The American Cemani Breeders Club...open forum

[DCchicken]

They are small to medium sized. However as chicks they will nature slowly. So you would not put them in a brooder with large fast growing chicks as the other chicks could damage them. When full grown, they are larger than bantams as Randy stated but more like the size of say a Cream Legbar. 4 of them would fit perfectly in one of those coops that they advertise for 6-8.

 

[Phage]

The chick was hatched under a hen, when I got the eggs in the mail ALL the air sacks were broke, so I left the eggs sit a few days, then placed them in the bator with the turner turned off for the first week, the 2nd week I had 8 eggs growing, my better half talked me into putting the eggs under a hen. Wish now I hadn't, all the eggs died but 2, this one was the only one to hatch and we had to help it out, the other egg never even piped.

Just now there is this myth going around about letting shipped eggs with loose air sacs sit for more than 24 hours and the not using the turner for a week. WHY???
I have never seen this in the scientific literature, and i think I have read most of it! Letting them sit for 12-24 hours is fine to allow air bubbles to settle.

Longer just makes the eggs even older, - It does not magically fix anything.

And the eggs has to be turned even in that first week or waste products of metabolism (such as lactate, and carbon dioxide from growing) build up around the embryo and kill it.

It is like forcing the embryo to lie in it's own "waste products" unable to escape. Just Think about it- NOT NICE!!!!

Moving the egg moves the embryo away from the waste and mixes the contents of the egg allowing nutrients and oxygen delivering vessels to develop over a large area so that it does not outgrow its oxygen supply. If at one week the area the vessels are growing in is too small the rapidly growing chick may suffocate from lack of O2 if it has not already been poisoned by its own waste products.

This is vital and is why a HEN ROTATES HER EGGS!!!! look at nature folks!!. Gosh! these eggs are so rare and expensive to mess with!!!

 

[92caddy]

All I can say is that when the eggs were sitting still in the bator they were growing, when they were placed under the hen they died. Do the math. Myth or not, take it how you want.

 

[Phage]

All I can say is that when the eggs were sitting still in the bator they were growing, when they were placed under the hen they died. Do the math. Myth or not, take it how you want.

For what it is worth I would not have put them under the hen either at that point. But IMO the problem was already there.

Anywho... Congratulations on the chick. That is awesome.

 

[Phage]

@92caddy I am not trying to be argumentative believe me! I feel your pain. I have hatched thousands of eggs over the years and know what works (for me) and have a pretty good idea (scientifically) why what works does work.

 

[blackbirds13]

Quote:
I always let my eggs sit for 24 hours then incubate without moving them for the first 2 -3 days. I don't have great luck with shipped eggs but my hatch rates have improved vastly with this method so I keep doing it. I don't use a broody for expensive eggs as I just don't wish to risk it. I don't have an expensive bator but 3 1588 Hovabators that do the job just fine. I currently have 9/12 that seem to be growing and viable thus far - 3 are clear so I'm tossing them, but we'll see what happens at hatch since that's when I have most of my manmade errors come up. Hatch date is next week. I think everyone has to find a method that works for them and their individual situation. Some of my friends do completely dry hatches and some do not with the same average results. I tried the 'letting them sit" idea on the advice of a old time breeder and it has worked well for me. I tried the broody hen last year and she hatched and killed two of the eggs that I placed under her so I took the others and popped them in the bator and out popped the chicks from a couple more.

 

[92caddy]

Phage I didn't take offence to what you said, I could have but decided not too. Each to their own and to what works best for them selves. No harm done.

 

[Steadfast]

My 6 birds from wolfwhyte, came in the mail yesterday.

He had 3 jet black ones for me but they got stolen before he could send them.

With these, I should get 25% jet black, 25% white and 50% grey. But because he bread them for egg production and not so much color I should get an egg per day from each of my four hens. So, by the numbers, in a perfect world, I should get 1 jet black cemani per day.

We will see.

All I know is that I won't be able to show these birds in the state fair this year. But next year, this will be a different story, once I have produced jet black babies.

I should start incubating my first batches of cemani eggs in the late fall of this year.
Meanwhile, I will keep hatching random chicken eggs to get my hatch rate up as high as possible.

(11 more random eggs started 3 days ago)

At least this is a starting place.
This is where the hard work begins.

(I'll shoot more pictures of them today with better light)

 

[boykin2010]

"He had 3 jet black ones for me but they got stolen before he could send them.

With these, I should get 25% jet black, 25% white and 50% grey. But because he bread them for egg production and not so much color I should get an egg per day from each of my four hens. So, by the numbers, in a perfect world, I should get 1 jet black cemani per day. "


Where did you get the percentages/numbers from?

 

[Steadfast]

That is what wolfwhyte said his numbers are like in all his birds.