My first shipped eggs! An incubation adventure

[ochochicas]

Gru is really beautiful. I have 4 or 5 black australorp eggs in my incubator crossed with my EE rooster. I assumed the black coloring would be dominant, but maybe some of them will be cute like Gru! I'll candle again tomorrow and post an update about how many I throw out. Hopefully it isn't too many.

 

[PrairieChickens]

Gru definitely inherited his mother's black plummage, but with hints of his father's coloring slipping in here and there. The iridescent splashes of purple and green are definitely from his mom's side. With EE's, you never know what you'll get when you mix them up, but I know you'll have beautiful chickens if they're crossed with Australorps!

The first chick has hatched--surprisingly, it wasn't the banty, but one of the "Garage" eggs!

The eggs Dad found on the garage floor.


Into the incubator they went for a staggered hatch (bottom row)


Ta-Da!

The mother is a red Easter Egger--possibly an EE/Production red mix. The father is anyone's guess. That makes this chick--and all of those that hatch from the green eggs in this batch--3rd generation!

 

[PrairieChickens]

The banty chick that pipped first has hatched. It's a cute little black chick with fuzzy footsies. I need to get the previous hatch moved to the coop so that I can put the new babies in the brooder.

 

[Aphrael]

Yay! Congrats!!

 

[PrairieChickens]

14 out of 17 eggs hatched--I had an early quitter and a clear, and only one late quitter! All 9 of the eggs we collected off of the garage floor hatched and are healthy. Only one chick needed help hatching--she was breached and her head was in the wrong end of the egg, so even though she pipped well, she couldn't get her wiggle on to zip.




I was too tired to do photos last night, so my husband took a few pics. I plan on getting more photos of the babies and a few up-to-date shots of the lonely leghorn who hatched.

 

[Aphrael]

Awwww! So cute!

Congrats on such a great hatch!

 

[ochochicas]

The babies are so cute! Congrats on your hatch.

Yesterday I candled my eggs. Six of the 8 Legbar eggs are growing.


All four of the australorp x EE eggs look great. In total I had 8 Legbars and 27 EEs. I tossed 6 EE eggs because they were clear and I think two more are quitters but will check again in a couple of days. None of the Rhodebar x EE eggs were looking at all viable, but that is OK because I don't have room for as many chicks as could potentially hatch.

 

[PrairieChickens]

As promised, we took more photos of the babies. To start off, here's a photo of Xiao, the only chick to hatch from my shipped eggs:


She's still smaller than she ought to be, but she's growing fast now, and it won't be long until she catches up! She's living with the brand new babies right now while she builds up her strength. Her dark friend Hei-an continues to be a mellow, friendly chick, so they are both able to exist alongside the tiny babies with no trouble.

Speaking of the babies, here's some more photos, as promised!

 

[Aphrael]

They are all so adorable!!

 

[nab58]

What excellent photos!!!! Congrats on all your successful hatchings!