South Carolina

[ChickyChickyBaby]

Quote:
My opinion on the feedback issue - Contact her by PM/email first...let her know that only half of the eggs you purchased were fertile. Regardless of the condition they arrived in, and how many you had hatch, the eggs should have been fresh and fertile when she packaged them.

You can crack the eggs open to see which ones were infertile....there is a BYC thread on here somewhere with pictures....It is possible some had a detached air cell which seems to be common with shipped eggs.
I do not hold my hatch rate against the seller. I only have an issue with infertility, freshness, and how the shipper packaged the eggs to start with.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Quote:
Hey, an empty pen is an empty pen! I can always find stuff to stick in pens! I cleared out my A frame tractor the other day and immediately stuck some growing up kids in there. They are not happy to be out of the brooder room at night but they love it during the day.

So happy to hear you are putting your Coral Blues in a pen! I will be asking for eggs next spring! We may can do a swap!

My black copper roo will not be going into the freezer. He is WAY too nice for that. Albert has become such a fabulous fella and I feel bad that I don't have any splash hens for him. He is in with blue copper and black copper girls for the time being. That is not my favorite color combinations but he is a super rooster so he will be here unless a better home comes along.

He used to be in with all black copper hens but I moved my splash roo in with them and was hatching from that pen. I wanted to make sure the blues that hatched out were pretty enough and everything about them was nice enough to offer to others.

I hope Lydia improves with the day. Bless her little heart. It is so hard to be young and sick. And you getting it is really the pits! Doubly hard on you now.

Try to enjoy this gorgeous day as best you can. The weather is supposed to be lovely! I am printing out labels and shipping out boxes so I am inside for the moment but I am about to finish this up and head out for the day. We don't get this kind of gorgeous weather very often.

I would love to swap--we will talk in the spring on that. I now have more corals than any other color. We will be running some with the big flock but I will put all my young corals by themselves and maybe a few of the older males because it looks like most of the one I saved are females. I hope to make them a bigger pen by spring. If I can get something large enough I may split out most of the corals. That would make around 25 to 30 birds in the coral pen. I would also like to split out my chocolates and browns in to a pen with a few royal purples to darken there colors up. So much that I would like to do!

Thank you, I think Lydia is feeling better. She looks like she is ready for a nap but will not give it up. I try not to medicate her any more than I have to but I did give her some ibuprofen this morning to get her temp down and it did work. She has been doing well for the most part this afternoon but is not into things like she usually is and just not eating.

I have not gotten outside much but need to go out and tend to a few more things before DH gets home....

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Quote:
I will try to get some close-ups if they will stand still.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Quote:
Are your guineas still laying...in October? Mine are done for the season.

I actually found that my French pearls are still laying in a nest. They are running loose right now and have made a nest under the pile of old purch wood we have in the field. Their eggs did not seem very fertal this year so I am letting them be. They also do not tend to set so I am interested to see if one of them will on that nest.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Quote:
I would say girl but I really do not know--I do know it is really cute!!

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Are your guineas still laying...in October? Mine are done for the season.

I actually found that my French pearls are still laying in a nest. They are running loose right now and have made a nest under the pile of old purch wood we have in the field. Their eggs did not seem very fertal this year so I am letting them be. They also do not tend to set so I am interested to see if one of them will on that nest.

Heidi - I wouldn't be surprised for you to still be getting a few eggs down your way. I'm sure the temps are much warmer there. But Kris is up here near me, actually just down the road I think. I've never had young guineas lay in the Fall. Mine always wait until spring to start and my adult hens always stop laying in Sept./early Oct.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

My lavs are in the tramplone pen and though they do not sleep in the barrel, they have been checking it out. The sex link that I put in there because the boys liked her too well and she was molting and would not keep her saddle on, will go in every day and lay an egg. Those Guineas are fascinated by it! They go in and check it out when she is done but I have not found a Guinea egg there. If the others are out laying while free ranging I have no idea where. I don't even pretend to look.

 

[Southern Bee Lady]

removed

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

Quote:
Mary - I don't even try to guess color until they're a little older. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd week I can see what the cochins will be. Silkies are harder for me, still have trouble as some of the ones that look black to me are called blue by others. But as for leaving feedback, I have to answer this from an egg "shippers" point of view. I think the only fair feedback to leave is pertaining to how you received the eggs. There are many factors contributing to the hatch rate - incubator temps, human error, mishandling during shipping etc. And for my own education - is there some way you can check to be certain that the 7 eggs were infertile and not damaged in shipping? I would love to know a way to check after they've sat in the incubator for 3 weeks. Just wondering. So am I understanding this right - you bought 12 eggs and they sent 18. 7 were clear with no development. 11 were obviously good and so far 3 have hatched? Fingers crossed your other eggs will hatch. Shipped eggs are a gamble for sure.

The eggs packing was questionable. Eggs were wrapped individually in bubble wrap but were placed in a homemade bubblewrap envelope that had extra space in it so eggs could shift around. I did not really expect any to hatch because of the packing. The 7 eggs did not stay in the incubator 3 weeks. They were clear when I candled them at 7 or 10 days. I broke them and they were not fertile.
The yolks had no sign of a "halo"or embreyo. Maybe shipping did that but the 7 buffs were fertile. All started forming. 2 did not go into lockdown since they were only partially developed. I bought 12+ silkie eggs and she sent 14 silkie eggs and decided to include 4 cochins which I was not interested in. Figured if they developed, I would give them to someone. I have no problem with so few hatching or with what she probably thought was good packaging. What I have a problem with is that they were advertised as " purebred bearded splash & buff silkie" and are mixed mutts. I know shipped eggs are a gamble which I am willing to take but shipping "designer" eggs is unethical.

Unless the yolk was completely scrambled in shipping, you can still see the bull's eye or halo if the egg is fertile, even with a detached air cell and/or a badly shaken egg.

Well - not to nit pick, but did she say Splash from her splash pen, and buff from her buff pen? Or was it just 12+ Splash & Buff silkie eggs? She should have specified in the listing that the birds were separated, and each variety was in its own pen.

 

[Southern Bee Lady]

removed