Uh oh... found an egg today! ... - A journal of sorts, from finding eggs to hatching them... Update

[PeepsCA]

This was my egg turning nightmare 2 seasons in a row (plus 5 more eggs at the front end where there's still more room to use up, lol)... I was doing this with 3 sometimes 4 incubators, but the turners were on and I was just (LOL @ just) hand turning all the extras all the way to day 23. I'd move the hatching eggs over to a separate hatcher when they were ready for lock down tho (hatched out over 300 keets the first time I did this, and over 780 last season). I also rotated all the eggs around (I moved the top row to the bottom, and the bottom row to the top and also moved them all clockwise as frequently as I could...and quickly, lol) to try and make sure they all got somewhat even heating. Needless to say I was moving A LOT of eggs around, ALL the time, lol. I had a system to it and got really efficient at it

I'm still running 3 incubators and a hatcher this season, but so far I have refrained from double stacking any of the incubators... I have no ambition to turn extra eggs this time, lol... or deal with hatches every 4 days and so many brooders going at once either. Once a week is fine this season. I'm selling hatching eggs and supplying my Mom and brother with plenty of eggs for eating this time... instead of hatching every egg I collect, lol.

Wish I would have known about the egg turning studies back when I was turning all those eggs, but if I ever lose my grip on limiting how many eggs I set again I'll have to remember that and save myself some work!

 

[Zootopia]

Wow so the turner still works with all those on top? I'd think it would burn up the motor or catch and jam. Wow!

 

[perchie.girl]

Let me get this straight. The study says egg turning for the first seven days then still is ok for the rest?

This changes my decision to not try to hatch the three guinea eggs I have. I could put the three guinea eggs in with the ten pullet chicken eggs in my incubator then when it comes lock down time for the chickens I can just leave the guineas in the bator ...... I dont have a hatcher so everything is going to happen in the incubator. Then when its time for the guinea eggs to hatch I just bump up the humidity for the guineas for their lock down..... Um... right?

That little Araucana pullet is laying an egg a day. and so far I only have three eggs from the three guinea hens. LOL....

deb

 

[Country Chickens]

Let me get this straight. The study says egg turning for the first seven days then still is ok for the rest?

This changes my decision to not try to hatch the three guinea eggs I have. I could put the three guinea eggs in with the ten pullet chicken eggs in my incubator then when it comes lock down time for the chickens I can just leave the guineas in the bator ...... I dont have a hatcher so everything is going to happen in the incubator. Then when its time for the guinea eggs to hatch I just bump up the humidity for the guineas for their lock down..... Um... right?

That little Araucana pullet is laying an egg a day. and so far I only have three eggs from the three guinea hens. LOL....

deb

That's right. What the study actually showed was that turning beyond day four showed decreasing significance to hatch rates, and after day seven (this is chickens, remember) the difference between turned vs. not turned was negligible. It makes sense, when you think about it. I've always wondered how the chicken knew when to stop turning and put her eggs into 'lockdown' three days before hatch. I get that they've got finely-honed instincts, but still. What it sounds like is she spends her first few days/week being really fidgety on the eggs and shifting them a lot, and settles down over time til she's not turning at all later in the incubation.

So, to answer the question back a page, I have turners in my incubators (just like Peeps) and stack the guinea eggs that are two weeks or less on top. They still get moved just a little as the turners rotate the other eggs, but not much. We have had some trouble with one of our incubators letting the eggs get a little warm, causing early hatches from that incubator. We've turned it down a hair, and are watching the actual egg temps by sometimes opening the bator and pinging the eggs with an ear thermometer. A trick we learned at the same guinea fowl conference where they told us the turning study.

I honestly can't imagine ever being willing to turn eggs by hand--I'd go nuts the first day. So this is my compromise!

Oh, and as for your plan to hatch the guineas and the chickens together, if they hatch close to the same time or the guineas just after, the humidity will be naturally bumped up by the chicks hatching and the release of moisture from their eggs. Otherwise, we hatch our guineas and silkie chicks together all the time, and keep the humidity about 65-70 for both and they do fine. I was really nervous the first time we tried this, but they make great bator buddies! I have heard, however, that some chickens such as the Marans prefer lower humidity at hatch so you might want to double check the breed specs if you're ever doubling up a chicken/guinea hatch.

Just went back and re-read your plan. My only concern with hatching your guineas and chickens the same time if you're setting the same day is an incubator really needs to be cleaned after a hatch. The heat and humidity that incubates the eggs is also just perfect for the incubation and breeding of bacteria. When you add in the hacthing mess...the whole thing needs a good scrub down. Our hatches sometimes span five days, but I personally wouldn't let a hatching bator go longer than about that without cleaning it out.

Hope that helps!

 

[Country Chickens]

I've always been in awe at how many you hatched, knowing how you did it just amazes me! You go!!!

