Well, hatching is finally done and oh my goodness, never had such a nightmare!! I had 14 eggs and out of those NINE pipped at the wrong end!! I had to assist with eight of those....most, thankfully, not much more than some widening of pips, but two were full assisted hatches, done over a period of twelve hours or so. I lost three eggs...one had absorbed the yolk fully but got no further, DIS,one had not absorbed the yolk at all and may have died on or soon after lockdown and one pipped but could not get any further due to a badly deformed beak.
The first pips were on day 19, by end of day 20, I had nine out, with various degrees of help, and the final two...the assisted ones....were 'finished off' today, day 21.
At the end of it all, I have ended up with eleven chicks, ten of which are vigorous and healthy, running around the brooder quite happily and one which is struggling a little, after her fully assisted hatch, but is perking up more by the minute and hopefully will pull through. I guess I shouldn't complain, that's a 79% hatch rate but only because I helped. I'm convinced that, had I left well alone, I'd be looking at something closer to 40%!
These chicks are Cream Crested Legbar so should be autosexing but even that is not the easy task it should be! There is a distinct colour difference in the chicks, which is, I assume, the dimorphism, but there are males and females (I think!) with the yellow spots on their heads which are meant to denote males. There are well defined chipmunk stripes in some girls and fuzzies in others. I will be posting pics on BYC to confirm genders....which I've never needed to do before.
I bought these eggs from a breeder, someone who shows their birds too so they should have been top quality. I drove to collect them to avoid the issues you can get with shipping. I calibrated the thermometer and humidity control on my R Com and they were spot on. I incubated at 99.5F and 45% humidity for 18 days, then 70% humidity after lockdown. My R Com has NEVER let me down before. It should have been perfect!!!
I believe the problems were caused by poor nutrition in the parent stock. It just goes to show how important this factor is to a healthy hatch!
So, the good stuff....here are my little brood....
And the sad stuff....here's my little deformed chap.....
The first pips were on day 19, by end of day 20, I had nine out, with various degrees of help, and the final two...the assisted ones....were 'finished off' today, day 21.
At the end of it all, I have ended up with eleven chicks, ten of which are vigorous and healthy, running around the brooder quite happily and one which is struggling a little, after her fully assisted hatch, but is perking up more by the minute and hopefully will pull through. I guess I shouldn't complain, that's a 79% hatch rate but only because I helped. I'm convinced that, had I left well alone, I'd be looking at something closer to 40%!
These chicks are Cream Crested Legbar so should be autosexing but even that is not the easy task it should be! There is a distinct colour difference in the chicks, which is, I assume, the dimorphism, but there are males and females (I think!) with the yellow spots on their heads which are meant to denote males. There are well defined chipmunk stripes in some girls and fuzzies in others. I will be posting pics on BYC to confirm genders....which I've never needed to do before.
I bought these eggs from a breeder, someone who shows their birds too so they should have been top quality. I drove to collect them to avoid the issues you can get with shipping. I calibrated the thermometer and humidity control on my R Com and they were spot on. I incubated at 99.5F and 45% humidity for 18 days, then 70% humidity after lockdown. My R Com has NEVER let me down before. It should have been perfect!!!
I believe the problems were caused by poor nutrition in the parent stock. It just goes to show how important this factor is to a healthy hatch!
So, the good stuff....here are my little brood....
And the sad stuff....here's my little deformed chap.....
Admittedly it had not occurred to me to consider the 'off season' side of things. This IS the earliest hatching I've ever done. Usually I hatch in or around the beginning of April. Most of my hatches have been from my own birds who were predominantly Orpingtons and they rarely even laid eggs at this time of year so I had to wait til spring time. You're right, the fact that it is Winter and the parent stock may not have, therefore, been in true breeding condition, had not crossed my mind.
