The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Tammy N]

7 and 1/6 Dozen chicken eggs and 90 Quail
Sorry my origional hatch was ruined . Its going now Hope all is well HATCH HATCH HATCH away

 

[hokankai]

What day is that egg? It does NOT look like a blood ring. It just looks like the edge of the vasculature to me. Blood ring eggs are washed out looking and do not have any visible veins.

Thanks, this is super helpful. I candled mine tonight, and had one that I think has a blood ring, and one that is to dark to see anything. Do all the quitters have blood rings, or do you have to look at size too?



Is this a blood ring? I don't want to get rid of it, if it's ok....

 

[Egghead_Jr]

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

The barring gene itself is dominate but where it becomes 50/50 is due to him only carrying one barring instead of two at that locus (his father was not barred). He'll randomly attribute one of these to each offspring, any of the offspring getting the 50% chance of that barring will be barred no matter what the mother contributes as the gene is dominate. If he is crossed with a barred female than only the females will have 50% chance of barring. Reason for this is hens only carry one of the barring genes, roosters carry two. So half the females will get the non barring of the rooster and all the males will get that one barring of the hen. Barring being dominate all males will be barred.

 

[rarebear]

Thanks, these are great photos. So today is day 11. I candled yesterday and out of my 52 eggs I found 6 clears which I tossed. There a 2-3 more where I think I am seeing the beginning of a blood ring. I am VERY worried after looking at these photos of the ones you say are quitters, in fact your last 3 photos. So are the ones that have a large eye with veining dead? Are the ones that look full most of the way through dead? What are you seeing that tells you that the last 3 photos are quitters or dead? Now I am really worried!

 

[rarebear]

I pulled 12 tonight. Lockdown is tomorrow for the first eggs I set... I've got 18 going into lockdown.

I don't know if anyone has posted pictures of what to look for... Here's mine...

Clear


Early death... There was a blood ring first


Little bit later quitter


This one just quit within the last week

Thanks, these are great photos. So today is day 11. I candled yesterday and out of my 52 eggs I found 6 clears which I tossed. There a 2-3 more where I think I am seeing the beginning of a blood ring. I am VERY worried after looking at these photos of the ones you say are quitters, in fact your last 3 photos. So are the ones that have a large eye with veining dead? Are the ones that look full most of the way through dead? What are you seeing that tells you that the last 3 photos are quitters or dead? Now I am really worried!

 

[WilderWoods]

Candeled at day 7 (last weekend) and had 4 of 35 that were clear - 28 of 35 are shipped eggs, so we thought this was pretty good. One caveat: 1/3 of the eggs are dark brown (marans and OE laid by marans hens), so we have about 1/2 of these that are "?" and we will have to recheck. Since shipped eggs are always a gamble, we thought a good result would be 2/3 of these viable, and we have duck eggs arriving on Saturday that need space in one of the incubators. I am not wishing for quitters or eggs that were "?" to be deemed "clear", but the duck eggs will need to go somewhere, and our little silkie can only handle so many as our backup (especially in 30 degree weather!). Oh, the dilemmas of hatching eggs!!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I think people are far too quick to toss eggs. What might be a blood ring could also be veining. And if any veining is visible the chick is still developing. The fact of matter is if the egg doesn't smell then there is no need to toss it. The fear of eggs exploding is real but very much overwrought for few occurances. Again, you can smell a bacteria filling egg long before it explodes.

 

[michaelf]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE !!! Hope you guys have a great Wednesday!

 

[CherokeeFlats]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE !!! Hope you guys have a great Wednesday!

Good Morning!!!! Have a great Wednesday also.

 

[Time-Out]

Quote: Wow, what a close guess! Amazing! Congratulations!

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

I'd say it depends on the rooster. I have one who didn't start 'feeling the urge' until he was 30 weeks old and another, from the same hatch, who started about 20 weeks. They weren't the same breed, one was much slower at developing.
It wouldn't be very nice for a roo to live alone, especially if he can see other chickens (and ladies). You can have a batchelor pen, though, which would save him from getting lonely. Mind you don't mix bantams with LF. Poor littl'uns... I've done that

The minimum number of hens I allow per rooster is 6. I've found that with less, I get bare backs. You can use saddles, but the ladies can't preen underneath them and the feathers look greasey when you remove it.
If you can keep a roo, definitely go for it. It's a wonderful thing in a flock. He'll strut around, keeping an eye on your ladies, defend them from anything that wanders nearby (no matter the size), find them tidbits and generally look like an amazing bit of garden art lol (and don't they know it!)

I'm really thinking the quitting and clears are the adults or something and not me... All my Cochins and all but one of my araucanas were clear... All but one polish quit early... All my Spanish were clear.... Two of the other clears were from the same pen as well.... I've kept track so I can tell the woman I got the eggs from.... Don't know what she can do, but Id want to know if my show chickens and eggs I was selling at auction had an issue....

You can get quitters from lack of certain minerals. If the adults don't produce the nutrients needed for good chick development, that can cause quitters, but the eggs need to be fertile in the first place.

I think people are far too quick to toss eggs. What might be a blood ring could also be veining. And if any veining is visible the chick is still developing. The fact of matter is if the egg doesn't smell then there is no need to toss it. The fear of eggs exploding is real but very much overwrought for few occurances. Again, you can smell a bacteria filling egg long before it explodes.

I suppose some of use should learn not to over fill the incubators from the start too. I'm always in a hurry to toss, so that the eggs can turn better.