A, B, C class seramas?

[PQ]

HI we have class B's we have got larger and smaller birds when hatching just as any other breed of animal. Though as Buck Creek Chickens said if you pair them small most will be smaller but you can get a bigger bird at any point.... but here is something to think about that bigger bird will still be smaller then your other breeds.
So if you want a higher chance of having a smaller bird ask the size of the breeders birds. Also about fertility the smaller the less fertile.
I have not had the handling problem with our eggs as Buck Creek Chickens has had though we candle and the kids touch them through out incubation. I will have to try the other way and see how the hatch turns out, always great to have new ideas. We get about a 90* hatch rate here.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
Speaking of.....candled the eggies from you....ALL are still doing perfect

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I treat my eggs like any other for temp and humidty, just don't touch. Here I get 95% + with my eggs, more like 99%

Paula

 

[SeramaLife]

I started out with only 2 A hens. I incubated 36 eggs of theirs and not one hatched. I could hear them peeping in the shell as they grew too big to grow but were still not ready to hatch. I don't use A breeders anymore. Now I help any chicks that I hear peep from any size egg. So far the only ones I have lost are the ones I don't help.

 

[cms1113]

Quote:
At what point do you help them?

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

If you help to much you'll end up with week chickens, the only time I help is if my humidty drops and they get stuck. Paula

 

[Guinea Goonie]

We insist on Class A ONLY. They are classed by weight mostly.

Why hatch out (and it is a big deal) class B chicks ?

Seramas can be very expensive, but the Class B Seramas do not bring nearly the money.

A nice hen and rooster can bring up to 250 bucks and really no one wants to rid themselves of their Class A Seramas, it is just rare to see them up for sale.

They usually get a few hens and a nice roo and sell the eggs with NO guarantee of fertility or class or color. They just say they come from a Class A hen and roo.

They are hard to hatch and yes you HAVE to be diligent and a great many of them HAVE to be helped out of the zip.

Humidity is CRITICAL with these guys and any one who sells eggs will tell you this.

Also one is NOT suppose to handle them during incubation. A one time candling when they go from the turner to the hatch is all that is needed.

I mark the ones will good air sacks and worry about the ones that do not have a good one. These chicks are TINY and extra care has to be taken. We grind up the starter in a coffee grinder and use darn near flat plates for watering.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

a good breeding 'B' can bring a good price, I've a 'B' rooster that is papa to almost all 'A's, and I don't have to help. My hatch rates are great. I've got a 2 week old babie thats the size of a quarter, and papa is a 'B'

 

[tingle]

A lot of the breeders here keep the humidity at 45 all the way and dont stop turning until the eggs pipped I am going to try this as I havnt had any luck conventional way

 

[TommyVT05]

Hatching eggs are a gambel but evidence and statistic shows that its often better to get them from smaller parents than larger parents obviously. No matter what, the parents gene always play a role, even if its not MUCH.

Yes, eggs from A parents won't produce all A chicks BUT, if that particular parent have been known to produce most "A" to small "B" chicks, its safe to say the eggs are A/B average. Can't claim one over the other but sometimes there is the oddball of C but since that doesn't happen much, it could not be excused.

My point in all this is...if the breeding birds you are using are KNOWN to produce small offsprings and have had many different generation offsprings to enforce that proof (pedigree), then great! Otherwise, if its your first clutch of eggs or your second only and you claim the eggs to be Class As, or Bs for that matter,...then thats obviously non-accurate.

Take some of my breeders for example. Some of my breeders have produced A to B chicks for a while now and by the 6th generation of offsprings, I could safely conclude what are the likelyhood of getting A/B chicks versus the C oddball. Ratio is 15:1 almost so there you have it!...1 C chick out of the usual 15 chick is the probability.

So there you have it...