Tips for hatching Marans eggs?

[ChanteclersRock]

Hi PFMoore17,

What do you mean about using a coffee cup for water? Are you using the Genesis 1588? Are the "trough"s all filled with water those last few days? Is the coffee cup up with the eggs? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to picture this...Faith p.s. thanks everyone for your helpful replies. My eggs have just arrived, and are setting on their ends before going in the incubator.

pfmoore17 said:

I have been hatching Marans all spring and they are pretty predictable, when they hatch of course! Pips on Day 21 thru 22, and hatching ends bythe start of 23.
My own wheaties have the highest % of hatching, followed closely by Pasofino farms here @ BYC (BCM and SF) and Chicken Scratch Poultry in IL for some blue copper marans.
I have had terrible results with Silkie eggs in general but the sellers have always sent new ones (that still didn't hatch!)

I think the key is to get your bator at a steady and realible @ the right temp and humidity. My eco thermometer is @ 100 and I fill the one channel with water evryother day.
On day 18 , it moves to a Hvabator Genesis that runs @ 100F and 62% humidity using a coffee cup for water. consistancey is the key to a good hatch.

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[NewHen]

I just had my first hatch ever with bcms from Greenfire. So far 4 are out of the 14 eggs. 2 more have pips on Day 22. Only one was clear during candling. They shipped from FL to CA. I used the 1588 and the egg turner. Yeah!

 

[ol farm hens]

The problem is your eggs. Youe either getting infertile eggs or the eggs are to affected by storage or shipping.a lot of people get a few hens and get eager to make a name for themselves as marans breeders and start selling eggs before they are really qualified.and you don't really need anything more than an inexpensive little giant incubator with an egg turner which you can get at tractor supply.com set it to the correct temp around 99.5put the water in the slots and readd water every few days remove the eggs 3 days before hatch and add water along with water filled sponges to add a lil more humidity and you will get chicks I have marans hatching today on first try but I have my own six hens and two cocks.ur beter off buying chicks online. Its cheaper in the long run hope that helps

 

[Pele]

The only thing different about Marans eggs is their coloration. That makes candling difficult, and you have to rely on your nose more for detecting rotting eggs.

Other than that, all the normal rules apply. Late development deaths are usually from temperature spikes or drops, or bacterial invasion.

 

[Chicken Tenders]

We just learn from our 4-H poultry leader that there is a significant decrease in hatchibility for every day after 7 days that an egg goes unhatached. Meaning that if you incubate within 7-9 days of laying then your best result will happen before that time period. He also mentioned that egg storage temp prior to incubation is a big factor. If it is too cold then the cell division is destroyed and too hot starts incubation & then aborts before your have a chance to put them in the incubator. Other factors are feed & egg position. If the hens don't recieve the proper minerals, protein, and fresh water, then their offspring do not have the genetic material needed to form. That is one of the reasons we have chosen an organic diet with extra bits like sardines, fresh fruits & vegs. Egg position-The egg forms an air pocket that is at the fat end of the egg. You need to place the egg & keep it, narrow end down from laying to incubation to have your best results. This egg sack is how the chick is able to breath once it forms to this point & keep the egg freshest. Maran eggs tend to be rounder, so this can be harder to determine.

We decided to only sell live chicks because it is so hard to guarantee good hatchibility in shipped eggs due to time, temp, movement, etc. factors combined with the more naturally difficult-to-hatch Maran eggs. I know not everyone has had this problem, but we heard enough about it at poultry shows that we decided not to take the risk since we already have so few hens. Visit if your interested :0)
http://gabeyssmartchicks.weebly.com/

We never realized there was sooooo much to it, but if you look at it just right, life can be a fantastic science experiment. Hope this helps!

 

[HardizzlesFlock]

I have had 3 batches of BCM eggs. I incubate them along with the other eggs and my other eggs do WONDRFUL! .....BUT my BCM do not do good. Out of 2.5 dozen I have not had a SINGLE ONE HATCH! Please help!

 

[keith92]

