The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[kbarnes]

If anyone is near Reno Nevada and still needs eggs for the HAL I have a surplus of barnyard mixes... My girls are kicking out 25 to 35 eggs daily. I have aracauna and Cochin roos over 10 different breeds of girls.

 

[Junibutt]

@Junibutt - is your whole incubator set-up new, or did you just add the humidity pump?

Everything is new, but I have used the Brinsea Octagon 20 before so all that set-up is correct. I did a test run on the 40 for 24 hrs before connecting the humidity pump and everything was working fine.

I will let it run overnight and see what happens.

 

[Amywilliams]

I candle nightly. I check at least 3-4 eggs. Candling should not compromise your hatch. I learned that one here after my first hatch was a bust and I thought that was the reason. The experienced hatchers told me that even if you candle every night as long as your hands are washed and your gentle with the eggs, and ddn't keep them out longer than 1/2 hour it shouldn't affect your hatch. They were right, that wasn't my problem, the faulty brand new thermometer (I never checked) was the problem. I control myself and like I said, I only spot check, but it's enough to feed my addiction, keeps me intuned to the air cells. 

Oh I never mind then. Now I will be tempted to look at them every night

 

[Olives eggs]

when and where are we suppose to tell how many eggs we set?

 

[LadyCluck77]

I Set thirty nine eggs, a dozen were shipped and the air cells look iffy.
I got shipped Lavender Ameracaunas and FBCM.

The rest are Salmon Faverolles and EE.

 

[bekkanblue]

when and where are we suppose to tell how many eggs we set?

Post on this thread now or when you have them all set. All types. The guess the count contest is closed.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

when and where are we suppose to tell how many eggs we set?

We can now.

 

[Math]

I agree, my vote is fiction. Some of my marans eggs are beach ball round, and really can't tell which end is which. Plentiful roosters from those! Also I have a hen that always lays super pointy eggs and she has made plenty of female chicks.

I have another theory though---I have to wonder if the males are hardier and hatch better and the ones we lose during incubation are often female. There seems to be such a higher roo/hen ratio. I wish there were a definitive way to tell if the the quitters were the girls, it would explain the high number of roosters I seem to get lol!

I agree. My vote is fiction on the pointed eggs hatching pullets.

However, I have also wondered about whether the unhatched eggs are larger percentage pullets. Last Summer I had a 58% hatch turn out to produce almost all roosters. That was weird. So I wondered if the eggs that failed to hatch were the missing pullets.

I suppose some expensive research would reveal the percentage. I wonder if some university has researched this question? Does anyone know if research has been done on quitters for the male versus female question?

 

[SoManyHats]

Test hatch- 8 out of 8! The two Marans finally made it out at 9:45pm and 12:30am.

 

[Kaylish]

I set 7 eggs under my broody hen last night. It's her first time brooding so