Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[showbarnmom]

Blood spots don't mean fertile. It means a blood vessel broke, she strained too hard, she is a new layer, an old layer, dead tissue...
Sbm, it looks like she pecked it or her toenail went through it.
I was almost asleep when a sister decided to text me. Sheesh! This late at night!

Do you think the chick is still alive??

 

[BullChick]

As long as nothing is oozing out.

 

[showbarnmom]

As long as nothing is oozing out.

Everything seemed intact. Egg wasn't wet and neither was nest. The blue egg is the one I'm most anxious about and almost started crying when I saw it. *fingers crossed*

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Cheeka, sounds like you and Mylee had an ideal day. She's storing up lots of awesome memories.

OK, a poem a day! I've been enjoying your competition with RK Broody. Can hardly stand the suspense!

Well, I goofed a little bit. I forgot to mark the last egg that I was going to leave under Clarabelle. So, the next day Amelia didn't lay an egg, and then she laid one yesterday. Guess what... I couldn't tell the difference between the two unmarked eggs..... So, I left them both, and hope that she will hatch them both. There are 6 days between the first egg and the last egg under her. I just hope she stays on them long enough for them all to hatch. I did mark them both yesterday, so when there was an extra under her this morning I could tell which one was the new egg. The brooder chicks are officially in the coop now! They have merged with the small cochins pretty well, but still keep to themselves. I am hoping that everyone will start laying in the next few weeks. They have completely stopped cheeping, and most will squat when I touch them. Everyone is getting red in the combs and wattles, and the larger 2 black cochins are actually redder than Amelia and Clarabelle. I got 2 dozen store eggs today, so maybe that will be incentive! LOL

OK- I hope both you and RK Broody have a 100% hatch rate!

Cheeka- Sounds like you are having a blast with Mylee.

Hope you have a good hatch rate too! Are cochins really as sweet as everyone says?

...

Chicklover, congrats on your girls hitting the nest boxes! Makes it so much easier without having to do an egg hunt every day.

Blood spots are normal in about 1% of eggs, but can occur more frequently with new layers while they work the kinks out of their system. Blood spots are just that, little spots of blood, and do not indicate fertility but do indicate freshness, as they will dissolve into the albumin over time. Blood spots can form when a blood vessel in the oviduct breaks or when the egg released from the ovary. They are perfectly safe to eat, but you never see them in store bought eggs because those eggs are all candled and any defects, such as blood spots are removed and sold to larger consumers, like Hostess bakery.

When my Serama pullet started laying, we got a really interesting one... blood stained albumin. Never seen that before. Crazy!

Luckily we were checking the eggs individually for fertility, so that one didn't go into our Serama omelette!

As for how to tell if an egg is fertile, you can see the bulls eye appearance of the white germinal disc in lindz's photo. That means it's fertile and the cells in the blastodisc have begun dividing. In unfertilized eggs the disc looks like a small, irregular white mass. Unless the egg is incubated above 95* (I think), the cells will not divide past the bulls eye stage and no chick will grow.

Is this a pip???

They are due to hatch Wednesday. This was the last egg added to the clutch. I moved her yesterday, and went to candle for the last time tonight, and found this! I'm so scared moving her made her crack it. I quickly looked at another and it was all intact.

That crack looks like it happened from the outside. If the membrane isn't torn, the chick might make it if it doesn't dry out too much.

Hope it's all right.

 

[cheeka]

I've had 2 bloody eggs like your photo W4W - both of them BR eggs, actually, there was a period of time when I set aside all the BR eggs for myself because I wasn't sure who's egg was whose and every day one was bloody... mostly just a spot, but often enough it was a pretty big spot... I have had zero blood spots since moving the boys to their own pen. which leads me to believe it was stress causing the broken blood vessel

 

[lindz8504]

Hope you have a good hatch rate too! Are cochins really as sweet as everyone says? I LOVE my cochins. I actually found some Lavendars and am trying to work out a trade for a Rooster and 3 pullets! I am so excited! If Clarabelle hatches all her eggs, I will have 5 buff cochins and a buff Orphington.





When my Serama pullet started laying, we got a really interesting one... blood stained albumin. Never seen that before. Crazy!

Luckily we were checking the eggs individually for fertility, so that one didn't go into our Serama omelette!

That is crazy!!!!!!!! A small blood spot doesn't bother me, but I wouldn't want to see one like that!

As for how to tell if an egg is fertile, you can see the bulls eye appearance of the white germinal disc in lindz's photo. That means it's fertile and the cells in the blastodisc have begun dividing. In unfertilized eggs the disc looks like a small, irregular white mass. Unless the egg is incubated above 95* (I think), the cells will not divide past the bulls eye stage and no chick will grow.

...

 

[animallover505]

I was looking through old posts and realized something. Cheeka, you look like my Spanish teacher.

 

[cheeka]

Well... AL, they say we all have a double somewhere... maybe she's mine!

it was chilly and rainy all day, so no free range for anyone... after work, Mylee and I spent almost 3 hours at the Library! She loved it! the children's room is superb, so many books... movies... computers with early learning programs... and a whole section with toys and puzzles. she played with everything (but the computer surprisingly), and was sweet about picking up and putting away...we read a few books on the story carpet and picked out a bunch to borrow. The Librarian brought over colored construction paper, markers, scissors that cut funky shapes and glue sticks... Mylee flashed that oh so melt your heart smile and said Thank You so sincerely... and kept chattering away (while creating) about the nice lady who gave her this great stuff! When it was time to go... she was ready - no whining... and the Librarian invited her to come back tomorrow for Story Time... so she bounced outta there all happy about coming back tomorrow! I have always loved a good Library... it's such a nice thing to do on a Sunday... it's annoying that our is closed.

despite the nasty weather, the flock enjoyed corn on the cob, and the fun it provided getting the corns off the cob! Peach and the chicks in particular...
We got 14 Eggs today and the 6 week old Marans chicks discovered the roost! it will be another month before Mama and 2 week old Sillie Silkie can join them...

when I first spotted them up there, three were up there, both the pullets and 1 cockerel... by the time I got back with the camera, the boy had hopped down. I'm sure they'll still cram under Mama for another week, but it's a start!

and while I was gone with Mylee, the handyman finished the dining room!

there's a big picture window as well as the bay windows... very sunny room. I used it as my bedroom for 5 years when I bought the place.

the closet on the left is double but you can't see it with this angle... that is where the washer and dryer are, the closet on the right is a linen closet... big shelves - holds a king size quilt like nothing...hardwood for the high traffic areas.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Looks great Cheeka! When can I move in?

 

[cheeka]

I need to get a storage Pod... I need to get some of the boxed stuff out of the way. I'm working on tossing or burning all the garbage and absolute crap that old BH crammed everywhere... amazing I never noticed - I mean... I know he kept lots of stuff... but going through the garage, I found last years root balls from the tomato plants! Really? keeping clods of dirt?

I've got to go through my clothes and get rid of stuff... ugh, that's a BIG job. I hate doing laundry, and I have way too many clothes.