I just found this thread, so very interesting! Love that you could get breeding stock from this gentleman, and good for you getting these chicks!
On developing breeding stock; only healthy, normal individuals can fit this category, Any issues at all (except injuries) should take a bird out of the breeding pool. This is separate from trying to save lives, a worthy goal, and wonderful if successful, but birds who need extra effort to live and thrive should not be breeding stock.
Have you contacted the breeder yet about this hatch rate? Going to see how your next hatch turns out first?
Here our success with incubators has been very poor, for several reasons, and leaves me with a poor opinion of my skill in that direction.
Candling those eggs would have given you a firm grasp of the fertility of their parents, very important information. Cackle actually mentions on their website (or did) that 50% fertility was their experience with this breed. With very small numbers, that's what's happened here too. Is it the individual rooster (only two here) or the fluffy hen rear ends, or what? Can you ask the breeder?
Mary
On developing breeding stock; only healthy, normal individuals can fit this category, Any issues at all (except injuries) should take a bird out of the breeding pool. This is separate from trying to save lives, a worthy goal, and wonderful if successful, but birds who need extra effort to live and thrive should not be breeding stock.
Have you contacted the breeder yet about this hatch rate? Going to see how your next hatch turns out first?
Here our success with incubators has been very poor, for several reasons, and leaves me with a poor opinion of my skill in that direction.
Candling those eggs would have given you a firm grasp of the fertility of their parents, very important information. Cackle actually mentions on their website (or did) that 50% fertility was their experience with this breed. With very small numbers, that's what's happened here too. Is it the individual rooster (only two here) or the fluffy hen rear ends, or what? Can you ask the breeder?
Mary
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