Show Off Your Games!

[centrarchid]

I can see how we get low numbers of eggs under a hen when some are somehow lost. They don't seem to be able to continue laying to get clutch up to ideal size once they get towards end. For me, when that happens, I break the broody cycle and restart them over a couple weeks later.


I am also keeping my hens pens apart to prevent two on one nest. Those used as broodies free-ranging in cockyard are pretty good about keep nest apart but I do have to look them when time to swap eggs from breeding pens under them.

 

[sdm111]

Too many predators and too many hens for single pens for me. I'm not really worried about my greys anyway concentrating on my other fowl. After the summer I'll cull them down to around 12 or so just to have em around

 

[centrarchid]

I have done the group hen system in the past but when resorting to hen hatching them all together, way fewer chicks make it simply because the hens can't play nice. We get more chicks from 8 single penned hens than from two dozen hens penned in groups. I am also partial to larger full-sibling broods of the same age to make comparing broods easier. My hens you can't trust to lay every egg in their own nest.

 

[sdm111]

I agree but I incubate all my eggs that I am breeding for that year so a few hens laying on their own doesn't affect what I'm breeding for anyway. And if I tried to free range the hawks would have a buffet.

 

[Nodaksnakelover]

I bought some eggs off ebay advertised as Harold Brown Gray American Gamefowl. Auction was for seven eggs. I recieved ten. Went from Oklohoma to North Dakota in sub zero winter temps! And when I looked at one week of incubation, I found the eggs with the so called saddle shaped air cells, and one egg did not develop anything and another had an odd blood vessel in it but nothing more. So I was down to eight. A week later I candled again and had to toss two more that quit developing. So I was down to six for the final stretch. Four hatched! The remaining two, both chicks were fully developed. But the one chick had a malformed beak and was missing an eye. The other, a yellow like the odd one out in the pics, died before fully injesting the yolk before hatching.

So anyhow, I now have four chicks. These will be my first shot at American Gamefowl. I assume the three chipmunk colored chicks are hopefully the Grays, where the yellow is another color altogether? Am I correct in that assumption? I wouldn't think gray chicks would be THAT variable in chick color.

 

[prariechiken]

All 4 look to be "Greys" (with an "e" ). I raise the old Harold Brown Greys as well. Their legs should darken over the next few days as well as Harold Brown greys are green legged birds.

Quick question for everyone, why or do you candle your eggs during incubation? I myself touch mine once after they have started incubating and that is to move them all into the hatching tray at day 19. Those that don't hatch are tossed at day 22.

Good luck with your new chicks Nodak, keep us posted on their developement....

 

[sdm111]

My greys if I remember right when I have light chicks end up being the buttermilk or wheaten colored.and I candle so that I'm not wasting room in my incubators. Candle at 7 days. Luckily I only had to remove 2 or 3 so far. Also fwiw I have had chicks hatch from 19 - 23 days from the same clutch just a few weeks ago ( hatch ) so you may be missing out on a chick or two tossing at 22 days may want to give it an extra day. I started leaving till 24 days after I was in mid swing to throw an egg and heard it chirp last year.

 

[centrarchid]

All 4 look to be "Greys" (with an "e" ). I raise the old Harold Brown Greys as well. Their legs should darken over the next few days as well as Harold Brown greys are green legged birds.

Quick question for everyone, why or do you candle your eggs during incubation? I myself touch mine once after they have started incubating and that is to move them all into the hatching tray at day 19. Those that don't hatch are tossed at day 22.

Good luck with your new chicks Nodak, keep us posted on their developement....

I candle for duds that have a high risk of seeping before moving to hatching tray. This seeping issue is not associated with games eggs that are the minority in incubator runs, but once I start candling all eggs checked to reducing thinking.

 

[centrarchid]

My greys if I remember right when I have light chicks end up being the buttermilk or wheaten colored.and I candle so that I'm not wasting room in my incubators. Candle at 7 days. Luckily I only had to remove 2 or 3 so far. Also fwiw I have had chicks hatch from 19 - 23 days from the same clutch just a few weeks ago ( hatch ) so you may be missing out on a chick or two tossing at 22 days may want to give it an extra day. I started leaving till 24 days after I was in mid swing to throw an egg and heard it chirp last year.

I have that delayed hatch problem with eggs produced early in season and exposed to low temperatures for several days prior to start of incubation. The early hatch problem happens only during late summer when it is exceptionally hot prior to starting incubation run. Storing eggs in basement would help control both extremes on hatch time. I am not able to save incubator space because mixing age cohorts in the incubator means many eggs need to be handled yet again which is not desired by me.

 

[sdm111]

I pull any non viables on day seven and set every 14 days staggering which incubator I use so it's not too much handling for me. If I were one incubator I would just set and candle on day 14 so still not too much opening and handling.