May hatch-a-long

[sawilliams]

Thank you both very much. I've only seen the rooster attempting to mate with the hens (he's still learning lol) so I'm probably just being hopeful incubating eggs that aren't fertile haha. I'll give them till day ten though

How old is he and how long has he been trying to mate? I think it was almost a month before we got our first fertile and almost 2 before most were fertile. But then agian I also had 10 laying hens that had never been with a rooster and 3 dominate hens that regularly mated the other girls so not everyone was ok with the new pecking order. *yes dominate female hens will mate lower females to maintain order if a rooster is not present in the flock.

 

[Tiana's chickens]

How old is he and how long has he been trying to mate? I think it was almost a month before we got our first fertile and almost 2 before most were fertile. But then agian I also had 10 laying hens that had never been with a rooster and 3 dominate hens that regularly mated the other girls so not everyone was ok with the new pecking order. *yes dominate female hens will mate lower females to maintain order if a rooster is not present in the flock.

He's around 31 weeks old. He's been attempting most days to mate with the 1 hen for 2 weeks now, so I collected her eggs for incubating incase they are fertile already. I made a thread and posted a photo of a couple yolks from her and people told me they looked fertile because of a bullseye but I wasn't sure if they really were bullseyes

 

[chickenmama109]

Day 5-6 I'm really not sure if any are fertile, I don't see any veins.
But this first egg has a darker shell, yet when I shine the torch through it looks lighter inside then the other two eggs with lighter shells, is it possible the ones that look slightly darker inside could be fertile?
And how much longer before I throw them out? I don't want any exploding
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I would wait for a couple more days can you get a pic of the other said of the egg

 

[houlahoula]

im so eggcited to get the brooder ready and im really eggcited to see the colors of my chicks i cant wait to see what color my EEs are what are your fav color of chickens and EEs

Love laced patterns, especially Barnvelders.
Love mottled, splash. There is a European variety of Pekin/Cochin called Bobtail that is truly gorgeous

 

[houlahoula]

Love laced patterns, especially Barnvelders.
Love mottled, splash. There is a European variety of Pekin/Cochin called Bobtail that is truly gorgeous

Almost forgot...love spangled patterns like Brabanters and Spitzhauben!

 

[chickenmama109]

I took a little look in my bantam egg once more and I seen this what could it be should I be worried

 

[houlahoula]

View attachment 1358365 I took a little look in my bantam egg once more and I seen this what could it be should I be worried

Hard for me to see well in pic but are you referring to the dark circular spot?

 

[houlahoula]

I forgot to collect eggs yesterday. Apparently that plus spring weather is all the encouragement needed for this Splash Marans hen to possibly go broody. She popped out when I tossed some scratch grain then went right back on the eggs. I might have two May hatches!

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False alarm on the Marans. She was just laying an egg But I'm pretty sure this Bantam Cochin means business! She's got that I-eat-egg-thieves-for- breakfast vibe going. Puffed up and growling. She only had 1 egg under her so I set a couple more beside her. Looks like she's adopted them.

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Pretty hens!

 

[chickenmama109]

Hard for me to see well in pic but are you referring to the dark circular spot?

yes there is some kind of dot in there i will try to get a better photo

 

[chickenmama109]

Hard for me to see well in pic but are you referring to the dark circular spot?

i candled again and i cant find it it looks like it my have been a vein im sorry for the trouble i was just a little worried thanks so much for your help