Incubating too many eggs...

[LittleBirb]

Last month, my rooster (pic attached) died to a bobcat. He was a good boy who took care of his flock, and I miss him. Since I am now without a rooster, I wanted the chance to hatch a few eggs and raise some of his offspring. I would like a rooster, but can only have one (suburban but outside city limits, limited coop space), so hatching eggs is definitely a gamble...

I was originally planning on hatching just 2 chicks, one for each of my broody hens (who just won't quit!). That would leave me with just a 25% chance of an "undesirable" hatch (two roos).

I read that some hens may only retain sperm for 7-10 days, and some hens can even reject a rooster's sperm. My rooster was also a tad clumsy and frequently fell off the hens while attempting to mate them...

All that said, I honestly wasn't sure if the eggs would all be fertile. I also wanted to prepare for "quitters" and early embryonic death, plus chicks that failed to hatch. I put 8 eggs in my incubator.

My incubation parameters were fluctuating wildly during the first 7 days of incubation as I learned how to use the incubator. I thought I must have killed the eggs. This has been my first time incubating eggs.

Somehow, we're here at day 11 and all eight eggs appear to be viable and developing. I candled them on day 8 and thought one might be a dud, but today it seemed to be developed All of them have dark shadows and I can clearly see veins. I even saw pulsing movement in some of the eggs (https://photos.app.goo.gl/fgZoSzcyj2kuZQEj8).

I'm now faced with a decision that it very difficult...

1. Remove some of the eggs before day 13 (development of pain reception)?
2. Attempt to hatch them all? I don't know what I'd do with the extra roosters. I don't use Facebook or know anyone who would want them. They are mixed breed chicks so I'm not even sure anyone would want them. They are bantams (Silkie, EE, Belgian d'Uccle X Green Queen).

I think what I need to do is pull the cord on a few of them, but it feels so difficult. They're alive because I put them in there. I feel irresponsible for what I've done without being properly prepared.

 

[Altairsky]

Keep them all. You'll think about extra roosters later.
Remember that you might not hatch even one rooster at all.
I haven't been able to hatch a single rooster in my last 2 clutches. Luck maybe, but I haven't tasted a single rooster nugget in 2 years.
And females here sell too well (60+$ each for laying hens) to be turned into food.

 

[LittleBirb]

Keep them all. You'll think about extra roosters later.
Remember that you might not hatch even one rooster at all.
I haven't been able to hatch a single rooster in my last 2 clutches. Luck maybe, but I haven't tasted a single rooster nugget in 2 years.
And females here sell too well (60+$ each for laying hens) to be turned into food.

That's quite impressive! At the same time, I could hatch all roos. That's small sample sizes at play I guess!

Did you have a 100% hatch rate or did your hatches just trend female?

My current flock is just 4 birds. I think my coop could probably handle 8-10 (bantams). An additional 8 is probably out of the question. I need to pare it down somehow...

 

[Ladybird CA]

I relate to your post. Rooster died last month and I’m incubating his eggs. I’m selling most of them at auctions and buy, sell, trade events.

 

[Altairsky]

60% first, 100% second.

Did you have a 100% hatch rate or did your hatches just trend female?

 

[Debbie292d]

Last month, my rooster (pic attached) died to a bobcat. He was a good boy who took care of his flock, and I miss him. Since I am now without a rooster, I wanted the chance to hatch a few eggs and raise some of his offspring. I would like a rooster, but can only have one (suburban but outside city limits, limited coop space), so hatching eggs is definitely a gamble...

I was originally planning on hatching just 2 chicks, one for each of my broody hens (who just won't quit!). That would leave me with just a 25% chance of an "undesirable" hatch (two roos).

I read that some hens may only retain sperm for 7-10 days, and some hens can even reject a rooster's sperm. My rooster was also a tad clumsy and frequently fell off the hens while attempting to mate them...

All that said, I honestly wasn't sure if the eggs would all be fertile. I also wanted to prepare for "quitters" and early embryonic death, plus chicks that failed to hatch. I put 8 eggs in my incubator.

My incubation parameters were fluctuating wildly during the first 7 days of incubation as I learned how to use the incubator. I thought I must have killed the eggs. This has been my first time incubating eggs.

Somehow, we're here at day 11 and all eight eggs appear to be viable and developing. I candled them on day 8 and thought one might be a dud, but today it seemed to be developed All of them have dark shadows and I can clearly see veins. I even saw pulsing movement in some of the eggs (https://photos.app.goo.gl/fgZoSzcyj2kuZQEj8).

I'm now faced with a decision that it very difficult...

1. Remove some of the eggs before day 13 (development of pain reception)?
2. Attempt to hatch them all? I don't know what I'd do with the extra roosters. I don't use Facebook or know anyone who would want them. They are mixed breed chicks so I'm not even sure anyone would want them. They are bantams (Silkie, EE, Belgian d'Uccle X Green Queen).

I think what I need to do is pull the cord on a few of them, but it feels so difficult. They're alive because I put them in there. I feel irresponsible for what I've done without being properly prepared.

View attachment 4097484

He's very pretty. Sorry for your loss.

For your goal of one rooster, given the factors at play to get that one rooster, I'd have probably done very close, if not the same thing. When they hatch, it'd be nicer for you to have a couple of roosters so you could pick out the one you want. He is a frizzle, and it takes a couple of days to tell which ones are frizzed anyway. Depending on whose eggs you set, you may get a couple of roosters that don't look anything like him, but one that does.

I am in a few poultry groups for my area/state on Facebook and have peddled many a rooster that way. You could make an account there just for that reason, then delete it.

You could also post them on Craiglist in the farm/garden section, or take pictures of them and pin them up in the places in town that you can put up ads, like in grocery stores mostly I think I've seen them.

I wish you the best.

 

[mcdze]

just part of it .. i typically will incubate 3 times as many as i actually want .. chicks are generally easy to give away, so i try to set that up as i get started, 'never' had an issue unloading just hatched chicks .. now out of the ones i keep if sex is an unapparent breed, i'll keep a couple of extras to be sure i wind up with what i ultimately want, for 12 or less hens, only one roo .. so if i wind up with several roos i'll first attempt to ask around if anyone wants, then cull .. its best to keep that under 6 weeks, they 'go to sleep' easily .. its usually a loud and hard process to cull a mature roo, i recommend not letting that happen ..

 

[Ladybird CA]

how do you euthanize by getting them to sleep?

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

We always need a plan for the excess boys, wether it be eating them, giving away for someone else to eat or just culling them. Otherwise I would not be hatching if I did not have a plan. Hoping is not a plan.

 

[C Siena]

We always need a plan for the excess boys, wether it be eating them, giving away for someone else to eat or just culling them. Otherwise I would not be hatching if I did not have a plan. Hoping is not a plan.

I have been able to do trades with cockerels, 2 for 1 pullet. Still I have culled and am ready to do so again.
We just hatched 16 and are hoping for at least 7-8 pullets. More is good but I wanted to hatch an amount of eggs to possibly have 4-10 pullets. I'll find out how the genetics of our 2 roosters are doing. I'll see if the odds of # of females to males are close to the same in the next hatch.