Well, nothing happening with the eggs and so Sunday afternoonGman took one of the eggs and broke it open. It wasn't fertile.
So he took another one...same thing. And so on and so on. He ended up opening 6 eggs! Not one of them fertile.
Maybe my rooster was shooting blanks??? I had read that can happen if it is too cold outside.
We're going to just leave the rest of the eggs in the incubator a couple more days on the off chance that some of them are fertile and just late. Disappointing, to say the least - but an experiment is just that!
Maybe now that the weather is warming up, we could segragate the rooster and a few of the hens and try again.
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8 comments:
You can candle them with a small but strong flashlight. I toss the infertile ones straight away so they don't explode all over the incubator.
You can also tell if you have fertile eggs by cracking a few open before you start collecting incubation.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008
Yes, candling is a good way to know if they are fertile and you're not wasting your time and hydro.
I just put in 3 dozen americana eggs in the incubator yesterday.
Wish me luck!
Oh bummer. But I have heard that daylight length can have an impact on fertility.
Darn I was hoping you would have some chicks by now. Oh well live and learn.
Arrrgh! Oh well! If at first you don't succeed...
Our first hatch went great. Our second, not so good. Our third (quail) was a complete flop! We are on our 2nd attempt at quail now and are hoping for better luck on April 4(ish!)
Aww Annie, I was hoping you were busy with the little chicks by now. Keep trying!
What's your hen to rooster ratio? I've always heard that a rooster can manage up to around 12 hens give or take, but after that he will have problems servicing them all.
Mav
I didn't candle as I was hoping to get surprised. Next time, we will candle I guess.
Hen to rooster ratio was 1 roo to 7 hens, that part should have been OK.
I am wondering if it was because the weather was too cold. We will try again in a month or so, things are warming up.
Good luck to you all who are hatching now! Let us know how it goes!!
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