Trader Joes & Other Grocery Store Egg Hatching Club - Are you a Member

[boomchicken]

It's Day 19 and my TJ eggs are still baking. I'm nervous but I don't want to hassle my broody too much. I see movement in the eggs... this is nerve wracking. arghh. I'm going to post on the broody hens thread because my broody is leaving the nest during what the incubator types call "lockdown".

 

[gimmie birdies]

well sometimes broodies hang out more when they are hatching- but you def want them to leave the nest to poo-

 

[boomchicken]

I did a lot of searching on BYC regarding large air sacs because yesterday there was one egg that seemed to have a huge air space. It was like a plastic Easter egg, you know where the 2 halves meet? The larger end of the Easter egg would correspond to the size of the air sac on that egg. I saw movement though. After reading many threads, seems like this alone wasn't necessarily a death sentence. I need to stop handling those eggs.

Meanwhile, Sparkles is running out for super-fast snack breaks when I let them out in the morning and back inside in the evening. She seemed to be re-establishing herself in the pecking order as some previously lower birds were getting in her face and she was staring them down.

All the lock-down questions with the problem-solving and speculation about humidity temp is disconcerting for me as there is no such milestone (that I can detect) with my broody hen. She just sits there, business as usual. I'm thinking "should I mist the air in the coop to increase the humidity?" and then I think "you sound crazy".

 

[Peep_Show]

I wouldn't necessarily rely on air space measurements. I inadvertently in my incubating excitement forgot about humidity for about 7 days (I live in the desert, btw, with a 5% average natural humidity) and when I realized what had happened the air spaces were dramatically reduced....close to being the plastic Easter egg! And, yet, it was one of my best hatches with shipped eggs ever...even with wonky air cells from shipping and moisture loss! (85% live chicks)

 

[Peep_Show]

I was in TJ's yesterday at the egg section and, yes, there were unstamped fertile eggs in attendance. I must admit I had a little thrill seeing them! But incubating and hatching will have to wait until I'm done moving and my coop is built in NM. Hope the ABQ TJ's has the same quality eggs.

 

[Dianne88]

Ok, since I tried Nature' Yoke fertile egg from the co op whole food store and had no luck I thought I would try again. This time I stopped in the open air produce market and they had some local eggs that were packaged 2 days ago. These eggs don't say fertile but do say free range, cage free. The eggs are from Shirley L's Flock out of Berrydale, Fl. I tried to find them on line but they have no web site or Facebook page. So, maybe it is just some local farmer and I may be in luck!?!? Should I waste one and look for the bullseye??

 

[ozexpat]

Ok, since I tried Nature' Yoke fertile egg from the co op whole food store and had no luck I thought I would try again. This time I stopped in the open air produce market and they had some local eggs that were packaged 2 days ago. These eggs don't say fertile but do say free range, cage free. The eggs are from Shirley L's Flock out of Berrydale, Fl. I tried to find them on line but they have no web site or Facebook page. So, maybe it is just some local farmer and I may be in luck!?!? Should I waste one and look for the bullseye??

I would. unless they say fertile they probably arent - commercial people dont pay to feed roosters unless they are going to market them

 

[Dianne88]

I would. unless they say fertile they probably arent - commercial people dont pay to feed roosters unless they are going to market them

I cracked one open, Please take a look and let me know if you see a bullseye??

 

[Dianne88]

I would. unless they say fertile they probably arent - commercial people dont pay to feed roosters unless they are going to market them

It also had a weird little floater, here's a pic.

 

[Audio51]

I did a lot of searching on BYC regarding large air sacs because yesterday there was one egg that seemed to have a huge air space. It was like a plastic Easter egg, you know where the 2 halves meet? The larger end of the Easter egg would correspond to the size of the air sac on that egg. I saw movement though. After reading many threads, seems like this alone wasn't necessarily a death sentence. I need to stop handling those eggs.

Meanwhile, Sparkles is running out for super-fast snack breaks when I let them out in the morning and back inside in the evening. She seemed to be re-establishing herself in the pecking order as some previously lower birds were getting in her face and she was staring them down.

All the lock-down questions with the problem-solving and speculation about humidity temp is disconcerting for me as there is no such milestone (that I can detect) with my broody hen. She just sits there, business as usual. I'm thinking "should I mist the air in the coop to increase the humidity?" and then I think "you sound crazy".

If there is movement that is a good sign. I often have variation in the size of the airsac at hatch and have not seen any correlation between big ones and poor hatchabilty

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My guess is they are not fertile. The floater is a "meat spot"...which is a little piece of tissue form the oviduct. It is not at all uncommon and does not hurt the egg.

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