Did I luck out or what?!

PS
Silkiechick...
thanks for the offer and how did your hatch go?

well, french copper blacks i hatched out 4 babies out of 15 eggs. some had rotted had to be thrown, most were scrambled, a couple babies died early in eggs even in 2 day ups ship so needless to say i was a little upset but glad any hatched. i had hatched 2 pairs, yep 2 pairs i was so excited!! later as they grew some only 2 started to have the copper in the hackles, not sure what was up with that. the stock was weak and didn't grow as my other babies i hatched from others did i ended up looseing all 4 of them to failure to thrive so i was furious needless to say nothing i did saved them. so come spring will get more eggs to hatch and try again from a reputable breeder.

i got 4 french cuckoo marans eggs from another breeder and hatched a trio of those that was awesome!! i lost the girls sadly due to bigger girls fighting with them. so i had to change around the baby pen and gave away the youngster rir and buff orps that were killing my smaller pullets. they was just to mean to the girls and i don't know why. the roo did survive they never bothered him and he is pretty big now. i have him in with a pair of welsummers. i hope to get more eggs in spring and hatch them all a bigger flock. they r just about breeding age soon.

i got a chance to get black marans roos 6 of them for $5 ea so i'm going to check them out in the next day or 2 if i get any i will put them in my mixed pen flock for winter. they r about 4mths old. i was thinking about getting mabe 1 or 2 of them for a later flock.

Hatching eggs are always a major gamble.
Thats why I never get truly excited about them.
Buying from unknowns and online auctions reduces the odds even more.
I once purchased 2 doz. Ameraucana eggs and only 2 hatched out!

That sounds like my Ameraucana experience, Cottage_Rose--only I purchased 12 and only two started to develop and only one is still going at 11 days.

I wonder if it something about Ameraucanas--or the breeder? All my Dutch Bantams and most of the Silkie I set at the same time are doing fine.

i bought from a private breeder who was recomended to me on another forum from several people. yep shipped eggs r a gamble but to be honest he was origionally to ship in a few days or a week. i kept getting the run around and took like almost a mth to get them, i think the eggs were to old wich is another gamble ya face too buying from people ya don't know.

the look of the marks on the eggs and look of eggs inside, candled and after hatch cracked open looked like most of the eggs were old, bacteria was in alot of them, some where scrabled to nothing but a total mess inside- if that happeded to 5 all should be that bad if it was shipping. they looked kicked around the coop way to much only a few looked to be fresh before sent. i have gotten hundreds of eggs in and hatched them mabe even 1,000+ (that's not counting all the eggs i've hatched from my birds either so by far i'm not new to hatching)by now and have never had any shipped in look like that or from mine.

i honestly think they were coppers crossed black marans and hatchery stock not private stock purchased from the well known breeder he said. the cuckoos i hatched out from the other private breeder were gorgous and definately fresh. the stock was imaculant compaired to what i paid 6x's more for from him. i contacted him after hatch and got nothing but the run around again, blaimed for my incubator being bad, called basically a newbie to hatching and told how the breed is just hard to hatch, BS marans hatch just the same as other breeds do. i use 2 cabinate GQF's not foam bators like he was useing, i've never had a prob with them even in power outages and being unplugged. so lesson learned and money lost and i'll find a real breeder to get them from with lagit stock.

as for ur Ameraucanas not sure. i know true araucanas have a leathal gene that causes death just before hatch just like japs and seramas do. those r the only 3 breeds i know for sure have that.

I don't think Ameraucanas have a lethal gene. And even the Araucana eggs I got at the same time are doing better than the Ameraucana. I finally contacted the breeder who more or less said she was sorry but her flock was shut down for the winter. But then she emailed me back and offered Blue Andalusians and Sikie eggs for the cost of shipping which I've accepted. I think her Ameraucanas were having a fertility problem for some reason--she's stopped offerring them on eBay.

It is funny how some eggs ship so well and others are duds--I don't think it is always simply shipping. More likely shipping exacerbates weakness due to poor nutrition, low fertility and genetic weakness.

i got a question i've been dieing to ask someone,lol. i hear so many things i'm confused mabe u can tell me but the best i can remember the differences r-

there is true araucanas, EE, americanas(i mght have spelled this wrong but not spelled same as next one) and Ameraucanas right??

the first one is a true purebred rumpless, tufted and muffed with the lethal gene? these r showable.

