Trying my hand at hatching pullet eggs

[theuglychick]

I have 3 pullets laying who up until yesterday were breeding with my Cream Legbar Rooster. 2 are CLs and one a Maran. I had rehomed the rooster yesterday because he was getting a little too cocky to have around children. I wanted more CLs off of the ones I had so I have a dozen or so eggs from the last week and will collect a few more while I'm working out the kinks on my incubator. I'm going to start them this weekend. I'll Update as the hatch progresses. I'm not overly optimistic as these have only been breeding and laying a little over a month and this is my first incubator hatch. But here we go!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Good luck with your eggs and hatch, I hope it all works out for you

 

[theuglychick]

Thank you!

 

[theuglychick]

Update: 4 days in. So far, as I add water to the sponge in the bater each day, I grab an egg out and candle it. All eggs were showing dark blobs on day 2 so it looks like they are fertile. A couple yesterday looked like they had embryos, even the smallest first egg from my Andalusian. I'll be at Day 8 on Friday and will candle all then and update.

I had a cream legbar cockeral over CL pullets, andalusians, an Easter Egger who isn't laying yet, and 2 marans. There's also some tan eggs that can be Buff Orpingtons (most likely) or light Brahms's.

There's right over, or at two dozen eggs in a third hand little giant 9300 still air incubator. I put them in 12/23 and 12/24. The hygrometer appears broken, so I'm keeping a damp sponge in there until my new hygrometer arrives Friday.

Realistically, I don't have very high expectations for these eggs, just a training batch. But who knows? I'll update Friday on day 8.

 

[theuglychick]

UPDATE!

Today was day 7 and I did the first candle. I have 26 eggs and numbered them 1-27... yea, I know, somewhere I misnumbered. Anyway out of all, there were only 3 that I was uncertain of. The rest showed signs of viability with good veining and egg cells. Some had a perfect embryo. 3 I couldn't see much due to the shell or just wasn't sure in general at what I was or wasn't seeing.

Here are some pics of them.

Marans egg

Cream legbar

Legbar egg that was questionable, looks like there might be some development in it but not sure. Any egg-sperts want to weigh in?

Blue egg that was questionable

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

That's great news

Your legbar and blue egg look like they could have a blood ring but looking from pics can be hard to determine for sure. Don't be disappointed though as they could be still viable so leave them in and recheck on day 14. I have had this happen before when you I have thought they were quitters only to find out they were all good on day 14. Anything your unsure of leave in and recheck.

 

[theuglychick]

Thank you so much for the great advice! I will recheck and update on day 14!

 

[theuglychick]

While adding water to the incubator I grabbed my number 4 questionable egg and candled it again. The suspense nearly killed me. It's definitely changed some since yesterday, the area in question has grown and become more prominent. It looks like it's grown in size. Do blood rings grow? I THINK I see webbing developing, the pic isn't great. The worrisome part is that it is a perfect ring. I'm still holding out hope. The other questionables showed more development and I feel better about those as well. Going to let it cook till day 14.

 

[theuglychick]

UPDATE: Well, at some point in the day or night my incubator stopped working and all the eggs were cold.

The thermostat said the temp was 100 and it was running, but I could tell it wasn't working because the eggs weren't warm like they had been every other day. I couldn't get it to work and didn't feel like I could trust it anymore if it were to start working.

The few eggs I candled had blood rings in that were viable when candled the day before. Lesson learned: third hand incubators are not the way to go.

Those were the last of my fertile eggs since I got rid of my rooster a week or so ago. I have two cockeral chicks in the brooder so maybe by the time they're old enough to breed I'll have a good old fashioned broody. One of my light brahmas seems interested in the idea.

Best of luck to all the others out there hatching.

 

[chickens really]

UPDATE: Well, at some point in the day or night my incubator stopped working and all the eggs were cold.

The thermostat said the temp was 100 and it was running, but I could tell it wasn't working because the eggs weren't warm like they had been every other day. I couldn't get it to work and didn't feel like I could trust it anymore if it were to start working.

The few eggs I candled had blood rings in that were viable when candled the day before. Lesson learned: third hand incubators are not the way to go.

Those were the last of my fertile eggs since I got rid of my rooster a week or so ago. I have two cockeral chicks in the brooder so maybe by the time they're old enough to breed I'll have a good old fashioned broody. One of my light brahmas seems interested in the idea.

Best of luck to all the others out there hatching.

Thats too bad........I bought a new one for spring...paid $300 for it from my Hatchery I use.......

Right now I have two Broody Hens setting Duck eggs in my Garage.....Might Work? Might not?.....Not a BIG DEAL ....I am only letting them set because I got tired of them going Broody two weeks after I broke them....Silly Chickens....It is Winter...Silly Ducks, BREEDING .......LOL!


Cheers!