The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[littlechicklet]

Best post your guess on the site itself..it's on the last page .. I think..or the one before..oh boy, it is hard to keep up.

thank you

 

[chirpingcricket]

Thanks Chirpingcricket.

I will try to be patient. I candled a few eggs quickly tonight (didn't have time for a full check cause the family was calling me for reading time) and I am pretty sure I was right the first time about the Delawares - they look pretty clear to me.

Oh well, I guess our Delaware roo just hadn't got around to all the hens yet this spring. It IS kind of early in the year. Hopefully the three or four fertile ones will make it so I can give them to our friend that wanted some Delawares. I left the probable duds in for now until Saturday's official check (is that safe to leave potential clears in till day 14?).

Hey, Ieft some of mine in. In fact, I pulled them out at day 18. My thought was it helped to regulate temp with a fuller 'bator. But, this is new to me too. I am a student of seasoned BYC posters...
Let's hang in there and learn along with the best of them! Like you, it was early for my Roo and hens coming off a late molt and worming season. Just now started to collect eggs for the table. Both of us should have better success with our chickens/Roos delivering more fetile eggs from this point on.

 

[18Peeps]

How do you tell if a black copper maran egg is forming? I look into mine and don't see much at all because they are very brown. I can see into the blue eggs fine though and they are developing nicely. I'm incubating for the first time and saw you had black copper marans eggs and was just looking for words of wisdom on candling.

 

[MyShunshyn]

Hi 18Peeps,

i have some Marans in the incubator and they are pretty hard to see. I have Brinsea Ovascope, the high intensity one that has the brightest light. I have to place the egg and then wait a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Once I can see clearly i just watch for movement. Even with the intense light it can be hard to see with those dark eggs. All I can say is use the brightest light you can and be patient.
good luck!

 

[angelobutter]

also just at this point you can pull out anything that is clear- you might not be able to see the chick embryo but you should be able to see wether it is empty/clear or not. as always if you aren't sure just wait a bit longer, by lockdown it will be super obvious

 

[Razadia]

Have a small hatch going on and the first out is a very noisy American Game. Chickies!!!

Out of mine those are normally the loudest and most entertaining!

I'm going to try to post a video of one of my duck eggs tomorrow if I can around to it. It worries me because even though it's no bigger than the other duck egg it looks like it has two duckies in it. I hope I'm wrong like I normally am, but I'll leave it up to all of you to help me figure it out.

 

[DURR]

Anyone know if the black sex link rooster's barring is a dominate trait or will it be 50/50?

 

[noahsmom]

Have a rooster question..
I know I'm going to end up with some roosters, if I wanted to keep one how long could I keep him with the girls before he would start breeding with them? Also, can a rooster live alone and be happy or is that just to cruel? I'm still so new to chickens. Also, if someone were going to keep a roo, then how many minimum hens to one roo would you keep? And would you ever keep more than one rooster or have you ever? If so then how many hens to two Roosters would you find reasonable so they wouldn't breed them to death?

Thanks

 

[angelobutter]

just bought a 3rd brinsea 20 oct. ... I think I am addicted

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Thanks! but shes not a Roo she is a Blue Copper Marans pullet Oh my! Hope I didn't offend her! It's my 'old lady eyes' playing tricks on me. She is absolutely the Essence of Femininity. Still Gorgeous by the way! Here is my Roo a Black Copper Marans