As mentioned in a previous post we ordered Lavender Orpington hatching eggs from Chicken Scratch Poultry which shipped on March 31st and arrived on April 2. After allowing them to sit for about 16 hours (it is good to allow the eggs 12-24 hours to sit after arriving to allow the air cell to settle) we placed them in the incubator.
We ordered 7 eggs but they sent 8 so we candled the eggs and decided on the one we felt was least viable and placed it in our second incubator to give that one a test run.
We are now on day 8, so we are into the second trimester. We candled on day 6 and we had definite embryo development with veining so we are hopeful for at least a 60% hatch rate this time like we had the first time around. Obviously we would love to have a much higher rate but 50%-60% is average for shipped hatching eggs due to a number of factors associated with shipping. We will keep you updated. Look for our future post that will delve into more of the details of incubating. We will also address brooding and keeping newly hatched chicks soon. Hang in there and keep following. We have some great stuff lined up over the next few weeks.