May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[Erin80]

Baby #2 is out!
I could really see how much the first one struggled because this one started to zip and was out in a hour and had no issues.

 

[FortCluck]

I certainly wish you luck and hope it goes well! I have only tried two sets, and one was a set of shipped eggs, but I seem to have trouble with them for some reason.

I’ll check them tonight. I only paid $10 and they were local. They seemed to develop good.

did yours develop? Or what happened?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I’ll check them tonight. I only paid $10 and they were local. They seemed to develop good.

did yours develop? Or what happened?

Fertility has not been an issue for us. We set shipped marans eggs last year. We had some quitters but most were dead in shell; failed to internally pip. None hatched. This year we decided to breed our own, even though their egg shell isn’t as dark as we’d hoped for. Out of the 8 set, we had one quitter and two failed to internally pip. That’s certainly a big improvement and I’m glad more than 50% hatched! However, the OE we set with them did a lot better. All of the OE hatched that made it alive to 18 days. I’ve seen a few other people say that marans eggs are harder to hatch, so I just wondered what everyone else’s experiences were.

 

[FortCluck]

Fertility has not been an issue for us. We set shipped marans eggs last year. We had some quitters but most were dead in shell; failed to internally pip. None hatched. This year we decided to breed our own, even though their egg shell isn’t as dark as we’d hoped for. Out of the 8 set, we had one quitter and two failed to internally pip. That’s certainly a big improvement and I’m glad more than 50% hatched! However, the OE we set with them did a lot better. All of the OE hatched that made it alive to 18 days. I’ve seen a few other people say that marans eggs are harder to hatch, so I just wondered what everyone else’s experiences were.

I’ll let you know I haven’t had issues yet

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I have nine marans eggs in an incubator. They were shipped to me but were only on the way overnight. Six are blue birchen and three are black copper, the shells are so dark I am unable to see anything when I tried to candle them so I am weighing them instead. On day 7. Dry incubation as the breeder recommended. We’ll see what happens!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

It’s pretty bad when you have a bunch of eggs that went into the incubator at different times, and you didn’t write a date on them I think some are supposed to go into lock down today. May have to candle and figure it out. Just kept getting excited to put more eggs in.

After the horrible shipping with the last batch of Liege Fighter eggs, I ordered from a reliable source. I purchased 6+ from Foxfire They left Spokane this morning, so should have them by tomorrow morning which would put these guys in June. (Hopefully not all guys...)

Turkeys go into lockdown Saturday. All 7 turkeys are developing very nicely. No one has died in the shell as of yet.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Even if vaccination did cause us to lose chicks in the egg it would still be worth it, because all of the chicks that I vaccinated in the egg last year are still alive as productive hens! We also just had a big round of euthanizing for Marek’s in our unvaccinated two year olds. I don’t know if you remember Susan, our silkie who was doing poorly after the death of her showgirl clutch mate to Marek’s last year? Susan is the one we rushed shipped chicks to when her clutch of marans eggs failed to hatch last summer? Susan was one of those three. I console myself by saying that we bought her another year, and it was a happy year. She was a fantastic mom! Gratuitous pics included because I loved and miss Susan.

Anyway, I’ll continue vaccinating, but I may try to adjust my technique a little. The more I’ve pondered, the more it seems to me that I injured that chick, since it’s yolk wasn’t absorbed and the broken vessel was where I would have injected. It’s funny how the commercial in ovo technique is reported to injure almost no chicks. I’m wondering if vertical vs horizontal incubation plays a part in that, since it affects how the air cell is oriented to the chick.

I'm not sure on the vaccinations because I've never done it myself and fortunately have never had to deal with anything requiring vaccines in my flock.

I do remember Susan, I'm so sorry she passed. I loved your updates through the hatch-a-longs we did together! I'll never forget the endless guinea hatch. I still have yet to hatch guineas. Lol

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

I have hatchers!

4 so far, and a bunch are pipped!

 

[kelseyk]

Fertility has not been an issue for us. We set shipped marans eggs last year. We had some quitters but most were dead in shell; failed to internally pip. None hatched. This year we decided to breed our own, even though their egg shell isn’t as dark as we’d hoped for. Out of the 8 set, we had one quitter and two failed to internally pip. That’s certainly a big improvement and I’m glad more than 50% hatched! However, the OE we set with them did a lot better. All of the OE hatched that made it alive to 18 days. I’ve seen a few other people say that marans eggs are harder to hatch, so I just wondered what everyone else’s experiences were.

I hatched some black copper marans eggs I bought off ebay for the Easter hatch a long. I started with 8 eggs - day 11 I removed 2 clears and 1 blood ring. The remaining 5 made it to lock down and were my first 5 to hatch.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have hatchers!
View attachment 2135872
4 so far, and a bunch are pipped!

Ooooh! It’s looking like a good hatch!