we got some rare/ unusal/ prity chicks from a hatchery last may. next sping we would like to create some cool mixed breeds. how long do we have to separate the chickens we want to breed in order to be sure the egg hatches into the breed we want?
breeding question
The story on the street is ONE FULL MONTH. can't remember the reference, but there are several threads that mention this. If I find 'em I'll post.
if they have not been in with a roo it takes anywhere from 3-7 days to lay fertile eggs. if they r in with several roos any of the roos can father the babies. if u had them in with a male and seperated to another specific male min 3 weeks from the time they seperate to pure the breed to hatch what u r wanting. i wait 3-4 weeks.
silkie
I'm with Silkie! What she said!
Sheila
lets complicate this just a wee bit more.. 19 hens 1 roo.. what are the chances of any one egg being fertle.. (I know... all 19 COULD be..right) how long would I let sit under a hen before candling? I slipped a BO under Advil today.. yesterday was her first full day sitting.. she never moved..
{{{{{try the freaky needle thing}}}}}
my guess would be probably 75% or higher being fertile and yes could be 100% fertile. i've had 2 boys in with about 15 hens in a few pens and had them 100% fertile here at home. i would say it depends on how active he is with them. my roos r all 1.5 years old and younger so they r very frisky but an older roo depending on age might not be able to service that many girls. there maybe girls he prefers though and some he won't mate or he may make rounds over days to sometimes they do that also.
with a broody u usaually add 2 days from the time they start to constantly sit to figure incubation to start. as early as 3 days after that i've had few candle veins and as much as up to 9 days had them develope veins. in a bator u count incubation to start 24 hours after set in bator to start counting the days. either way u should see fertile veins no later than day 10.
THANK YOU!!!! nice to know!!!:)
one more question, what if I bump the egg... not drop it.. but bump it on the side of the light box... agghh, I could have died.. no cracks or anything, just me having a heart attack.
suddenly that egg was no longer breakfast, it is something that should not be on the outside of the little ladies body until its done!
ya mean is it still safe to try to hatch under the broody? if that was the question yes as long as it is not cracked, oozeing, shaken so bad ya here the inside glob it still has an excellent chance to hatch and no a gentle bump would not hurt it, sometimes even heirline cracked when repaired can still hatch. even if it was hard enough to break the air cell inside (or a tac eggs as some call them)it still has a 50/50 chance to hatch.
i have hatched eggs my 5 year old who is legally blind nocked off the table accidently. 3 dz had dropped on the floor all 10 guinea eggs did not break and covered in egg i washed all in hot water fast and dried fast and 8 babies hatched perfect. 5 silkie/showgirls eggs didn't break total covered in egg washed them also and 3 babies hatched. everyone of the other eggs smashed all over my carpeted kitchen floor. i was heart broken but i set the ones i could just incase and i still got babies so it's always worth a try.
wow.. what horror stories.. nahh, I just gave it an oh so gentle bump.. compared to what your saying.. lol
lol, u should be good to go then. mine went through the war. i was happy when one hatched but that many to make it was awesome!! i think the guineas eggs r armour plated though,lol and those were even shipped in eggs at that. the others were from my girls.
Question:
What does one do when an egg breaks in the 'bator? I can't pull out the eggs that are in the 'bator because I am afraid I will cool them down and I can't get to the mess to clean it up.
Dang it.
CS
Most places I have read that it is fine to open the 'bator for up to 15 minutes at a time until day 18. This is because the mother hen gets up and goes for a bite to eat and a poopsie-doopsie once a day and takes 10-15 minutes. Therefore, I would put a nice fluffy towel in the clothes dryer on warm for about 10 minutes, then quickly pop it into a box, take the clean eggs out, put them on the warm towel (if you like put a warm heating pad under it, but not too hot) and then clean your bator - shouldn't take more than 10 minutes I wouldn't think - and put everything back. If you are concerned, blow warm air into it for a minute with a hair dryer to warm up the inside air so it takes less time to warm up to temp. Shouldn't be a big issue.
If it's after day 18, I'd wait.
Claire
yep that's what i do and i used to dry the bator in the hot sun air dry but i learned blow drying it works faster,lol. clean it with 10 percent bleach water also. i agree with claire.