May 2022 hatch along

[kurby22]

The quitters make me sad. They got started, but something not right to keep going. Even though I still have 19 eggs still viable, I'm anxious that something catastrophic will happen.

I feel the same way! The quitters always bum me out a lot. Especially the ones that make it all the way to hatch day and then pass :-( I know it’s nature and for the best…but shipped eggs and incubators aren’t all that natural either so I always feel a tinge of guilt anyway. I also always panic when I get a bunch of extra hatching eggs from shipped eggs…because I don’t have ample room here, and then I’m equally depressed when one of them doesn’t make it or never even started. Such a unique and rewarding but also depressing thing to hatch eggs!

 

[kurby22]

Well I joined this HAL because I decided to fertility check my Olandsk Dwarf chickens and had someone request I hatch them some quail babies as well. And that was going to be all…and then eBay sent me a link to a local ish person selling d’Anver hatching eggs for a really good price and I caved. Was real hard to convince me too!

My April eggs I set came to 24 eggs. Bantam EEs from Georgia, lavender d’Anvers, and bantam buff Brahmas from Ohio. Of those 24 eggs that I paid over $35 just in shipping fees…I got 6 chicks. Not the best hatch rate! Best part is the eggs from Georgia hatched the best…I would say the USPS needs a bit of work on what they define as Priority 2-Day. The d’Anver eggs shipped on the 21st of March and arrived on 3/28! So it’s not surprising. Anyway, needless to say, I was disappointed in the final number of chicks so when I saw the d’Anver eggs it took little to convince me. Long story short, I now have 18!! new d’Anver hatching eggs set to hatch 2 days after my birthday on May 13. Ad said 10+ and she didn’t mess around on the “+”! Practically got double the order. I’m excited because these come from a poultry show winning rooster and they are BBS chickens and she also has a couple of cuckoo hens. Anywho…fingers crossed I get a bit better hatch rate this time since they really did take 2 days to get here from Fresno! Only a few had saddled air cells or detached air cells too, so that’s good. So I now have eggs due on 5/2, 5/6, and 5/13. I had to do some egg shuffling to keep them all where they need to be—I had my quail eggs in with the OD eggs but I moved them to the old cheapo incubator once the baby Brahma dried out this evening. Now I can have the temps closer to quail level and all the d’Anver eggs can be in one spot. When the ODs are ready to stop rotating on Friday, I may need to move them back into the NR and use the cheapo as the lockdown bator again. So much brain power haha.

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Set 18 Serama eggs (shipped from PA) and 6 Silkie eggs (shipped from FL) to hatch on Saturday. Fingers crossed for a decent hatch rate out of both.

 

[kurby22]

Set 18 Serama eggs (shipped from PA) and 6 Silkie eggs (shipped from FL) to hatch on Saturday. Fingers crossed for a decent hatch rate out of both.

Good luck! I bet Serama chicks are just the tiniest baby chicks

 

[Iluveggers]

Candled the eggs today! Could see development in 14 of 18 of them! Will wait a few more days on the others. One egg is a dark olive, so it might just be hard to see in.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I went to my local store, they were selling eggs from a Hispanic family in town, They had many colored eggs, I grabbed mostly the gray eggs, because I like that color. They had pink too but this is what I wanted. Heating them up to go in incubator. They were put in cartons pointed end up, I have them fat end up now. One had an aircell in the wrong place.

 

[junior67]

Candled the eggs today! Could see development in 14 of 18 of them! Will wait a few more days on the others. One egg is a dark olive, so it might just be hard to see in.

wow that is great!!!! Were they dancing all over? Mine last night were wiggling away. I bet the kids loved it!

 

[junior67]

I went to my local store, they were selling eggs from a Hispanic family in town, They had many colored eggs, I grabbed mostly the gray eggs, because I like that color. They had pink too but this is what I wanted. Heating them up to go in incubator. They were put in cartons pointed end up, I have them fat end up now. One had an aircell in the wrong place.
View attachment 3079042

what pretty eggs! Can't wait to see what hatches from them!

 

[Iluveggers]

wow that is great!!!! Were they dancing all over? Mine last night were wiggling away. I bet the kids loved it!

Yes! The kids were like “Look! It’s moving!” A few said it looked cute. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to draw the air cells together and calculate % weight lost since day 1. Should be a fun time!

 

[DavidReaves]

I went to my local store, they were selling eggs from a Hispanic family in town, They had many colored eggs, I grabbed mostly the gray eggs, because I like that color. They had pink too but this is what I wanted. Heating them up to go in incubator. They were put in cartons pointed end up, I have them fat end up now. One had an aircell in the wrong place.
View attachment 3079042

Are you sure that they have roosters? The guy that sells down the road from me only has some of the hens he has exposed to roosters. Others "free range" in mobile coops so they are not exposed to the roosters he has. I had to specifically request fertile eggs.