hazzard, i read you post back in march and since tried 3 batches of BCM eggs that i collected from my 2 hens. batch 1, experimental batch of 13 bcm eggs incubated in a little giant still air incubator. kept temp at 101 degrees and had my humidity around 60ish percent. hand turned 3x a day and 11/13 were fertile. got to day 18 and listened to some people about jacking the humidity to 80 percent and only had 4 chicks hatch with 1 getting out by herself on day 24. ended up with just one chick surviving so i bought 3 americana chicks to keep solo chick company. conclusion on experiment: temps werent stable since i hand turned and most of the chicks were breach due to the humidity. retried this experiment with 21 eggs. 14 BCM 7 americana/bcm cross future olive eggers. this was a total disaster. 16 of the eggs were fertile but they were just like the 1st batch. to big, to small air sac and to **** weak to pip them selves out. i also got one bcm male chick in this experiment which i had a neighbor raise till last week cause his cornish had a crappy hatch as well. was about to quit until i got to reading about humidity. their is a really great article that somebody posted here and another site about a guy named bill and dry hatching. decided to invest into an egg turner and walked out the store with a Farm innovator pro series, best decision i ever made. First of all, do not trust the hydgrometer or the thermo on this product and just go out and invest in a digital thermometer that has a outdoor humidity tester on it you can find it at walmart. that is all you need for this project. you dont need to get fancy with 3 humidity testers and all the crap people are going to feed you. If you have a basement, do your incubating there. project 3, 38 eggs 28BCM 10 olive eggers. step 1 start your incubator and let run for 2 days until you have a stable temp at 100. on your thermometer you can get a reading of a high and a low which i would reset every day at the same time. adjust your temp so it runs at 100 for a high and 99 as a low. that gives you the 99.5. once temps are set check the humidity in your room that should be on the digital thermo i kept my ROOM HUMIDITY not my incubator around 50% and my basement was usually 66 degrees and never above 70. i also ran a dehumidifier to stabilize RH. if you can get your numbers anywhere close to that your in good shape. next pull both plugs and forget about them. put eggs in turner, DO NOT ADD WATER and dont open for seven days you can candle but i would recommend waiting till day 10. if room humidity is stable around 50ish% you in good shape. any bad eggs on day 10 disgard and leave bator alone till day 19. take egg turner out and add just a little bit of water like 1/2 of the smallest channel or less. don't get caught up on high humidity cause it will hurt you not help. day 20 you should see first pipped egg, leave it alone and dont open till day 22. conclusion of this experiment: dry hatch works. 30/38 eggs were fertile. the first 6 eggs were to old thus rotten even though they had blood rings in them. 8/10 AC/bcm fertile 22/28 bcm fertile. 5/8 ac/bcm hatched 20/22 bcms hatched i did not help. 9/9 bcm hatched under broody today and 12 more are set in the bator as we speak.

 

[JennieRD]

I've heard a lot of pros and cons to hatching Maran eggs. I recently became interested in Marans, giving up my though of other breeds. I have become almost obsessed with the breed. They are so unique. I just received my first shipment of Cucko Maran chicks and to watch them interact with GLW chicks and Amerucana chicks and Guiena Keets I can see what sets them apart in character.

I just received my fist dozen hatching Blue Copper Maran hatching Eggs. I though these hatching eggs would be no different than any other egg, so at the same time I ordered a dozen BLRW and BlCM and set them in my Brisena Eco 20. setting the temp on 99.5 and let it go. Into my 3rd day of incubation I stumbled across a mountain of information concerning the hatching of dark brown eggs, Bantam eggs, and any other hard shell hatching egg. I'm no pro but what I found out, was that the darker the egg the harder the shell, the lower the humidity needs to be because the dark eggs expel moisture differently than lighter eggs.

I reduced my humidity from 55% to 25% and increased my temp from 99.5 to 101.5. Theses were the recommendations of people who had done just as I had expecting to hatch my maran eggs like any other egg. Those individuals lost 95% of their eggs the first go around. When they lowered their humidity and increased their temp they ended up with a 75% hatch rate. Ill will let you know how it goes as mine are expected to hatch the 21st of July. I am crossing my fingers.

I candeled and weighed my eggs today for day 7. The results proved the 25% humidity rule for Maran eggs were correct. I messed up my first 3 days. My eggs only lost 1.6 oz they should have lost 2.02 oz total weight lost. Maybe I have time for correcting this for a total weight loss of 6.06 ounces.

I found this site with tips on Hatching Maran Eggs, I hope it is useful to someone other than me .http://www.darkbrowneggs.info/#/incubating-maran-eggs/4541610539

If anyone else agrees or disagrees I am not offended, I am all ears for a good argument I am also not offended by someone proving me wrong. My goal is to hatch these little devils that are a joy to watch.

 

[Fuentes Farm]

I'm curious where you got your eggs from on ebay. I ordered some last month from Gabbard Farms. They were Blue Splash Marans. Out of 12 eggs I got one that made it to lockdown. I am using a Genesis 1588.

I contacted the seller and she resent the eggs, I paid the shipping. She sent 1 doz extra's. So I had now 24 to put in the bator. I had already had enough eggs leaving room just for another dozen so I went and purchased another Genesis ($170.00) I was really excited about getting all those eggs.

Needless to say, I got one chick out of the 24.

Their were 5 that made it to lockdown. Only one hatched with my assistence. The others were fully developed but one had a huge yolk still attached to it. ????


Good luck. If anyone has any Blue Splash Maran eggs they want to rehome let me know. My one chick will be the one and only. I'd be happy with just a few more chicks.!!

I too had a bad hatch from garbbard farms. I ordered 3 dozen and they sent extras i think there was a total of 41 eggs well one hatched a couple went to lockdown and died and the rest where rotten eggs. Never again will i buy from them, actually i think they called it quits anyways.

 

[Jessorr2]

I have had the worst luck with the maran eggs that I've ordered as well- last batch of eggs I put in I got none to hatch this time i had 12 eggs and only 8 made it to lockdown. Today is day 21 and i have seen no sign of external pipping yet….. needless to say i'm worrying that i won't get any of these ones to hatch either - the other breed eggs in the incubator had no issues - these ones seem to be harder to get a decent hatch out of. I wish I knew someone one local that had them so i could get eggs that weren't shipped maybe my odds would be better!
maybe with the next time i'll have to try the dry method described above and maybe i'll have better luck