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I'll be listening! On the subject of late hatchers, I hope this is wrong but my experience is the ones that hatch late end up dying. Almost every time. I'm talking ones that hatch day 25 or so. It's almost like they're too weak to hatch and when they finally do, they're too weak to live. I'd love to know what everyone else experiences!
Oh, goodness, no. My late hatchers are not always ones that die. I wouldn't have any dark egg layers in the 4th generation if that were so. I tagged a girl today and realized she was going to help me achieve my 5th generation since her eggs are an awesome dark brown. Hers are a #7 on the scale and she is a 7 mth old pullet. I can't hatch from her eggs at this time but next spring I will be hatching from her, her sisters and cousins that are are starting to lay now, too. Most of them hatch at day 23 but I get later hatches from my Marans, too.
Now I may have others that are late hatchers that have problems but those are usually the ones that have curled toes or twisted legs. I have to put those down as soon as I discover them and they don't have a chance to expire on their own.
Also some of the late hatchers may be from pullet eggs and they are not strong enough to survive even after having the strength to get out of the shell.
I do think some are more exhausted after zipping than others. You can see some hatch out that seem to sleep for the first 12 hours. Then there are those that hatch and exercise those lungs for the first 12 hours. Ugh! I'm glad they are healthy but give it a rest already!
