Zodiac Hatch-A-Long - Waxing Moon in Fruitful Signs HAL

[bamadude]

Alan Jackson "midnight in montgomery"

 

[Ravynscroft]

Alan Jackson "midnight in montgomery"

He's always singing there...

 

[hockeydad6791]

I've had good luck with pulled eggs. I think they ship better than older hens eggs.

I hatched my very first eggs ever. Had excellent results. The crap about waiting for hen eggs is a retarded myth. My cockerals do the job a few weeks before the first eggs are ever laid. My best stock has came from the very first egg laid.

Sweet

 

[chickadoodles]

I set 16 shipped turkey eggs yesterday about 3. But I did not them them until the mail ran at 12.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

YAY!!!! Go eggs Go!!!!!

No idea how those pullet eggs'll do, that's why I sent the extra extras, lol...

I hatched my very first eggs ever. Had excellent results. The crap about waiting for hen eggs is a retarded myth. My cockerals do the job a few weeks before the first eggs are ever laid. My best stock has came from the very first egg laid.

Here's all I know about the subject.
It is true that many people hatch from pullet eggs all the time with no problems.
It's also true that the smaller chicks from small pullet eggs will usually catch up in size by a year or so.
So what are reasons not to do it?

A chicken deposits about 2 grams of calcium in an egg - regardless of age. So a pullet egg shell will be thicker than one from a mature hen and possibly more difficult to escape from.

There is clearly less albumen and a smaller yolk. That means less nutrition. Mammal babies can get all the nutrition they need from the mother and the abdomen can grow to accommodate. Once that egg is laid, that's all the nutrition and space there will ever be.

I've had old timers tell me that continuing to hatch from pullet eggs will decrease egg sizes in subsequent generations.

On the other hand, albumen quality is better with young birds than older hens.

IMHO it depends upon how big the egg is supposed to be based on the breed. Eggs from the breed I raise are supposed to be 65 grams or larger. I've always tried to set eggs that were 55 grams or larger.
Then I had a predator massacre and only 3 mature hens survived. The pullets had just started laying eggs so I decided to set every egg I could get reducing my low weight limit to 45 grams. Now that those birds have matured (they're almost a year old), I see the results. Unlike past generations that started laying larger eggs by about 8 or 9 months of age, the eggs are still in the small/medium/large range rather than the XL and jumbo they should be by now.
That probably wouldn't matter to most backyard chicken people or even noticeable to those with multiple breeds. But since I've eliminated all other breeds, it's very noticeable to me. And since I'm breeding to a standard, egg and bird size is an important part of that standard.
I'm now paying much closer attention to egg size when I set and track results through adulthood and generations to follow.
I group eggs by sire, egg color and egg size. I'm tracking eggs in the 50-55 gram, 55-60 gram, 60-70 gram and 70+ ranges. In those ranges I'm checking hatch rates, chick survivability and weights. I'm weighing every 10 days for a month then monthly. In adulthood these hens are supposed to be 4.4-5.3 lbs. and cocks 5-6.6 lbs. I had been shooting to be at the high end of that range so we'll see what the future holds.

ETA
Hoping to have hens laying in trap nests in the next month so my data keeping will get kicked up another notch or two.
I'll then know which hens are laying the darkest eggs, best production, largest eggs and then track their progeny.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15869849

 

[hockeydad6791]

Here's all I know about the subject.
It is true that many people hatch from pullet eggs all the time with no problems.
It's also true that the smaller chicks from small pullet eggs will usually catch up in size by a year or so.
So what are reasons not to do it?

A chicken deposits about 2 grams of calcium in an egg - regardless of age. So a pullet egg shell will be thicker than one from a mature hen and possibly more difficult to escape from.

There is clearly less albumen and a smaller yolk. That means less nutrition. Mammal babies can get all the nutrition they need from the mother and the abdomen can grow to accommodate. Once that egg is laid, that's all the nutrition and space there will ever be.

I've had old timers tell me that continuing to hatch from pullet eggs will decrease egg sizes in subsequent generations.

IMHO it depends upon how big the egg is supposed to be based on the breed. Eggs from the breed I raise are supposed to be 65 grams or larger. I've always tried to set eggs that were 55 grams or larger.
Then I had a predator massacre and only 3 mature hens survived. The pullets had just started laying eggs so I decided to set every egg I could get reducing my low weight limit to 45 grams. Now that those birds have matured (they're almost a year old), I see the results. Unlike past generations that started laying larger eggs by about 8 or 9 months of age, the eggs are still in the small/medium/large range rather than the XL and jumbo they should be by now.
That probably wouldn't matter to most backyard chicken people or even noticeable to those with multiple breeds. But since I've eliminated all other breeds, it's very noticeable to me. And since I'm breeding to a standard egg and bird size is an important part of that standard.
I'm now paying much closer attention to egg size when I set and track results through adulthood and generations to follow.
I group eggs by sire, egg color and egg size. I'm tracking eggs in the 50-55 gram, 55-60 gram, 60-70 gram and 70+ ranges. In those ranges I'm checking hatch rates, chick survivability and weights. I'm weighing every 10 days for a month then monthly. In adulthood these hens are supposed to be 4.4-5.3 lbs. and cocks 5-6.6 lbs. I had been shooting to be at the high end of that range so we'll see what the future holds.

Very interesting. I just hope a couple hatch so I can see the diff she sent mature bird eggs also

 

[hockeydad6791]

I set 16 shipped turkey eggs yesterday about 3. But I did not them them until the mail ran at 12. 

I let my shipped eggs set for a day or two before I put them in the bator. This is my second attempt at shipped eggs. Gl to you on your hatch

 

[hockeydad6791]

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers on here.

 

[chicken pickin]

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers on here.

X2

And Thank You!

 

[chickadoodles]

Thank you hockeydad.