Congratulations to everyone rocking, pipping and hatching!!
Pookie_Momma, wishing you luck.
I had set 7 Khaki Sumatra eggs (shipped) on the 13th. 24 hours later, two eggs were weeping (must have been old....
). Chucked those. 4 days later candled and had to throw out all but ONE EGG!
Just one little egg was viable. The others were either not fertile, scrambled during transit or it was warm during shipping because they weren't even blood rings...more like blood spots. Anyway, all our hopes were on this one little egg. Candled on Day 13, everything looked fine. I candled on Friday, Day 18 and the air cell was huge! At least 40% of the egg. Couldn't see any veins and no movement...my stomach sank.
But I put it into lockdown anyway...you just never know. It didn't smell, but there also wasn't any sound (peeping or scratching) or any movement. Yesterday was Day 20 and I know...you're not suppose to do a float test until Day 21 has come and gone, but I just needed to know if it was even alive any more. The float test showed "viable" (10-15% of the egg above the water) but something told me...nope.
So this morning, Day 21 with the egg as still as a rock, we opened it. Fully formed chick but head was still tucked, it hadn't even internally pipped.
These colored Sumatra's are so hard to come by. All we needed was one bird...either gender to add to our breeding program. I don't like the seller I got the eggs from (another BYCer has had similar experiences with 3 batches from the same seller = no chicks), plus they are clear across the country and at this time of the year, it's crazy to be shipping either eggs or chicks in this weather. So bummed... But there is still a chance for happy times. A lovely nearby BYCer gave me 3 of her wonderful Lavender Orp eggs to hatch
(at least a few days after) the one little Khaki chick was suppose to hatch so it wouldn't be lonely. They are doing well so far. So, by the end of the week, I'll be locking those honeys down. Hope to have some beautiful Lavs in a week!
Thanks for listening...no one else could understand how disappointing it is to lose them, esp. so close to hatching.
