Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[Beekissed]

Hello Bee,

We all make our fair share of mistakes. So don't beat yourself up too bad. And on the brighter side, sounds like you are having a pretty fair hatching!.......even if they are mutts.....some success, on Experiment # 5! Happy to be here learning from You! Have A Great Day!!!!

One has to laugh about it, don't they? Consider the alternative....

Four of the eggs had fully formed BLACK chicks in them, looks like they might have gotten fried on that last temp spike, but who knows? The 10th egg was that little red hen of mine's egg and it was full of blood and nothing else. I've incubated 4 of her eggs so far and they all were not viable, so I'm thinking 7 yrs old is too old for her eggs to be healthy and viable.

After the broody vacates this pen next week, I'm going to place the WR hen and rooster in the pen and let them make some eggs together...this time I'll KNOW which eggs are which. The last time this pen wasn't finished and I had no good way of isolating a breeding pair but now I do. This will be the last hatching experiment of the summer if I get some good eggs from her.

On a good note, the BAs seem to be very good at putting out some viable eggs, even with their hatchery genetics.

 

[tntchix]

Oh, sweet Bee, mistakes is how we learn, girl! Lord knows how many I've made (especially lately).

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, sweet Bee, mistakes is how we learn, girl! Lord knows how many I've made (especially lately).

Amen to that! My mistakes are just about the only thing I can truly call my own......

I'll do better next time. I am just a little curious as to how well this cross will do...a massive, beautiful WR rooster over a mutt BA that lays like a machine....gotta be a good thing, even if they don't look none too pretty.

 

[tntchix]

Amen to that! My mistakes are just about the only thing I can truly call my own......

I'll do better next time. I am just a little curious as to how well this cross will do...a massive, beautiful WR rooster over a mutt BA that lays like a machine....gotta be a good thing, even if they don't look none too pretty.

We shall see.

 

[Tomtommom]

They sound like they would be some good dual purpose birds!

 

[Zombified]

Aww, sorry about the WRs, Bee. But I'm excited to see pictures of these "none too pretty" mutts of yours! ;P

 

[Beekissed]

Aww, sorry about the WRs, Bee. But I'm excited to see pictures of these "none too pretty" mutts of yours! ;P

They look just like all the other mutts hatched out of these nest boxes...but without the feathered legs.

Black with light/yellow markings. Who knows what they will look like?

They are very vigorous and active, though, which is a good thing. I'll not be hatching the next eggs in the nest box but in the Brinsea....I'm finding it's too hard to keep even temps with the heating pad when the ambient temps are this hot. We don't have air conditioning in this house so I'd probably have to keep a fan on the box all the time to get the temps to settle down to normal.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Well I was poor in my judgement of which egg was from which too. But now I have a breeding/grow pen roughly done (now housing 4 kittle juveniles, 1 of which might be a pullet) and a section in the main coop as well almost finished so next year I will be ready. Then I too will know which are my Nelson RIR eggs and my collection won't end up like this:

Though they are cute only the reds are full blood line since my Nelson Cockerel is the one (that isn't a chick) There are possible 3 RIR out of the prior hatch... now in the grow out pen outside.

This will be next seasons main breeding pair in the pen:

 

[Beekissed]

Nice pair of breeders!!!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with egg on their face!

I didn't have a breeding pen completed either, so I winged it and didn't fly very far, as you can see. Now I'm more ready, so as soon as I can vacate the broody and mutts I can put in my breeding pair and hope for the best.

BTW, your chicks are just lovely!!! Loving those reds!

 

[Fred's Hens]

I swear, they do that "Let's change the appearance of our eggs" thing on purpose, just to get their DNA into the future. Just about the time you think you've memorized the eggs by shape and start collecting the ones you want, they hold a late night hen house meeting and trick you up. "OK, now YOU lay the light colored one and I'll lay the pointed end one"

Yup, separate quarters or a trap nest for the breeders is about the only way. I've made a few of the world's very finest, most pedigreed mutts you'll ever meet. LOL But, the cockerel's taste like chicken and our friends love the heritage bred mutts for their layer pen. It's all good, if not efficient.