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

[bamadude]

CC: some of those eggs look pretty dark to me.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks. Each generation gets better but IMO the mink slaughter put me back at least 2 years.

Other important characteristics like the white ear lobe (only they and Empordanesa have them in brown egg layers) and the carnation comb are pretty nice too.
While trying to get all that right, I'm working toward a slightly heavier bird to justify it being called dual purpose. Also, keeping up with good egg production of large-jumbo eggs. Heavy birds work against heavy production genetically.

For the record they're laying machines except for their early winter break.

 

[chickadoodles]

CC that was just terrible that, that happened to all your birds.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It almost made me want to give up. I remember Oz saying that after a particularly awful setback.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

CC: some of those eggs look pretty dark to me.

I'm pretty sure that, if well selected, genetically they have the capacity to produce some pretty spectacular eggs.

An old farmer told me he saw a picture in a poultry magazine a couple years ago of Penedesenca eggs from a flock in England and he said they were almost black.
They're supposed to be an intense reddish maroon. It will be a tall order but would be sweet to eventually put Marans eggs to shame.
I bought eggs from 3 varieties of Marans from supposedly famous lines a couple years ago that weren't dark at all 2 were like a Rock egg and one was just slightly dark.
Just goes to show how quickly quality can be lost.

 

[bamadude]

Dont give up. After reading up on that breed...I am a fan. Seems like a small gene pool to work with too.
Good Luck CC. Im rooting for your hatch

 

[butterfliesdoku]

I have a few questions. At how many days do you guys do the first candling and what would a high humidity do? I tried searching around for the effects of high humidity but all I got was humidity guidelines and "help my humidity level went up to ___" threads.

 

[Alaskan]

I like a low humidity during incubation... 30% or lower, but always higher than 15%.

OK... do I set my quail today???? or tomorrow?

don't ask me to calculate.... incubation is 18 days.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

High humidity won't allow the egg to lose as much weight as it should by moisture transpiring the pores.
The air cell would be small if it continues too long.

I sometimes candle at a week but I'm not a candling nut like many people. Mostly because I can't see anything but an air cell anyway.

In addition to monitoring humidity with a hygrometer or wet bulb thermometer or candling, you can weigh the eggs and they should lose about 0.65% weight per day. You can graph the weight on a chart then and tell if they're losing too much or too little.
All eggs are not created equal.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I like a low humidity during incubation... 30% or lower, but always higher than 15%.

OK... do I set my quail today???? or tomorrow?

don't ask me to calculate.... incubation is 18 days.

2 PM Saturday to 10 PM Monday so anytime Sunday would be the sweet spot.