She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[NTBugtraq]

Chicks or ducks? (Just started reading this)

Chickens...please don't take offense, but perhaps a few questions at a time would be better...

 

[caesargirl]

Chickens...please don't take offense, but perhaps a few questions at a time would be better...

Sorry

 

[WalnutHill]

I should correct myself. Bad genes can be bred out of like breeds, just not out of crosses.

Bad genes can be bred out of crosses. But to do so, you have to eliminate the birds that perpetuate the bad gene by breeding only birds that never throw the fault.

Say you have a flock of birds that are all black. You band and trap nest, and separate the eggs at hatch. One of the chicks hatches out with a reddish cast, and only one. So you remove that hen from the breeding pool, and hatch more eggs. If after several dozen chicks from each cross you get no more reddish chicks, you've effectively bred it out of your pool.

Chances are, though, that your rooster is a carrier for the red which only expressed when paired with another recessive carrier, so it would be best to replace your rooster with one of his sons. If you breed that son to the hen you removed in round one and the chicks all come out black, he is not a recessive carrier.

So yes, you can breed out faults, you just have to have a goal in mind and be willing to sacrifice a lot of birds to reach it. I spent five years on my Narragansett line before deciding that raising birds to my standards was really more enjoyable. So my two breeding pairs are up for sale.

 

[sideWing]

Now the bator says its 97.5, but checks with my temperature gun say 99.5-100.5 (left side, right side). It would be great is this is the reason...no wait, I am going to say this is definitely the reason for my massive last hatch failure, its been nailed, no doubt about it...full steam ahead!!

Awesome! I would keep checking every 30 min for a while to make sure you didn't over adjust. It can take a bator a couple hours to stablize.

I agree with @WalnutHill as to your Marans and Breeding in general.

I also think that the Marans breeder thread is a bit too harsh... Because these perfect birds do not fall out of the air.

I bought a few eggs from a supposedly good breeder, to help with the issues that my flock has.... And I culled every single bird out of that hatch, at hatch, except for one.

You simply have to decide to hatch out as many as you can, and then pick the best ones from that pile.

I posted up my Marans in there to get feedback. I'm willing to get new birds if I need to so I'm looking forward to feedback.

Me again! Still can't catch up on the whole thread, so if anyone has asked me anything, I'll get back to ya (haha, I'm pretending I've been missed!)

But I have more good news.... the little guy that pipped on the wrong side (it was the wrong side to hit the air cell, not really the wrong end of the egg, because his head was in the correct end, his body was just turned around backwards)... Its out! It was the hardest zip, bang, pow I have ever seen! He punched it like a true champ. It is a super tiny little fella though, but looking good! Still have one polish pip working. And still nothing on Blobby McFizzle.... but its still just the last few hours of day 21, so I'm not panicking yet.

That is so great to hear.

Oh my! I can't wait to see those replies...

I posted mine up too.

35%, and leaving it dry with the vent open...so hopefully no higher than 35% but it may get down to 25% as it did in my last hatch. Upward adjustments, if necessary, according to both weight loss and air sac size.

I don't know if I would let it go below 30%, but maybe Amy can chime in if she's around.

 

[scflock]

Chicks or ducks? (Just started reading this)

Humidity may also depend on what type of incubator you are using. Low humidity seems to work wonders in styrofoam, but most Brinsea users seem to be at 40-45%. Welcome to the thread. What are you incubating, and what type of incubator?

 

[scflock]

Awesome! I would keep checking every 30 min for a while to make sure you didn't over adjust. It can take a bator a couple hours to stablize. 

I posted up my Marans in there to get feedback. I'm willing to get new birds if I need to so I'm looking forward to feedback.

That is so great to hear. 

I posted mine up too.

I don't know if I would let it go below 30%, but maybe Amy can chime in if she's around.

I think Amy's lower limit is 25, but she averages around 35. Her dry incubation isn't that much lower than what I use, but I had bad results at 35%. I think that has more to do with the difference in incubators than anything

 

[Alaskan]

I think the Marans eggs do lots better with lower humidity.... I have been having the worst time with hatching lately... Starting to make me sick!

But... I am clearly an idiot.... Gonna clean and scrub the bators and have yet another go in about two days...

Hey, I had them turned off for maybe two days now... AND my second 'bator has been turned off for maybe two or three weeks... . So that proves I do not have a hatching addiction!

 

[scflock]

I think the Marans eggs do lots better with lower humidity.... I have been having the worst time with hatching lately... Starting to make me sick!

But... I am clearly an idiot.... Gonna clean and scrub the bators and have yet another go in about two days...

Hey, I had them turned off for maybe two days now... AND my second 'bator has been turned off for maybe two or three weeks... . So that proves I do not have a hatching addiction!

I ran mine from Christmas until May, then sales dropped off all of a sudden. Mine has been off for 5 weeks. I wonder when I get my badge?

 

[Alaskan]

5 weeks without incubating?????

 

[scflock]

5 weeks without incubating?????

It's killing me. I'm sitting on 20 WCBP that I can't sell. I think in the south people are afraid their neighbors will talk about them if they have polish chickens. Funny thing is they are much closer to SOP than my marans, and people are begging me to sell them