International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[kcrandall]

Keith, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Here are the things I think I did right:
-The eggs I used were free from poop/dirt and unwashed.
-they were no more than a week old.
- I kept them in my cool basement pantry that stays a pretty consistent temp.
- I sanitized my incubator.
- I used a separate thermometer inside the incubator( reading the reviews on my incubator, the number one complaint was the digital temp displayed is way off)
- kept a pretty consisted temp of 99.5-100 (after the first 24 hrs of too low of temps, oops!)

Things I did wrong: (some of which I didn't know about until you taught me!)
-I didn't know eggs were suppose to be turned while stored!
-I didn't weigh eggs and didn't know they were suppose to be a certain weight.
-I used tap water in the incubator.
- I did struggle some, getting the humidity stable. And since the digital incubator temp on it is way off, the humidity could be too.
- I candled too much. On days 5, 7, 10, 14 and 18 when I took the automatic turner out and laid them on their sides.

Honestly, the BCM eggs were just too dark to see anything with candling..

I feel like I can fix a lot of things and do a better job next time! Thanks for the info and help, Keith!

--Elise

@Song girl 11,

You can incubate eggs of any size but most breeders have found that eggs in the 65-70 gram size optimal for incubating. I don’t candle BCM Eggs because they are too dark for me to really see any development. Since 3 of your BCM Eggs died Days 4-7 my guess is that some foreign body worked its way into the egg or something went wrong with the development of the chicks so nature selected them for termination. I don’t think humidity levels had anything to do with it that early in the incubation stage. Sounds like you did a lot of things correct so with a few tweeks here and there you should see better hatch rates.

Take Care,
Keith

 

[kcrandall]

why is the hatch rate with broody hens so low? I had 100% hatch rate all 3 times I hatched with broodies. hens were buff orpington, silkie and greek hooded hen.

@chickengr,

Honestly, I’m not sure why my broody hatch rates have been so low. That has been my experience with my Marans Hens. I live in North Texas so it could just be the environment here - in Texas it has been known to go from 85F to below freezing in the same day.

Keith

 

[Song girl 11]

Congrats on the hatch! Marans eggs are so thick. They have a difficult time hatching. Moisture doesn't escape if humidity is too high. I hatch at 30% to 35% humidity for Marans eggs. I have found when moisture is to high the chicks many times make it into aircell but not enough air. They either die before they make a air hole or are just too weak by the time they make the hole. They can also drown with smaller aircell and extra liquid in egg from humidity being high. With a little tweaking I am sure your Marans egg hatch rate will improve.

Thanks for the advice. I tried to keep humidity at 50% but is did fluctuate up and down a lot. I will try lowering humidity next time.

 

[kcrandall]

Thanks for the advice. I tried to keep humidity at 50% but is did fluctuate up and down a lot. I will try lowering humidity next time.

@Song girl 11,

In North Texas our natural humidity levels can range from 45-80% outside. Inside humidity will be lower since we have Central AC. Next breeding season I’m going to try 30% humidity for the the first 18 days then 65% for the final 3 days. I wouldn’t think you would want to be over 40% humidity for the first 18 days.

Keith

 

[marchick]

@Song girl 11,

In North Texas our natural humidity levels can range from 45-80% outside. Inside humidity will be lower since we have Central AC. Next breeding season I’m going to try 30% humidity for the the first 18 days then 65% for the final 3 days. I wouldn’t think you would want to be over 40% humidity for the first 18 days.

Keith

It worked for me but you will have to try and see how it works for you. Please let me know how it does. I am really interested in your results. Thank you!

 

[Song girl 11]

@Song girl 11,

In North Texas our natural humidity levels can range from 45-80% outside. Inside humidity will be lower since we have Central AC. Next breeding season I’m going to try 30% humidity for the the first 18 days then 65% for the final 3 days. I wouldn’t think you would want to be over 40% humidity for the first 18 days.

Keith

I'm in Utah, and we're usually pretty dry here! 26% humidity the last several days. Although we've had an interesting spring. It rained nearly every day for two straight months! Felt like I was in Washington!

 

[Chooks man]

I am thinking to make dog's run like that. can you post some pics please.

still working on it .I ll post photos this coming Tuesday .

chooks man

 

[marchick]

I'm in Utah, and we're usually pretty dry here! 26% humidity the last several days. Although we've had an interesting spring. It rained nearly every day for two straight months! Felt like I was in Washington!

That depends on which side of Washington you are talking about. Seattle side of the cascades it rains all the time. I am from the other side where it is very dry. It is funny there is a sign welcoming everyone to the evergreen state. For miles and miles nothing but dry land.

 

[Chooks man]

few photos of the dog run I m building .finished wiring now .I started screening it with a bamboo screen to stop the wind .the run is on the south side of the property where is windy .

the front ward from the East side .

from those 2 trees to the other end of the run is 70m

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

the west side end .
still a lot work to do .

chooks man