May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[FortCluck]

I forgot to share the picture of the first 4 fuzzballs last night. Chick #5 (another blue!), that I had to make the internal pip for, is hatched and drying off! I assisted the malpositioned chick as well but was sad to see it was in fact deformed like the chicks from last month. With another deformed chick and 7 early quitters in this hatch I'm definitely taking a break from hatching eggs from my friend's Marans flock, and it breaks my heart because they're always beautiful and hatch a high percentage of Blue and Splash!

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Why are their eggs having such issues?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Why are their eggs having such issues?

I wish I knew... This isn't something I have ever encountered before and it's definitely coming specifically for their Marans flock. Last year I hatched from her flock several times with zero issues, fantastic fertility and hatch rates actually. This year I've hatched from the same flock 3 times and the first one was low fertility but all very healthy babies, including a healthy chick that was fertilized by an invading rooster (I suspect her Iowa Blue rooster). Then on the second hatch I had those two terribly deformed chicks but they both had chipmunk stripes like the oddball chick below so I assumed there was some genetic incompatibility with whatever rooster is getting to the Marans...the deformed chick from this hatch looked like a black Marans though so now I'm especially confused.

Marans Hatch #1

The original oddball chick is still growing and healthy though! Update pictures from the friend I gave the chick too.

 

[Jehri]

You should be able to at least seem some movement inside the eggs. I’d start looking around day 10 for movement. Around day 15 is when I know if they’re early quitters or not.

You need a better flashlight with more lumens. I’m talking high powered. I bought 2 a few months back, they were worth every dollar we paid.

I have one that is supposed to be super bright and good so I hunted up some name brand new batteries TaDa! Now to have you all help me I think my temp fluctuations with that damn foam bator that happened before I got this one may have hurt more than I anticipated but they are shipped eggs too so But I do need a small flock so overall I was banking a bit on a low hatch rate and then culling roosters into the crockpot so there’s that

 

[Jehri]

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I didn’t think to weigh my eggs and I have so many with dark shells that I have no idea what is going on inside. How do I handle these at hatch time? I’m obviously hoping they all bust out easily and I don’t have to worry but at what point do I try and look for a chick inside?

@JaeG has a post explaining how to do this calculating back to day 0. Photo of mine attached. I did not think to weigh my Marans eggs until day 6. It won't be 100% accurate, but will give you an idea anyway on where your weights should be. Basically you have to assume eggs will lose 14% of their weight to day 21. It was kind of a fun exercise to use math skills I have forgotten. @JaeG explains it all very well.
I was also able to see in my dark Marans eggs with a lot of patience using my iphone flashlight, but first yesterday at day 13. Good luck!

 

[Jehri]

I can try again when I get home I was in a hurry this morning cause I had an appointment to get my grandma to. I also have an egg buddy I can try to run everybody through and see if I can get heart beats. I think one of them is definitely infertile but that picture apparently didn’t take I’d really like second opinions on these cause unlike a couple of my others I didn’t see movement in these to reassure me so I’m all nail biting *sigh*

 

[Jehri]

@jmns We are on day 20 today

 

[LadiesAndJane]

@jmns We are on day 20 today

Ok, so might be a bit late for graphs and candling...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

A little update on the Indigo Blue Peachicks that I hatched a little over a week ago. They're leaving tomorrow to live at my friend's homestead with 3 peafowl I hatched last year!

 

[Pretty Birds]

Day 18- I candled the eggs, added water to increase the humidity, and took the turner out. All 24 eggs look well and alive, but the air cells did not grow much since day 14.
I hope everything goes well. This is my second hatch with an incubator, and the first time was awful, but I have learned a lot since then.