They're Doing It AGAIN!! Bad Chickies! (PIP!)

[halo]

This morning I have seven peeps, with one well on his way out of his egg, and no action on 2. I figure by the time I get home this afternoon he should be out. Im very pleased with this hatch this time around.

 

[speckledhen]

beefy, that remains to be seen. I didn't get the hatch I expected out of this one. The fourth Buff Orp to hatch is still on his side and isn't very strong so I'm not sure of the outcome on that one. The last egg hasn't pipped though it was alive. Out of 24 Buff Orp eggs between the ones Jody sent and the ones Julie sent, I have three in the brooder doing well, one in the bator looking weak, and one egg still not pipped. That doesn't make sense to me, but the aircells were a problem this time on many of my shipped eggs. The only ones with great aircells were the Welsummers Christie sent me. I have a dozen pretty little hoodlums in the brooder from those.
I started originally with 73 eggs, then at first candling, removed some clears and a couple blood rings. I expected since most were shipped eggs, to hatch 35 eggs or so. My final number hatched was 37, not counting the last egg still in the bator that I'm not holding out hope for. I suppose it was what I had predicted, but I wish it had been more, and much heavier on the Buff Orpington side, for sure. One Welsummer was mercifully culled since she failed to thrive after six days, refusing food and water, and I couldnt let her just slowly starve to death. Jeff took 6 Blue Orps home with him. So, I ended up with 30 chicks.
I do have three Hawkeye babies under my broody right now. And if I get another broody, I'm hoping Jody might entrust a few more of her lovely little Buff Orps to me for that.

I've committed one of the Buff Orp pullets, if there is one, to a customer, so I'm hoping I even get one for myself this time around. I only got two Ameraucanas out of the hatch and I couldnt get the Blue Wheatens due to stubborn little hens not laying.
Kathy, I'm glad your hatch went so well! Pics will be coming soon, I'm sure, right?

 

[MissPrissy]

I know exactly how you feel, Cyn. I always expect half the eggs to hatch and it is disappointing when many well developed chicks do not hatch. I really wanted pure black orps and sent my money off to Gordie with high hopes. Not one chick fully developed or hatched from those eggs. From the last hatch I started with 36 eggs and ended up with 11 chicks after having to cull two of them. I really expected half and ended up with 1/3 - 33%. For the life of my I don't know what the problem was either with those black orp eggs. Air cells were good. Eggs were developing and sometime in late week 2 they all stopped. No temp flux. No humidity problems. Everything was great. Opening those eggs the chicks were deformed and would have been in sad shape if they hatched any way. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it but it is still disappointing to spend the money for the eggs and shipping and get a 0 return. It makes the rest of the stock that does hatch become far more valuable $$ wise which in turn makes people wonder why some chickens and eggs cost more than others. It is all kind of like a dog chasing its own tail when you try to better your flock and help others get started.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Same here Cyn...my last hatch was a dud!! 3 chicks out of 14 eggs sent, had 6 clears so left 8 and only the 3 chicks, plus I had to cull one of those...

This hatch I have 12 good eggs, out of those so far on the morning of day 21 here I have 7 out and 2 more pips!!...Same temps, same humidity...

Perplexing for sure.....

 

[living2ride]

I recently tried a batch of Cuckoo Maran eggs from a seller on eBay. Of 15 eggs, only 4 hatched. I reported this to the seller (not as a complaint, just for his info) and HE wasn't happy with that hatch rate and offered to send another batch for just the cost of shipping. Well heck, who can pass that up?

So he sent another 16 and NOT ONE hatched. I had also placed two eggs from my chickens to put in as a "control" group. ONE of those hatched. So all that manual turning and waiting and all that for ONE chick. I ended up giving that one to a friend who had just received a hatchery order. Didn't want to go through all that brooding for one lone chick. I don't know what the deal was - maybe that box was x-rayed in shipping. I haven't had the heart to tell the seller. He's already gone above and beyond. Just the risk we run with shipped eggs... Currently, I have a nice batch of shipped duck eggs going, so there are also successes!

 

[halo]

Im pretty well convinced that hatching shipped eggs is a toss of the dice. Ive had a couple of hatches that I was very happy with, and even those were well under 50%, more like 30%. I think the EE's I just hatched were the best hatch Ive had. Ive had several with zero or one hatch. Im hoping I have enough now that I can start to hatch my own this fall of several of my favorite breeds. Shipped eggs are tough, but when you do get them they are so worth it.

 

[ebonykawai]

It really is a toss of the dice. I had two batches of RIR eggs from Gordie. The first batch was only 6 eggs; 4 never developed but 2 hatched and are beautiful and healthy. The next batch was a dozen RIRs and only 3 developed for me, and of them only 1 hatched. My Duane Urch eggs fared much better, out of a dozen, 10 developed and 8 hatched.

 

[speckledhen]

As I've told people time and time again, shipped eggs are definitely a gamble, but one I'm willing to take for the quality of birds I want in my flock. I got some gorgeous Rhode Island Reds, Welsummers and three lovely Buff Orps from Jody's eggs and even the two Ameraucanas are just precious. I do not consider this hatch a bust by any means, but I just wish I had gotten more Buff Orpingtons from it, is all. I know I know what I'm doing-after all, I've had 100% hatches, very clean hatches that hardly required any cleanup, so I keep telling myself that. I consoled myself by picking up three adorable New Hampshire pullet chicks at the feedstore when I got some mealworms for Zane, though. I'll be moving this giant batch of babies to the nursery coop in just a couple days, I think, out of necessity!

 

[speckledhen]

We decided to cull the 4th Buff Orp, the last one that hatched. After almost 24 hours, it was still on its back, its neck in a strange twisted position, definitely not improving. The last egg is still in the bator and moving, but I'm not holding out much hope for it.

My final Buff Orp total then is just three, but they're three real beauties!

 

[MissPrissy]

I am so sorry. I know how hard it is to have to cull a baby. :aww