Setting eggs today...20th May...anyone else?

[loopy12]

(sorry autocorrect...ashem not ashen, lol)

 

[ashem0]

Hi ladies,

So, I am feeling like a woman who has just come back from her ob/gyno and been told she is 9mths pregnant not 5!

I have candled them all quite closely this evening. My Marans are all on the same page - doing what a 4 day egg should be, no surprised there. However! My Isa brown eggs are all over the place. I suspect my 'breeder friend' has given me eggs put in the bator at different times.

3 of them look fuller than the image I posted earlier with 2 giving very active movement just below the airsac as you said Loopy12, and 1 no movement.

The other 3 look around day 13 with a U-shaped shadow. No movement though. So of course the other possibility is that they all came for the same bator, but only 2/6 are now viable. Of course nature will take its course either way.

I'm not planning to candle the Marans again (fingers are twitching to though) till day 10.

Loopy12 I agree with you, I think it is warranted to continue doing the IB's each night under the circumstances. I have paniced a bit and got the breeder box set up in case of early arrivals! Because I really just don't know now what to expect.

Ps Hope you've all had/are having a lovely weekend! Sunday evening here. Time to go put some 'live' babies to bed at this end!

 

[ashem0]

Guess what!!
4/6 of my Isa's are moving and look like they'll be breaking through the airsac shortly!! This is so exciting!!

I had only seen movement in 2 of them till tonight. One is definitely a quitter, probably about 5-8 days ago. And the other might still be hanging in there but no movement.

Loopy12, Alaskan and CG have you candled yours yet?

 

[ashem0]

BTW Loopy12 - I hope your eggs weren't affected by the storm.

 

[loopy12]

So, I am feeling like a woman who has just come back from her ob/gyno and been told she is 9mths pregnant not 5!

Ah well, keep an eye on them...when you see pipping into the airsack, lock them down and up the humidity.
Can you put them in something to separate them from the other eggs to minimize the hatching mess from getting on the younger eggs?

I had a brief candle of my eggs yesterday, though it was day 6. Out of 27, the 3 cochins look infertile. I saw two blood rings in other eggs, 7 definite development and the rest were too dark shelled to see at this stage. They are all very porous which worried me that the hens weren't getting everything they need nutritionally. I paid quite a lot for the eggs - getting pure breeds locally is tough, but the guy I got them from said he's replace them if there were any big issues, so we'll just have to see how they go.
I will leave them all in until day ten then remove the dodgy ones then. I have three spare eggs I'm umm'ing and ah'ing about putting in because they'd be a week behind and staggered hatches are such a pain. Hmmm.

Any other news anyone?

 

[Alaskan]

My incubator, though, uh, acting not as we'll as I would like, is limping along.

I WOULD have candled yesterday, but it turns out that the children had gotten to ALL of the flashlights AGAIN, and none were working.

 

[ashem0]

My incubator, though, uh, acting not as we'll as I would like, is limping along.

I WOULD have candled yesterday, but it turns out that the children had gotten to ALL of the flashlights AGAIN, and none were working.

I have had to hide mine!

 

[ashem0]

Loopy12 - the dark ones - are they your Mille Fiori di Lonigo?

I just looked them up. So pretty and what handsome Roos! Sounds like an Italian variety? Just a wild guess, because the sites I saw them on were written in Italian and uh, your in Italy (just a bit jealous about that)!!

You are certainly a bit lucky being able to sample these different breeds everytime you go to a new country. What a treat.


What a shame about your Cochins. Did you get your eggs all from the same breeder?

 

[loopy12]

Yes, all the eggs are from the same breeder. He has about a dozen breeds, but half of them were breeds I'm not keen on, like Cornish. The darker eggs are the mille fiori, but they are only mid brown, but quite thick. And because they and the orpington eggs are quite porous its difficult to see veining at this stage. I shall replace the batteries in my torch and try again...

I'm wondering if his cochins are pullets because he asked if I wanted some as an afterthought, so maybe they've only just started laying, in which case fertility might be low.

It is nice to have access to some different breeds here, but on the whole there isn't much of a range, and getting good quality hatching eggs is proving to be a challenge. The Mille Fiori are the ones I am most excited about, they are so pretty, but I am desperate to have buff orps again - they have always been my favourite because of their gentle, people-loving nature.

I'm thinking next summer when we drive instead of fly back to the UK for a holiday, maybe we could bring some eggs back (I believe its ok to take eggs between most EU countries), so I could get some cream legbars, Sussex, marans etc etc - some old favourites, but obviously need to double check the regulations. If it was that easy, I would've thought there would be more breeds here. I don't know...initial searches on google didn't throw up any restrictions, but need to read the Italian customs regs and I'm not sure my Italian is up to pages of heavy duty official language.

 

[Alaskan]

Well, I bought a new flashlight....

Only three of the eggs are light...and two look like they are clear, but one had definite veins! I wish I could have seen movement, to know it was a healthy alive little thing.

All of the rest are dark enough, or kinda porous like loopy was describing, so it was way difficult to figure out what I was seeing! I even had trouble seeing and sketching in the air sacks.

So....I dunno.