The Legbar Thread!

[Frenchcuffs13]

Now a Cream Legbar owner again

Woohoo! Pretty baby!

 

[Johnn]

Quote:
Thanks

 

[Johnn]

Lacey and Penelope

 

[retiredwithchicks]

I am having trouble getting my eggs to hatch. They develop but don't hatch. Is the shell extra thick? What should I do, more due to hatch Wednesday?

 

[jerryse]

I am having trouble getting my eggs to hatch. They develop but don't hatch. Is the shell extra thick? What should I do, more due to hatch Wednesday?

Do other breeds hatch good for you ? Late quitters are sometimes a result of nutrition . A good breeder ration may help.

 

[Phage]

I am having trouble getting my eggs to hatch. They develop but don't hatch. Is the shell extra thick? What should I do, more due to hatch Wednesday?

I think one thing that many people do (including myself) when they start hatching is they keep checking of the eggs in the last 3 days. By that I mean opening the bator and taking the eggs out to candle etc.

Now that the bator is in the basement, and I schedule the hatch on days when I am at work I get superb hatches!


Soo.... STEP AWAY FROM THE BATOR!!




The other thing that has helped a lot is doing dryish hatches. I add very little water during incubation and then bump up humidity in the last 2-3 days. That way the chicks can easily poke a hold through the membrane to internally pip, and do not drown when they internally pip and take a breath. This dry incubation really does require not opening the bator during hatch, as the internal membrane will dry out fast and encase the chick.

 

[ChicKat]

I am having trouble getting my eggs to hatch. They develop but don't hatch. Is the shell extra thick? What should I do, more due to hatch Wednesday?

As we try to discover our reasons for bad hatches...some have found that their Legbars may be too closely related. Is your own flock the source of your eggs? Could you have brothers & sisters pairing that are possibly the offspring of brothers and sisters? One thing some have found is inbreeding depression.

Early this morning a thought occurred to me -- based on the behavior of a little broody Isbar I have on some eggs -- some Isbar and some Cream Legbar. It is pretty well known that Isbars are very inbred because there are so very few of them. A friend had a higher success rate hatching Isbars when she introduced some 'new blood' to her Isbar flock. One thing about this Isbar kind of surprises me. She is spending a lot of time away from the eggs. However, every night she is popped on the eggs. She is very small -- and skinny -- not who you would select for a broody- (I sort of think pillow-like would be a good broody)--- This is also her first time. I have a Cream Legbar who I thought was broody--who is spending all the time away from the nest... I guess she changed her mind...

Seems like when I do an egg-topsey the eggs are two wet - too much humidity. Just a guess because I am not an egg-topsey expert by any stretch of imagining. -- I think maybe there is something to it for those who say that the shells are different, or maybe the membranes are different. I betcha dollars-to-doughnuts that all the incubator testing is done on white or brown eggs -- and none on blue eggs. The shells do have different composition -- and they do need to be tougher so I hear -- because of the sunlight being so direct in the countries of origin for blue-egg layers.


A couple years ago or so -- I found this nest, constructed by my hen Robin -- I thought that she had broken her pattern of being a daily layer (based on the absence of her eggs in the nest box)---but I think she may have had a scheme to brood eggs. There are 10-here and I had no idea at all that she was stashing up eggs. Every night she was in the coop. In fact, I'm really surprised that a snake didn't swallow them all -- since there were a lot of snakes at that part of the ranch, or a raccoon feast on them. So if she laid 10-straight days, the oldest egg was already 10-days old (and she hadn't started sitting on eggs quite yet). I wonder if CL eggs need a period of time to loose moisture before they are incubated? Just the theory of the day--- Has anyone else thought that their eggs were too wet when they did egg-topsey?

 

[Junibutt]

As we try to discover our reasons for bad hatches...some have found that their Legbars may be too closely related. Is your own flock the source of your eggs? Could you have brothers & sisters pairing that are possibly the offspring of brothers and sisters? One thing some have found is inbreeding depression.

Early this morning a thought occurred to me -- based on the behavior of a little broody Isbar I have on some eggs -- some Isbar and some Cream Legbar. It is pretty well known that Isbars are very inbred because there are so very few of them. A friend had a higher success rate hatching Isbars when she introduced some 'new blood' to her Isbar flock. One thing about this Isbar kind of surprises me. She is spending a lot of time away from the eggs. However, every night she is popped on the eggs. She is very small -- and skinny -- not who you would select for a broody- (I sort of think pillow-like would be a good broody)--- This is also her first time. I have a Cream Legbar who I thought was broody--who is spending all the time away from the nest... I guess she changed her mind...

Seems like when I do an egg-topsey the eggs are two wet - too much humidity. Just a guess because I am not an egg-topsey expert by any stretch of imagining. -- I think maybe there is something to it for those who say that the shells are different, or maybe the membranes are different. I betcha dollars-to-doughnuts that all the incubator testing is done on white or brown eggs -- and none on blue eggs. The shells do have different composition -- and they do need to be tougher so I hear -- because of the sunlight being so direct in the countries of origin for blue-egg layers.


A couple years ago or so -- I found this nest, constructed by my hen Robin -- I thought that she had broken her pattern of being a daily layer (based on the absence of her eggs in the nest box)---but I think she may have had a scheme to brood eggs. There are 10-here and I had no idea at all that she was stashing up eggs. Every night she was in the coop. In fact, I'm really surprised that a snake didn't swallow them all -- since there were a lot of snakes at that part of the ranch, or a raccoon feast on them. So if she laid 10-straight days, the oldest egg was already 10-days old (and she hadn't started sitting on eggs quite yet). I wonder if CL eggs need a period of time to loose moisture before they are incubated? Just the theory of the day--- Has anyone else thought that their eggs were too wet when they did egg-topsey?

Although all my eggs hatched but when I placed them in the bator, the air cells were very small, almost non-existent. So maybe you do have a point, thats why dry hatching works better for them. I also read somewhere that Maran eggs get a better hatch rate if they are lightly sanded before incubation. It does get rid of the bloom and increases the risk of introducing germs, however it also removes a layer of brown pigment that would make evaporation from the egg easier.

 

[retiredwithchicks]

I have good hatches of all other breeds, anywhere form 60-80% at least, some breeds 100%. I have only hatched one legbar from about 2 dozen eggs. Got some due tomorrow and anxious to see if I get any. I am going to try to use a broody next. I do a pretty good dry hatch except for 3 days of hatching the previous eggs that are in the incubator. I have two groups going at a time. Last hatching I even took the legbars and put into another incubator to hatch and none hatched. I will keep trying. Yes, they are sisters I assume because they came from eggs I got last year from one breeder, probably but not for sure.

 

[ochochicas]

I found out my legbars lay defective eggs. That is why they don't hatch,and probably why the breeder sold them off. They have detached air cells when they are laid and the chicks can't develop normally. I have one hen that lays decent eggs. The rest are just very expensive producers of eggs for eating.