Lil Zoo,,2 yrs ago I bought 75 Chukar partridge eggs,,shipped from South Carolina and it was July.Basicly I did it for something to hatch,,all my seasonal bought pea eggs was hatched out already or pitched.If you want to see how good your incubator really is,get some Chukar Partridge eggs to hatch.I went to town the afternoon they was due to hatch for maybe 4 hours,came home and 72 outta the 75 had hatched,,other 3 non hatchers had small cracks in the shell.Breeder I bought them from remarked once he sent a shipment of chukar eggs to a lady in Alaska,somehow they got mixed around and never made it to her,and he got them back 2 weeks after he shipped them,he decided to try and hatch them,and outta 100 eggs,he got 80 to hatch.
Hatching Chukar eggs is plug and play,,set it and forget it,,no challenge.They handle shipping exceptionally well,,are fertile murtyles,,and hatch out like popcorn,,don't believe me,,get 25 Chukar eggs and you'll have 22 or more hatch out.Even with the top of the line incubator and techniques your power can still go out from a storm or a power pole going down. By setting several groups of eggs all season spreads out those risks somewhat. By having several individual breeding pens your risk of losing all birds to a predator attack is less compared to if all birds was together in one huge pen and then it would be pot luck for whatever was after them.
We've all been there,,some things cannot be explained why one breeder can get away with some techniques and others try to do the same,and have no luck at all.My Charcoal pen is a perfect reason to quit with that color,,1 chick hatched all summer,3-4 quitters,1 I practically 100% helped out died still in the other 1/2 of the shell,too weak to make an easy push to get out on it's own,,,and I bet I threw out 25 eggs that never developed.I watched my Charcoal male breed the hens,and since I do have 1 chick from him,I know he's fertile.But I'm not going to quit.That color is a HUGE challenge and thats where next year things will hopefully turn around.My other colors eggs hatched,some didn't and some also wasn't fertile.Some also quit a day before hatching too.
We're all trying to replicate what occurs in nature thru the use of selected breeding,artificial incubation and feed.Taking that into consideration anythng we get should be considered an accomplishment,,yes? You know as well as I do if you didn't try to hatch anything next season you would be bouncing off the walls.You would be drooling over baby pea pictures here.
So look at it this way,,if you just let your hens that goes broody next year(if any does),and let them sit on a clutch of 6-8 eggs(that can still be eaten by racoons,varmits,and lose the hen) you may get nothing,,or a few that hatch all season.Your hen would stop laying eggs if she sat on a clutch so egg laying would stop if she was allowed to hatch them,and who knows if she will be a faithful sitter? She may up and leave the clutch after 20 days. I know your odds are better by you taking the eggs and incubating them,instead of letting nature intervene.You have all fall and winter to plan before egg laying starts late next spring.
Hatching Chukar eggs is plug and play,,set it and forget it,,no challenge.They handle shipping exceptionally well,,are fertile murtyles,,and hatch out like popcorn,,don't believe me,,get 25 Chukar eggs and you'll have 22 or more hatch out.Even with the top of the line incubator and techniques your power can still go out from a storm or a power pole going down. By setting several groups of eggs all season spreads out those risks somewhat. By having several individual breeding pens your risk of losing all birds to a predator attack is less compared to if all birds was together in one huge pen and then it would be pot luck for whatever was after them.
We've all been there,,some things cannot be explained why one breeder can get away with some techniques and others try to do the same,and have no luck at all.My Charcoal pen is a perfect reason to quit with that color,,1 chick hatched all summer,3-4 quitters,1 I practically 100% helped out died still in the other 1/2 of the shell,too weak to make an easy push to get out on it's own,,,and I bet I threw out 25 eggs that never developed.I watched my Charcoal male breed the hens,and since I do have 1 chick from him,I know he's fertile.But I'm not going to quit.That color is a HUGE challenge and thats where next year things will hopefully turn around.My other colors eggs hatched,some didn't and some also wasn't fertile.Some also quit a day before hatching too.
We're all trying to replicate what occurs in nature thru the use of selected breeding,artificial incubation and feed.Taking that into consideration anythng we get should be considered an accomplishment,,yes? You know as well as I do if you didn't try to hatch anything next season you would be bouncing off the walls.You would be drooling over baby pea pictures here.
So look at it this way,,if you just let your hens that goes broody next year(if any does),and let them sit on a clutch of 6-8 eggs(that can still be eaten by racoons,varmits,and lose the hen) you may get nothing,,or a few that hatch all season.Your hen would stop laying eggs if she sat on a clutch so egg laying would stop if she was allowed to hatch them,and who knows if she will be a faithful sitter? She may up and leave the clutch after 20 days. I know your odds are better by you taking the eggs and incubating them,instead of letting nature intervene.You have all fall and winter to plan before egg laying starts late next spring.
