Need some hatching buddies - Hatching May 24-28

[Stevenson]

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Everyone's welcome in this thread...glad you can join up

 

[dretd]

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I'm not sure about the egg color always being same..anyone else? I do know that, not all EE's will have a greenish colored leg. I had a gal that looked like a RIR..laid the most beautiful olive green egg..not the mix of green and blue, but the real olive green..that surprised me. No tufts on the cheeks, no color in the legs, no beard...but a nice green egg.

It is my understanding that the blue egg gene is a straight dominant gene meaning that if a chicken carries one copy it will lay blue or maybe green eggs depending on whether it also carries brown egg genes (provided its a hen, of course

) So a brown egg layer can have a chick that lays a green egg provided the rooster used carries a copy of the blue gene. If he has 1 copy then the odds are 50%, if he has 2 copies it is 100%.

The blue color which is a pigment through the entire egg shell, may be modified to a green to olive green color by the brown egg gene. The brown pigment gets deposited at the very end of the tract so only the surface of the shell is is brown (when you crack a brown egg the inside is still white whereas if you crack an Olive Egger's egg is will be some variation of blue). Folks that are breeding Olive Eggers look to be using either Marans or Welsummers to get the darkest brown possible.

 

[Chickiebabyfluff]

I'm hatching 12 frizzle cochins!! 6 silkies and 6 japanese bantam buff!!!!! This is my first hatch and im a nervous wreck!!!! Eggs arrived today so i'll be settin them on sat

 

[dretd]

I did a quick candling last night to see if I could remove any eggs. Two had blood rings and they are now gone. I have eggs from 2 different breeders in the 'bator. One set, from a friend's sis, is doing well. There is veining in all of the light eggs and I can't see in to the EE or Marans, but one of the Marans is more translucent so I thinks its going to be clear. So 7/8 look ok or unknown. I was skeptical on this one because 4 of the eggs were badly damaged in transit so I figured they were gonners.

Unfortunately, the other eggs look terrible. I left most of them in, but I don't see veins and most look clear or like early quitters but no blood ring yet. There were several detached air cells and one where the air cell was at the pointy end despite being set fat-end up. I will be surprised if I get any chicks from these eggs, which really bums me out.

One thought that occurred to me is the altitude difference--I am at about 5,000 feet. The breeder with the developing eggs is from Montana which is going to be over 3,000 feet. The breeder from the unhappy eggs is from Georgia which has gotta be around 1,000. Could altitude be a factor? Has anyone had good luck with eggs from a low altitude hatching in a high altitude incubator?

Montana is also much closer to Colorado than Georgia so it could be jostling in transit.

 

[dretd]

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Good luck with your broody. I looked at your blog--is she an Australorp? I have a Speckled Sussex that went broody last summer while we were on vacation. If she goes again I was going to tuck some eggs under her. That's a picture of her in my avatar when I took her off the nest for a break--she looked like a small angry tom turkey. Boy was she mad!

My eggs are in my home-made incubator. Three of them are from Black Copper Marans hens , but I'm not sure if dad is a BCM or a Light Brahma.

 

[Cattitude]

This morning's incubator:

And more are peeping and pipping!

 

[Stevenson]

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If you received them today and can do so, you might consider getting them in the incubator tonight. Waiting an additional 2 days to get them in your incubator could reduce your hatch. (I am no expert...just giving my opinion based on what I have read)

Good Luck!

 

[dretd]

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Wow, what a lot of cute chicks! I am very excited for you!

 

[Cynthia12]

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Here's a picture of my cochin frizzles I hatched out a couple of days ago..

 

[Cynthia12]

Wow Cat! Congrats!! More pictures as they come along...and some when they are nice and fluffy. That's a lot of babies! Love the colors mix!