The 8th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!

[ronott1]

Thanks, Ron! What about the other eggs? How long should I wait for them to hatch?

What day are they on?

A day after the last one hatches, I check for signs of life. I let them go if so. A time or two there was a perfectly healthy chick in an egg without a pip. The chick did not have an egg tooth so could not pip or zip.

 

[brucifer]

That is great!

I have been in discussions about this and there are many that really believe that you can tell the gender of an embryo based on the egg shape. There are those both on BYC and online that sell eggs this way too. Often my posts are not directly in response to the person posting. These posts are read by a lot of people. If you google this topic, our posts from yesterday and today will come up high on the search.

I wanted to make sure that it was understood that this absolutely does not work. In order for any method to work for telling gender, you need to get above the coin flip level of results. That would be in the 90% correct range over thousands of eggs.

As an additional caution, There are a lot of bad eggs(pun!) out there in the poultry world. They have been around for a long time but with the current chicken fad going on there are a lot more. Beware of people on ebay selling Greenfire line hatching eggs. There really is no such thing. Once a person starts selling their own eggs, they are on longer from the original breeder and many of these breeders do not really have what you think you have. This is especially true for exotic breeds like ayam cemani.

They call a lot of these breeders "Straw Men". Often they are reselling hatchery eggs and chicks.

Be careful out there!

Hey Ron, good post. We are basically on the same page.

I'm fortunate enough to live in a part of the USA with a lot of breeders nearby, so I never have had order hatching eggs or chicks via mail. I make the drive. If the breeder is agreeable, I like to see the farm and the parents of the chicks or hatching eggs. Of course, some breeders these days don't allow people they don't know on their farms, and I can understand that, but I still like to meet in person the folks selling the hatching eggs or chicks. I also like to go to the swap events at poultry shows. It's a great place for making new contacts, meeting up with old friends, and talking to some of the experts.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have never felt that I've been ripped off by a breeder.

As for buying exotic hatching eggs on ebay, I'm with you 100%. IMHO, it's just not worth the risk.

~ Bruce

 

[minihorse927]

Count me in. I'll hatch svart hona and Swedish flowers. If anyone else needs eggs for that date I can help them out

 

[FreedomFarm13]

What day are they on?

A day after the last one hatches, I check for signs of life. I let them go if so. A time or two there was a perfectly healthy chick in an egg without a pip. The chick did not have an egg tooth so could not pip or zip.

They're on Day 23. Baby Four hatched just over 24 hours ago. What do I check for? Will I be able to see anything if I candle them? I haven't seen wiggling really...unless you can't the times I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. No significant movement, though.

 

[Cynthia12]

Hope this is the right place to join in on the Easter hatch, will be setting 7 hen eggs, probably Orpington but possibly Ayam?????

 

[Cynthia12]

Count me in. I'll hatch svart hona and Swedish flowers. If anyone else needs eggs for that date I can help them out

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:

Hi, Kelly! I'm hoping she, or one or more of the others, go broody in time for the March 25 set date...if so, I'm in!

 

[ronott1]

They're on Day 23. Baby Four hatched just over 24 hours ago. What do I check for? Will I be able to see anything if I candle them? I haven't seen wiggling really...unless you can't the times I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. No significant movement, though.

I candle to look for movement and tap the shell to listen for peeping. At day 23, I would carefully open the eggs that are left. You never know when you might find one alive in there!

 

[FreedomFarm13]

I candle to look for movement and tap the shell to listen for peeping. At day 23, I would carefully open the eggs that are left. You never know when you might find one alive in there!

So they might be able to survive if I open one that has a live chick? I thought they'd be too weak...
I'll candle this evening, and if I don't see anything, I guess I'll open them up. Fingers crossed for some cheeping by then!!!

 

[ronott1]

So they might be able to survive if I open one that has a live chick? I thought they'd be too weak...
I'll candle this evening, and if I don't see anything, I guess I'll open them up. Fingers crossed for some cheeping by then!!!

It is a fifty fifty thing. Some will make it and some will not.

It is worth a shot given the lack of turning. That would be the most likely cause, not something genetic to breed out of your flock.