I probably have to peel out at least half the chicks (or more), give them a warm bath to get all the dried and sticky yolky stuff off them, then blow dry them. I've never lost a chick I helped out and they are all fat and healthy so I also don't buy into that theory about not helping or that if they can't make it out on their own they "weren't meant to be."

 

[berkeleysprings]

random wheaten marans in the snow

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[Knight Hawk Ranch]

Thanks for the advice guys. I did realize that the humidity had to be so high. But it sounds like this is what my problem is. So far I have one chick from this batch that I did help out, don't know yet if it is going to make it.

I have some more that are going in the bator this evening so will make sure the humidity is higher.

 

[tdgill]

gorgeous wheaten!

 

[bargain]

Hi Ruth, I'm following that thread on the lowered humidity.....I'm like you....My marans love to hatch ini the maximum of humidity....

Like I said I'm watching it with interest....My theory and i hold with it, is since the birds originally were from wetlands in France and because their shell and membrane is so dense that's what they need....Humidity....

Well hope you all are having a blessed day!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thank you ladies, should I keep the humidity up the whole lockdown or just the day before or when I hear peeps? Once more...how high is too high?

 

[ruth]

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In my experience there is no such thing as too high. I have it literally running down the walls and seeping out from the bottom of the Sportsman, running out the bottom of the sealed door and I still have to help them out. For my next batch I might even try sitting them in a shallow tray of water - seriously - or at least on sopping wet towels or something. And we live in an area where it's naturally 100% humidity outside on any given day.

I would bump the humidity up as soon as I put them in the hatching tray - three days before hatch - then really get it up there once they start pipping. Because, in the story I told above about the 18 olive eggers I just lost, the water pan was empty the day before hatch. I discovered it on hatch day when some of them started pipping and I got the humidity way up. But when only 6 pipped and hatched and about 18 did not, I opened the eggs to find fully developed chicks dried up in the membrane - never having pipped or even gotten into the air sac. The problems I'm experiencing seems two fold - one, they pip and then the membrane immediately dries out and glues to them and their head glues to their body, and two - they seem too big for the shells and can't spin and zip.

Edited to add: When "helping" them out it's important to NOT help if there is any blood or bloody veins left in the membrane. If there are still bleeding veins, it's not time yet. I gently flick away a little bit of the shell around the pipped area if there has been no change in size of hole after several hours. I can then see the membrane. If it's dry and/or white, I wet it with warm water to see if the veins are still bleeding, if so, back it goes and I check after another few hours. After a couple of years of daily hatchings, you get the hang of when it's time to help and when it's not. But always STOP if you see blood.

 

[hinkjc]

The problems I'm experiencing seems two fold - one, they pip and then the membrane immediately dries out and glues to them and their head glues to their body, and two - they seem too big for the shells and can't spin and zip.

Both of these issues are due to too high humidity during incubation and at hatch. High humidity (similar to low humidity) can cause sticky chicks. If the air cell is not evaporating enough throughout incubation, they can also become too big in the egg to complete hatch successfully.​

 

[kathyinmo]

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I have only hatched 4 BCMarans (and 12 Cuckoo Marans). So my 2 cents is probably not worth mentioning ... I had these in with other eggs, and kept the humidity as always done ... 30 -35% first 18 days, and up to 60 - 65% the last 3 days. Mine hatched clean, with no problem.