EE's r mixed a blue egg layer and has slate legs?

isn't americanas purebred also with tuff no muff i think it is and has tail and is showable also?

and Ameraucanas as hatcheries spell it americana x EE's so technically they r EE's too?? i am always confused at how that works. i used to have polish that laid blue eggs it was kool when the girls laid them!! have no idea what ya'd call that one they looked pure polish but hatched frm blue eggs and laid blue eggs,lol.

I think you have it all clear, silkie.

Araucanas and Ameraucanas are both showable. There is actually no such breed as the Americana--so it is either a misspelling of Ameraucana--or it is really just an EE (mutt breed that lays blue eggs) that the hatchery is trying to make sound a bit better than it really is. You could use either the Araucana or the Ameraucana to introduce the gene into any background and then just let it take off from there.

I know the blue egg gene is dominant--I am interested in learning how to introduce the gene into a tinted egg laying breed without ending up with green eggs. I know I have to get rid of the brown egg trait--but I don't know the genetics well enough to proceed in a rational way.

There is also a small breed called the Manx or Persian Rumpless from the Middle East that sometimes lays blue eggs. I wonder if your Polish had some other breed in it far enough back that only the blue egg gene remained. Cool!

awesome, thanks for the info!! i know one of them is misspelled due to the hatchery thing i just wasn't sure which it was and i thought they were EE's too.

yep it is dominant. egg color i believe is deturmined by the roo if i remember right if that helps to know how to breed it. if the male is gened for blue egg and girl is not and that baby grows up should lay blue eggs and if breed back to a blue egger should help cancle out any tint if i'm not mistaken and done enough should clear it to an all blue egg possibly.

hmmm.. some of my showgirls lay light enough eggs(white /light cream) and they r tinted like silkie eggs. i wonder if they could make blue eggs not olives? some lay a tanish color egg i think those layers would turn olive eggs out.

yes i have heard of that breed. i got the polish when i first got into chickens years ago. i was sold the eggs as very rare blue polish eggs. no clue the breeder was sold them the same way. the origional breeder would not tell her how he came about them. polish r white egg layers so intoduceing blue egg gene wouldn't be that hard and then bred back to polish enough could breed out all but the color in the egg i supose. i hatched some from white eggs and some from pretty light blue eggs. when they grew up they looked pure polish but pet quality colors but laid the colors they came from. later when i got heavily into chickens and breeding i sold them as pets cause i thought they were mixed breeds. i wish i still had them though they were really sweet and it was neat to get blue eggs! i've had Amers and EE's before but it was years later and not the same as my quarky polish,rotfl.

Don't have time to blab right now
(or even read all the comments since my last message)
but Silkiechick you might like to read this article I wrote,
"Ameraucana Myths & Facts"
http://groups.msn.com/ABCShareingPlace/ameraucanamythsandfacts.msnw

Re. shipped hatching eggs high failure rate is most likely due to:
~Poor management and condition of breeding stock.
~Eggs are old.
~Eggs get jostled during shipping.

I have well cared for breeding stock and only send out fresh eggs
whenever I've sold hatching eggs.
I've gotten alot of good reports back of high hatch rates,
despite being shipped via the USPS.
Unless you know a breeder personally or they come highly recommended by more than just 1 or 2 people you might as well not waste your time or money on shipped hatching eggs.
Buying from online auctions or unknown parties is a crap shoot.


This message was edited Oct 17, 2008 2:59 PM

Sob--but it is the only game in town!

Amen, sistah!

That's the next bunch of eggs I want to get. Marans. Oh those eggs are sooooooo pretty!!!
I can't wait.
CS

I want some! Does she sell hatching eggs?? They are beautiful!!

Ya she sells hatching eggs but good luck on communicating with her.
You're lucky if she emails you back.
Eggs are $70. a doz.

I emailed her and she is not taking any orders right now. bummer. :(

Sorry about that.
I guess I was just lucky.
Now if some hatch I will be even luckier
since this breeder has some of the best Marans in the U.S.
She's very picky about the birds she uses for breeding,
only selecting the from the ones that lay the darkest eggs.
If I get a pair or trio out of the lot and I will try to hatch out as
many as I can.
I might be able to sell some started Maran chicks in 2009.

Rose I would be interested in some eggs next spring.

I don't know that I would sell hatching eggs since so many of them get ruined when shipped. Seems like a pity to waste them.
Besides I may not even end up with any pullets from the eggs I'm getting or if I only get 1-2 I may not have extra eggs to sell.
I will just have to wait n' see what I get and go from there.
You can always d-mail me in the spring to see whats happening and I will try to post updates on the forum as well.