This was my egg turning nightmare 2 seasons in a row (plus 5 more eggs at the front end where there's still more room to use up, lol)... I was doing this with 3 sometimes 4 incubators, but the turners were on and I was just (LOL @ just) hand turning all the extras all the way to day 23. I'd move the hatching eggs over to a separate hatcher when they were ready for lock down tho (hatched out over 300 keets the first time I did this, and over 780 last season). I also rotated all the eggs around (I moved the top row to the bottom, and the bottom row to the top and also moved them all clockwise as frequently as I could...and quickly, lol) to try and make sure they all got somewhat even heating. Needless to say I was moving A LOT of eggs around, ALL the time, lol. I had a system to it and got really efficient at it

I'm still running 3 incubators and a hatcher this season, but so far I have refrained from double stacking any of the incubators... I have no ambition to turn extra eggs this time, lol... or deal with hatches every 4 days and so many brooders going at once either. Once a week is fine this season. I'm selling hatching eggs and supplying my Mom and brother with plenty of eggs for eating this time... instead of hatching every egg I collect, lol.

Wish I would have known about the egg turning studies back when I was turning all those eggs, but if I ever lose my grip on limiting how many eggs I set again I'll have to remember that and save myself some work!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:


Ok.... How about this..... Hatching them at the same time but putting some of that Filter pad for aquariums. Its white and about a half inch thick but air would go right through it Yet any moisture or drippage or crumbs from hatching would land on the matt and might migrate part way through but not the whole way. Pull it and the chicks out and put another in for the guineas. And yes you can get a piece big enough to span the floor of the incubator. They are cut to fit.....

Just thinking on screen here.....

deb

 

[Country Chickens]

Ok.... How about this..... Hatching them at the same time but putting some of that Filter pad for aquariums. Its white and about a half inch thick but air would go right through it Yet any moisture or drippage or crumbs from hatching would land on the matt and might migrate part way through but not the whole way. Pull it and the chicks out and put another in for the guineas. And yes you can get a piece big enough to span the floor of the incubator. They are cut to fit.....

Just thinking on screen here.....

deb

That sounds good to me! Will it provide pretty good grippage for the chicks? They need something their feet won't slip on when they hatch, that's part of the point of wire. But, I've heard of people lining there bator floors with stuff so as long at it will provide traction I'd say you're good to go!

Got a puzzle of my own for you guys. This last batch of keets we hatched was almost all pieds, from the look of it. In the parent flock we have: One pied female who's tight with our ivory male. One white female who hangs with our blonde male. Two pearl girls that are usually with our lavender male but the blonde will pick up one of them once in awhile when the lavender is distracted. We also have one purple female and one lavender, who are just coming of age. The lavender girl has only been laying a little while, and the purple a little longer. Both of them are less likely to have contributed to this hatch, though the purple is possible, and she's been picked up by the blonde male.

What we got are so many pieds--ten or eleven I think out of only twelve or thirteen that hatched--that I keep trying to see purple in some of them but don't think I actually do. What do you guys think? Did we just have every single pied or white egg hatch a pied, and none of the others?


And a second shot, with just some of the keets from the pic above now moved in with our older keets.


What do you guys think? I'm looking for your oracle skills, or great Peeps!

 

[PeepsCA]

Hmmm... a stumper, seems like more colors should have shown up. All I can do is guess on this one:
Your Pied (I'm assuming Pearl Grey?) Hen bred to your Ivory male could produce roughly 50% Pied keets... typically not every egg in a clutch hatches, or the Hen does not lay all her eggs where you've found the majority of them, so there may have been other colors in that hatch. Typically Ivory is very recessive tho.

Your White Hen (that could be split to Pied Pearl Grey so she could be carrying the Pearl Grey gene) bred to any color male (that could be split to Pearl Grey) would hatch out 100% Pied keets... (not necessarily Pied Pearl Grey tho, but that is going to be the most dominant gene if they are both carrying it). And again the not every egg in a clutch hatching factor comes into play here too.


I have similar outcomes with my hatches from my light colors and light colored Pied flock, (including a White Hen)... not a single Pearl Grey or Pied Pearl Grey breeder in the mix, but I get tons of Pied Pearl Grey keets from that flock. So that's my guess, based on my experience, lol

Cute keets, congrats on more babies!

 

[Country Chickens]

Yeah, kinda what I was thinking, but I was hoping I was wrong. It's sometimes hard to remember that just because I'm collecting lots of full-sized eggs from our pearl-to-lavender girls and purple girl now, doesn't mean I was four weeks ago. Back then I'm not sure the purple was laying and the others were still giving us little pullet eggs that probably petered out if they were even fertile. Ah, well. I move over a new bunch of eggs tonight, and every week now, so hopefully soon I'll see something interesting or at least not eternally pied!!! lol

 

[PeepsCA]

Pied isn't a hidden gene, so there always has to be a Pied or White bird in the mix to be makin' Pied babies... and Pearl Grey is like a big black marker leakin' all over everything when you are hoping for more colors, lol (same with the dark color gene in Royal Purple). I got burned out on Pied Pearl Grey keets last year, now the same thing's happening with Pied Brown keets this year from the eggs I'm hatching from my youngest flock, lol (at least Pieds are pretty!). I've started getting lots of Royal Purples lately too, which I'm also burned out on from the previous year from incubating eggs from my free ranger flock, lol. I am sure you will see some other colors eventually tho, I did... (but I had to hatch a bazillion keets!!!)

My waiting lists for keets (and hatching eggs) is getting longer and longer... I shouldn't have skipped a hatch, now it's biting me in the rear for keet sales lol. I've been out of keets to sell since Sunday. My next hatch is going on now, 9 keets have hatched so far (early - day 24), but the rest need to hurry up!