Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[FortCluck]

Brings new meaning to the term "avian influenza."

The funniest thing is I was sick from Friday to Sunday before I even went into the ER... When I got there I told them that I kissed my chicks so I think I have salmonella I was out of it. The week in the hospital is a blur. I don't remember the past couple weeks, it's just all a blur.

My friend yelled at me and told me I better not be kissing these ducklings when they hatch

 

[hysop]

So I have 4 brown eggs I’m incubating. I started with 5 but one wasn’t fertilized.

My brown layers are Black Jersey Giants and Red Sex Links. I read that BJG lay brown eggs while RSL lay light brown eggs. Unfortunately I never paid attention to egg color shade and now I’m wondering who laid these eggs. They’re on Day 9 so it doesn’t matter who laid them but I’d like to know if they’ll be 100% BJG (my rooster is a BJG) or if they’ll be half and half.

Here is a picture of the four brown eggs. Any guesses will be fine, it’s just for fun.

 

[Jules929]

My guess: first 2 in top row and last one in second row = JGs.
Second one in 3rd row may be RSL ( it's lighter).

 

[LilyD]

Exactly this -- having decent equipment and having sourced your eggs well makes all the difference. My first batch was with a borrowed styrofoam bator with wicked hotspots, with eggs I bought from My Pet Chicken. NEVER AGAIN, on either front. After that, I splurged on an Incuview, and buy from either local sources or reputable breeders. I did try Meyer Hatchery eggs once, and while it was a little better than MPC, they don't send extras unless you buy a lot, and several of their eggs were either cracked, clears/early quitters, or already-growing-but-dead (!!). My best shipped rates so far have come from a breeder in California (I'm in NJ) - his stock is good, and his shipping practices are top notch.

I've had lots of luck with breeders that send their eggs with the foam shippers versus the egg cartons with bubble wrap or eggs wrapped in bubble wrap without the carton. I think the foam acts as an insulation as well as a buffer from impacts and does a lot. Just got two dozen and the eggs looked amazing. No issues with air cells they were VERY fresh eggs like 4 days or less old. Waiting to see if they are growing well but the breeder has been getting 90-100% hatch rates at home so my fingers are crossed.

 

[julskinka]

I've had lots of luck with breeders that send their eggs with the foam shippers versus the egg cartons with bubble wrap or eggs wrapped in bubble wrap without the carton. I think the foam acts as an insulation as well as a buffer from impacts and does a lot. Just got two dozen and the eggs looked amazing. No issues with air cells they were VERY fresh eggs like 4 days or less old. Waiting to see if they are growing well but the breeder has been getting 90-100% hatch rates at home so my fingers are crossed.

Interesting! I think the handling of your particular post office pathway also matters a lot, and obviously none of us, shippers or buyers, can control that.

• I've had foam ones not work out either. Several smashed eggs (*ahem, MH*)
• The individual bubble wrap also doesn't work great if they just throw them in willynilly (*ahem, MPC*)
• I don't have any experience with people shipping in cartons, but that seems misguided.
• The best outcomes I've had so far have been with bubble-wrapped, placed fat-end up, with enough shredded paper filling to limit movement, with one box packed inside of a larger box, and the box marked with an UP direction and some kind of indication that it's got live contents.

With that, air cells might still be a little looser than preferred, but I haven't had any scrambled eggs and or cracks. An occasional early quitter, but can't be sure what caused that.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

So this happened...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-aka-the-undesirable-egg-experiment.1349529/
I figured I would go ahead and make a separate thread to better keep track of the oddball eggs.

 

[Mylied]

Gorgeous. What are the FEs?

Flowery easter egger

 

[julskinka]

Flowery easter egger

I don't know what that is either (an EE with 55 flowery or swedish flower hen in it maybe?), but the eggs sure are pretty!

 

[Mylied]

I don't know what that is either (an EE with 55 flowery or swedish flower hen in it maybe?), but the eggs sure are pretty!

Lol. I don't really know. That was one of the shipped eggs. I know they are barnyard mix eggs so nothing pure.

 

[hysop]

My guess: first 2 in top row and last one in second row = JGs.
Second one in 3rd row may be RSL ( it's lighter).

Thank you for your input. Last time a Red Sex Link hatched some eggs they were all black chicks so unfortunately I won’t know by color. But I’ll keep an eye on that egg.