~~~~~ Set Eggs Sept. 22nd. Anyone else hatching? Hatch Along ~~~~~

[bwalden]

Set 5 french black copper marans eggs and 10 Welsummer eggs. Who else is hatching and what ya hatching?

I'm going to candle this weekend to test for fertility.

 

[cochins1088]

I'm actually participating in 2 hatch aongs right now because they both started at the same time and I'd love to join yours too. I'm always on BYC, I check it at least 10 times a day. hahaha. I set 13 Silver Laced Cochin Bantam eggs on the 23rd. They were shipped so the air sacs were a mess, but I still have 5 developing and 2 maybes. I'm so excited, these aren't common at all and the parents are good quality. These will be the first birds that I will actually take breeding seriously with!

Also I have this experiment going that I am surprised to say is working. I wanted to find a way to watch the embryo develop without candling, so I let 2 eggs sit for a week (just 2 from my barn) in order to let their air sac's grow. I then removed the top half of the shell by breaking into the air sacs and taking away as much shell as posible without damaging the clear inner membrane. Next I painted the clear membrane with clear nail polish and put them into the incubator. One never developed but the other is on day and 7 and is very strong! I haven't been taking pictures like I was going to, but once these silver laced eggs hatch, I'll try this to 2 dozen eggs and actually take records and daily pictures. I not sure that it will hatch, but I'm super excited being able to watch it and I pray it does hatch though it may need assitence. Sorry about the long post, but I don't think any one has every done this before with nail polish, so I'm super happy!

Best of luck with your eggs!

 

[bwalden]

Hey thanks for joining me. This will be my 4th time this year to have eggs in the incubator. I've been trying to get a flock of black copper marans going since february. Let me tell you it hasn't been easy. I ordered a dozen off ebay in february for a breeder here in my state (Arkansas). I thought not too far away maybe the eggs will survive the journey with little damage. Boy did I have that all wrong. Well at least it didnt seem to matter. Got 13 eggs from the breeder and not one hatched. So I then begain my search for another breeder fearing that the previos breeders eggs could have been infertile ???? I found a lovely lady here on BYC in Iowa who has black coppers and blue copper marans. She shipped me 15 eggs and I began again with the incubating. I was soooo happy when I got 10 out of the 15 to hatch. . 8 black coppers and 2 blues So the chicks grew and were doing fantastic. I moved them from the brooder at about 4 weeks to their coop. The next evening after I got home from work I found that a neighbors dog had got into the coop and killed all 10 chicks. At this point I'm thinking is just isnt meant to be. So I waited a couple weeks and decided to message the lady in Iowa about purchasing some more eggs. She gladley sold me 15 more eggs and once again began to incubate. I got 5 out of the 15 eggs this time. Not what I had hoped for but hey at this point I was still happy with having 5. Turns out 4 hens and a roo. So they are about 5 months old now, maybe be laying soon.

I was on ebay the other day and a breeder had 5 eggs listed for a starting bid at .99 cents. I couldnt resist that cheap bid, never really expecting to win the auction. Wouldn't you know I did. So got the eggs in last weekend. After a 18+ hour de-scramble sit I put them in the incubator along with 10 of my own Welsummer eggs. So here we go again. Lol!

That is a very interesting experiment you have going there. Never heard of doing that. I am curious to see how it ends up. Do keep me posted on that. And I wish you good luck with your cochin bantams also.

 

[bwalden]

Oh almost forgot to tell. I candled my eggs yesterday and looking pretty good so far. But honestly its a little early to tell much with eggs this dark. Better to tell around 15-17 days maybe just before lockdown.

What hatch method do you use and what type of incubator ?

 

[cochins1088]

Yes, I've been trying to get some good Silver Laced Cochins Bantams for a while now, but I've searched and searched and I wasn't able to find any breeders. I looked at the 2012 cochin breeders directory, and there were 3 sellers listed for them, I looked each up, and none of them carry them anymore. I tried the Cochin thread, and no one knew anybody else working on them. I know they aren't perfected, but I seems nearly everyone gave up. I'll find more eventually, and now that I've found this one breeder, I may order another dozen of eggs, but then that would $100 just this fall. It's $40 for 12+ eggs, but the first ones were a complete mess and only 1 developed, so she offered to send more for the price of shipping, $12, so thats what I'm incubating now and 5 are developing. I really hope they hatch. I have never taken breeding seriously before, I have hatched and sold chicks, but my flock is just average so I decided that I would pick one kind of chicken to breed seriously and I fell in love with the silver laced cochins. I'll attach pictures of the parents of the eggs.

Sorry about your marans, I don't have any, but the dark eggs are so neat looking and they are beautiful birds. I would be devistated if our dogs ever got out while our chickens were out, and that wasn't even your dog that did the deed.

And I need a name for that little embryo in my "nail polish" experiment to cheer him on, what do you think? I'm horrible with names, but I think it needs something creative, something to do with the experiment.


Photos from Lucky Pickens Farm

 

[bwalden]

Did you buy the eggs from Luckey Pickens farm? That's not too far from me. She has very nice birds. I do like the coloring in those cochin bantams.

I candled mine again today. I took one Maran egg and one Welsummer egg out of the incubator, they were not developing. Cracked the open to confirm and I was right.

Have you candled yet. How's everything looking?

Hmmmm a name for the expirement...... I'll have to think on that one.

 

[cochins1088]

The little nail polish embryo died on day 12, I was actually really thinking that he would make it and being that I literally watched him develope, I was pretty bummed when he passed away.

Yes my eggs are from Lucky Pickens farms, Roslyn has some beautiful birds, I sure wish she happened to live closer. I just emailed her seeing if I could order one last batch for the year. It's just such a risk with the postal service messing them up, but I really really want these birds, hahaha. Right now I have 4 left that are developing, my incubator looks so empty, but I will have it full once again after these 4 hatch. I've been candling every night, and some mornings. I don't usully candle this much, but since there are only the 4, I can turn and take a quick peek at each one in under a minute.

I'm already getting all excited, eggs due to hatch in one week!!!

 

[bwalden]

Sorry to hear about your embryo. Would have been interesting to see how it turned out.

Well I have my eggs in lockdown as of this morning. I candled them also just to make sure they all look like something's there. I Fingers crossed i'm hoping to get a few more black copper marans and add some more welsummers to my flock.

When do your eggs go into lockdown?

I'll try and post some pics after my hatch is over with.

Good luck, hope all the eggs you have left hatch.

 

[cochins1088]

Mine went into lockdown yesterday, I'm so excited!!! But I think they might hatch a day late because the tempature dropped to 98 - 99 degrees for 3 days because of the cold snap. By the way, Happy World Egg Day!! hahaha. And, I already ordered another batch of eggs, hehehe.

 

[bwalden]

I have 2 marans hatched out this morning one more pipped. I also have 2 welsummer eggs pipped. Woohoo love it when they hatch!