The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Penny Hen]

we all stalk here too..lol.. now thiss purple egg business.. i already need an EE for the blue and green eggs.. but i had no idea that purple eggs are a possibility... i gotta have one.. also we looked in some eggs with the flashlight this weekend.. amazing!! i can see the tiny chick forming and its eye.. so cool

Some of the Colloncas and other South American breeds can lay a lilac egg as well as the blue and green. Ask Grannychick55. She has one that lays lilac with yellow spots.

 

[Penny Hen]

I found out another interesting thing that has helped with my hatches

I thought about how the hens sit on the eggs. this causes some weight as well as darkness. I started putting a hand towel over the eggs. I put the thermometer wire under the towel (by the eggs but not touching them) and the temp stays almost exact. My homemade incubator consists of a light bulb, a small computer fan, and a hot water tank thermometer. the enclosure is constructed of foam insulation with a plexi-glass window in the door. Cheap, not very pretty, but works great!

You know I bet that it could help stop shrink wrap. Especially if it was slightly dampened in the last three days.

 

[bantambury]

Japanese bantams! YES,YES,YES! A fox got mine the other year. Love these birds! I would love some hatching eggs! PLEASE!

AWESOME! we would have to plan something......if your relly want them.....from what others have told me they are black tailed sex links! SO HAPPY

Bantambury...are they all coming out completely sex linked 100%. That is fantastic if they are!!! Those girls are gorgeous!

So is sexlink good? thanks! I love these girls! their presence is the same as a Japanese hen! im pleased with them!

Black Tailed SexLink bantams because although one is silver and the other gold all of the offspring have black tails.

Now im thinking the black tails are coming from the father....the jap.

 

[austinbndr28]

Count me in! this will be my first hatch a long.

 

[Christabelle]

I have heard people talk about purple or lavender eggs, but Ive never gotten one. The closest Ive gotten is a pink eggs from my "Olive Egger" go figure lol at least they are pink to my eyes.

My Welsummer hen lays a nearly purple egg.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I just candles and weighed 42 eggs.. Here's my question: the difference between the weights on Day 1 and today, Day 8, is between 3 and 4.6 grams. I think to find out the percentage lost I take that difference, say 3.1 grams and divide it by the egg's weight on Day 1, 60.1 grams. This gives me a weight loss of .051 percent. Do I then figure that on Day 14 that percentage will double? I am just trying to figure out if I should adjust my humidity level. So far, it's been about 22- 29%.

Thanks. I'd appreciate any input.

Eggs should lose approximately 11% - 12% of their mass 18th day of incubation. To monitor mass loss, a person must keep track of an egg’s weight. Optimally eggs should be weighed right after they’re laid, but this isn’t always possible. When eggs are shipped, weigh them as you remove them from the package. Keep in mind that the eggs will lose some of their mass during storage. According to Aviagen, eggs lose about 0.5% of their masses per week in storage.

How to Calculate Mass Loss

First subtract the current weight of an egg from the original weight of the egg. This number will give you the weight loss. Then take the weight loss and divide it by the original weight of the egg. This will give you the fraction of weight that was loss. Lastly, multiply the fraction of weigh loss by 100. This will give you the percent of mass loss.

For example:

Original weight (50 g) - Current weight (45 g) = Weight lost (5 g)
Weight lost (5 g) divided by Original weight (50 g) = Fraction of weight lost (0.1)
Fraction of weight lost (0.1) multiplied by 100 = Percent of weight lost (10%)


For those of you who incubate large numbers of eggs, you can weigh the trays to find the average mass of each egg.

For example:

If a tray weigh of eggs initially weighs 700 grams and the empty tray weighs 200 grams, than the eggs must initially weigh 500 grams. If there are 10 eggs in the tray, then each egg weighs approximately 50 grams.
Let’s say that 2 eggs are removed because they were infertile.
After 18 days, your tray weighs 560 grams. If you subtract the weight of the tray (200 grams), than the eggs must weigh 360 grams. There are 8 eggs in the tray, so each egg weighs approximately 45 grams.
With this example, the eggs lost 10% of their mass by day 18.

 

[Gardeningmama]

Count me in! this will be my first hatch a long.

Hey, I just saw you over in Mixed Breeds! Welcome! You should show the peeps over here your pretty boy...the one with the crele & lacing....SWEET!

Quote: Sex linked is wonderful, if only you could tell them all apart so easily!

Quote:
That is a lovely egg!

 

[bantambury]

Sex linked is wonderful, if only you could tell them all apart so easily!

ACTUAILLY I can! one of the mottled hens had an accidental single comb gene, therefore, she had a single comb. the other mottled hen has a regular pea, and the last hen is just white...not mottled.

the roosters are easy to tell apart to, because one of them accidently burnt his comb on the heating element in the brooder as a chick....making his comb grow funny. I mean...I still have weird tweaks in this breed, but I still love it!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Quote:
Lol! No, I meant every type of chicken. Silkies are elusive for a loooong time, and so many others. It's such a pain when you're trying to decide who to keep around.

 

[Pozees]

No way to read 600+ posts, thank goodness Ron has his summaries! Hope I didn't miss the video of the Emu egg rocking

Hatched 11 Dominiques and a Dominegger (Dom x Easter Egger) over the weekend, as well as a Welsummer and 3 of my own RIR eggs, and a 4th RIR almost done hatching a day late. A woman who bought chicks from me a few weeks ago asked if I would hatch some of her daughter's eggs and split the hatch as payment. She brought me 49 eggs today. Did not expect that many LOL. 2 were quite large and they think they might be the neighbor's duck eggs, but they're brown. As a non-duck owner, I do not know, can/do ducks lay brown eggs? Like, pretty dark brown.