Setting eggs today 5-3-12...anyone with me?

[WyoChickenMamma]

Hopefully I will be setting some on Sunday. They were supposed to be here on Thursday, tracking still shows them at the sort facility in Denver. Hoping they come tomorrow morning. I am expecting Marans and Showgirls/silkies. I also have more cream legbars, they were supposed to come this week too, but the seller had a death in the family and didn't get them sent, so she is sending fresh ones on Monday.

And I agree, that one looks pretty wet and slimy. So how many do you have now from this hatch????

 

[mbleily]

I ended up with three out of 16 eggs. A lot were tossed out early one though. They just didn't develop or were clear. The one that was wet was not as bad as the other one that hatch later. The light egg. I ended up having to give her a bath. She was just chirpping all the time and I decided the feathers must but pulling. She loved the bath. LOL I cupped her in my hand with her head up and ran the warm water over her until the feathers were soaked then wiped her gently with my fingers until she didn't feel slimmy. Put her in a dry wash cloth and wiped her off really well and put her under the light. She was so happy and tired she went to sleep. ;]

One of the brown eggs had a fully developed chick with the egg sac mostly absorbed. The three other green eggs had died early on. one didn't develop. I couldn't see in them.

Here are the chicks.

I did get two light ones this time and the dark one looks like it has a lot of brown so could be any color when grown.

 

[gabrielle1976]

aww so cute . even when hatches dont go well its always nice to have a few fuzzbabies

 

[mbleily]

I just set my 30 eggs after cleaning out the incubator. I marked all the air sacs I could see and put an x on the one that I think was leaking. They have sat for two days to let the sacs settle. But some I can see into be can not see an air sac. I hope that doesn't mean they wont hatch. Also, about half of the eggs were shipped with the small end up. Don't know why she did that. I should have marked them but didn't.

I have them in the turner now. so tomorrow is day one! at noon.

 

[mbleily]

aww so cute . even when hatches dont go well its always nice to have a few fuzzbabies

You are right there. I think it was a combo of a lot of things. Cause some were clear and some early quitters. Only one of the eggs that didn't hatch had a completely formed chick in it.

 

[Bangarang64]

Hey guys,
My hatch experience didn't go to well, but as I stated before I found where I could buy some Wheaten Marans chicks so I wasn't too upset!
I got my Wheatens yesterday and I thought I'd share my joy. We got them from a breeder who got hers directly from one of the premier Wheaten breeders and has even won over her in some shows here in Florida. Who knows if the last part is true, but we're just happy to have our chicks.
We ended up with 9 all total. 7 of them are a week old, one of these 7 is possibly a roo (I hope only one!) and also one of these is lame with a broken toe. (We were given her for free so we thought we'd take her and see how she does and hope for the best).
Now the other two are a bit over 2 weeks old. One of these is a pullet and one a roo. I think they are beautiful.


Here's the little ones. Can you spot the suspected male? (Probably not cause I think he's in the back)



These are the older ones. No trouble spotting the roo here! (Male Wheaten Marans show black in their feathers very early, the females mostly brown). Look at the tail of the female here (in the back) - Does it look blue-ish to you? Good eye! That is going to be a wonderful Blue-Wheaten.



The roo with his very rooster-ish comb. We named him Caesar. The lady behind him we named Brigitte.

We are on day two with them and we noticed one of them had passed a bit of bloody poo. We are administering Corid per instructions found here at backyard chickens and I think they'll be ok.


Side note:
The Marans are sharing the brooder with a few 5 day old Opringtons a neighbor brought by that she picked up at a yard sale cause she heard "that you guys liked chickens!" (Seriously? who brings someone animals without asking if they want them first?) Guess I have to make that hen house a bit bigger than I planned.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I love seeing all the pictures.

As for bringing someone animals...I am right there with ya...how irresponsible. Glad you can make room for them.

I still have my Cream Legbars in one incubator and tonight I set 12 French Black Copper Marans and 10 Silkie/Showgirl eggs in another. I am to have 6 more Cream Legbars shipping out on Monday.

I am having a real hard time refraining from buying more to go in with the second shipment of Legbars...I think I am addicted.

 

[mbleily]

Those Wheatenss are beautiful!! Can you set the broken toe? Just so it doesn't heal way out of shape and get in the way of walking?

I can't understand what that lady was thinking by giving you the chickens. That is so strange. I guess she thought she was doing a good thing but it is still a strange way of thinking just because someone like chickens. Sounds like they have never had animals themselves so they don't understand the whole animal raising thing.

Glad you got some chicks. I am totally addicted. I already am on my 6th hatch this year. I am going to call this my last hatch for a while anyway. LOL

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Well here is an update on my eggs. I candled the Cream Legbars on like day 4 and they looked great 7/8 show good veining and movement. Candled on day 7 and they have huge air sacs and now what look like detached airsacs. I started reading about high elevation hatching, eggs coming from sea level to here...I am at about 5200 feet above sea level, and all the issues people have had with the lack of oxygen, pressure differences and then the normal shipping issues like detached air sacs.

I am just sick inside. I didn't see much movement on day 7. It is confusing and I felt like a triage doctor...what to treat and how and in what order? So if you have detached air sacs, the advice I found was to lower humidity in an effort to dry the environment and get the sac to reattach. But if you have high elevation it seems you should raise the humidity to avoid rapid moisture loss due to changes in oxygen levels and pressure differences on the very porous eggs. So I decided that since not all had detached air sacs I would bump the humidity up to 65%, I had it at 45%. I think I will also hatch them upright in egg cartons to help avoid any drowning as I will need to bump the humidity up to at least 70% at lockdown and to help those that have the air sac issues. Withe the legbars I can see into the shell pretty easily...the shells are light blue. However, in my second incubator I have Marans eggs...can't see anything in them, I also have silkie/showgirl eggs that are creamy white, but small. They only went about 30 hours at 45%, I moved that incubator to 65% as well.

I really hope I get some chicks out of each set of egg...I am for sure not expecting 100% like I had with the local eggs. I will be happy with 40%

I think it would be really fun to find breeders who are about 3000 feet and only get eggs from them, but all I seem to find are breeders who are at low elevations.

 

[mbleily]

I have heard about that with eggs too. But wasn't even thinking about it for mine. I had such bad hatches the last two and they were both shipped. These eggs I have in now were shipped from an area that is 360 feet and we are at 2150. When I candled before setting the eggs I drew a line where the air sac was. Some I could seen no egg sac anywere. I hope those aren't scrambled. Also some of these eggs were packed with the little end up. About half. Don't know why she did that. I will candle again on the 9th. That will be 7 days. I let them set two days before putting in the incubator on the turner. I have read some people don't turn them until 7 days. I also read that may allow the yokes to stick so I didn't do that. I let them set another two day without turning on the turner then turned it on. I am so not happy with shipped eggs. If I could get anything I wanted locally I would. I am going to search harder. And I am going to keep my fingers crossed for this hatch. If it is a good one I will not neead more eggs for a while. Then I can hatch my own eggs next year. I will only need to add roos once in a while or a couple of hens now and then. That is what I am aiming for.

Of course you have a much higher altitude than we are here. Still I think anything that comes from almost sea level may have a problem here.
Have you read about going the other way. From high to low? I don't remember reading anything about that.

Here's hoping we both have a deasent hatch.