Setting eggs July 6th. Need some hatching buddies. Lets have some fun!

[JakeBremer]

Yes, pullet eggs hatch and no, they're not bantam chicks lol. Fertility can be hit and miss a bit but straightens out quickly. Or you can Make An Incubator

. Which is a great way to learn more than how to turn the dial.

I have 1 Roo and 20 hens. And i have never came across an Infertile egg from them.

 

[walkswithdog]

1 Roo and 20 hens? Wow. Good rooster. Hatching the first few eggs from a pullet can have mixed results. Better results are had after a week or so. Since I don't crack every pullet egg or hatch every egg ( though tempted lol) it's either fertility or just some early formation issues. Pullet eggs are small and chicks can get wedged in there pretty tight, especially if humidity gets out of tune.

I'm just doing mixed breed eggs until we get the new house. A year without any chickens about killed me. I missed the sights and sounds, clucking and the rooster stomp.

 

[walkswithdog]

Okay, just candled the busted hatch, have maybe seven still running, definitely saw one very game little silkie eyeball bouncer. Silkie eggs are at least easy to see through. I love my new streamlight flash light for candling. One Marans egg is too thick/dark to really tell. They all roll, I'll add the mad hatch at the end of the week. Here we go

 

[Danielle2017]

Maybe I'm candling too much? I looked last night again and it looks like they havent grown at all

since the day before. It almost looks like the veins are smaller. Is this right? Maybe I should just not look again for 5 days? Ugh... My first hatch was button quail eggs and I couldnt see into those. Maybe that was good because I just went with it the entire time? This growing and looking is killing me. What to do?

 

[walkswithdog]

You have good instincts. Let em roll for a bit before you mess with them again. It is easy to over do candling. It's tempting but you are always affecting temps. Not the best choice for a consistent hatch. It will be easier to tell in a few days. At first veins are often concentrated near shell walls and the forming chick. As they grow, they shift more into three dimensions, yolk thickens, shifts, veins can get a lot harder to see. In three to five days changes will be obvious.
Hang in there, let em roll.

 

[Danielle2017]

You have good instincts. Let em roll for a bit before you mess with them again. It is easy to over do candling. It's tempting but you are always affecting temps. Not the best choice for a consistent hatch. It will be easier to tell in a few days. At first veins are often concentrated near shell walls and the forming chick. As they grow, they shift more into three dimensions, yolk thickens, shifts, veins can get a lot harder to see. In three to five days changes will be obvious.
Hang in there, let em roll.

Thank you! That is comforting to know. I will do it. It's hard to stop looking. But I WILL!

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Need advise, it looks like my other bantam brahma is going broody. I caught her sitting with Summer and she had stolen two eggs. I dislodged her, got pecked by summer in the process, and blocked her access to Summer.

How long til I know if she is really going broody or is just playing at wannabe?
Will I need to get her different eggs to hatch? Summers will be almost a week along easy before I officially dub Snowi broody.

 

[DraigAthar]

I got them from somebody at the Farmer's market I go to. I have a few doms from meyer hatchery, I want them for historical reenacting more than anything, but wanted more bloodlines to keep them healthy.

Nice. I joined the Dominique Club of America, they have a breeders list and lots of folks ship hatching eggs. Some good bloodlines to be found that way, those folks are serious about their Doms!

 

[DraigAthar]

how long do you wait before you candle your eggs to see what is going on?

I'm terrible, I candle nearly every day, LOL!

 

[DraigAthar]

Not that I have an incubator (so I'd have to go buy one at TSC), but can you hatch the first pullet-size eggs?
My EE just started laying last Sunday (8 eggs out of 8 days so far - I'll check in an hour or two to see if she has one today making it 9 out of 9). Her eggs are so small right now, but I've seen an EE cockerel jump on her back so it's possible that the eggs are fertile (we blew the contents of the first 5 eggs to preserve the shell so I can't see the fertile bullseye). I'm concerned that the size of the eggs won't allow for chick development (or would this give me bantams?

Oh if only that was the way to get little chickens). If I could hatch eggs that are small like that, I'd be temped to join you and try for more EEs since I haven't decided which roo is going to have to go (have 3, can't imagine feeding 3 all winter waiting for spring). If this roo is the one that's fated to not stick around, at least I'd have some of his chicks even though I am not sure about hatching now (will they be laying before winter?).

CG

You can hatch pullet eggs. Sometimes the pullet hasn't got everything sorted out and the eggs don't develop at all, but if they're properly formed and fertilized, they hatch out just fine. The chick will be small at first, but they catch up fast and grow to be normal size for whatever breed they are.