Just wanted to share our most recent hatching experience. We recently started raising Jumbo Coturnix. We began by hatching eggs bought off of e-bay. Those first birds have been laying for a while now and I decided to add a tray to the batch of Black Copper Marans eggs I set three weeks ago. I set a tray of 20 Coturnix eggs in the incubator three days after setting the BCM's. Well, after having poor hatch rates with three batches of eggs shipped through the mail, I am very happy to report that of 20 eggs set we had three duds, four still in the bator, and thirteen hatched. So happy. In our last batch received through the mail, we ran 109 eggs and only 35 hatched. Prior to that, our first batch of 90 eggs netted 40 hatches. Hopefully we'll be able to ramp up our egg production to support this addiction! As far as the BCM eggs, not much so far. Fingers crossed we have atleast a dozen live ones out of 34 eggs. Needless to say, a better incubator is on my wish list as well.
Thumbs up to the quail hatch! I hope you get some Marans to hatch. They are one of my fav breeds on the ranch
Yup, shipping is just plain hard on eggs. Hatching my own eggs of various things this year, Coturnix and buttons, along with turks and ducks, I've found that I have much better hatch rates, AND also, far fewer issues with things like splayed legs or twisty chicks.
Quote:I'm glad you got some to hatch!!! It's not fun to do the whole incubation and not get one chick. The mail can really mess them up though.
As of this morning we have three left in the 'bator. To have 14 out of 20 hatch so far is beyond my expectations. We've lost a few in the brooder, but that's to be expected. The rest are running around like little bumble bees. As far as the BCM's, we have four hatched successfully and one died at hatch. Three more eggs are showing signs of pipping. Hopefully the rest will crank up soon. It's my first hatch of chicken eggs and I have to admit to being surprised at how much longer they take to recover from hatching. Quail get on their feet in no time, but these chicks take a fair bit longer. As long as they do well, though. That's what I'm looking for.
