hatch rate

Chicken incubator

I don’t know which was
more astonishing, the 100% hatch rate (if you don’t count the yolkers)
or the fact that this little guy popped out of his shell in perfect
shape…40 hours after his last
compatriot was already in the
brooder.  In fact, I had meant to autopsy the sole remaining egg
and clean the brooder before the last chick hatched, but I got busy
enjoying the first beautiful weekend of the year and forgot about
it.  Which turns out to be a good thing since this chick was
apparently just a late bloomer and was quite willing to take on the
world.




Day old chickI
headed to
Permaculture
Chicken: Incubation Handbook
‘s “Causes of
incubation-related problems” to see why my
percent
viability
was so low when my hatch rate was so high.  (Yes, I
do refer back to my own books — that’s why I write them.)  With
the added data-point that the yolkers were all from our oldest hens,
especially the cuckoo marans, I concluded that the fault probably lies
in our rooster preferring younger women.  Sounds like I should
probably choose eggs from our younger hens for our second hatch of the
year.


I’m hoping to carry on my
winning streak with 100% survivability by treating our chicks to
clean water from day 1.

Latest Comments

  1. Kevin March 13, 2013
  2. anna March 18, 2013

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