Good Morning! <=2017

[Ontario Chick]

Good evening,
Final tally one chick, I guess the broody left the nest with the ONE chick and abandoned the eggs just long enough to stop the hatch.
So I need a ONE Splash rooster, what are the chances IT is going to be HE ? and how often does it happen that one wishes for a rooster? :)

[Killerbunny]

Are they dottes? Does Autumn have any or is that just Ameraucanas?

[JimW]

I am really curious to hear about your experience Jim,
I am taking eggs there next week, staying overnight, as it's too much for me to do the 6hour round trip in one day, but DH will have to do the pick up of "hopefully" chicks and that has to be done in one day and the pick up is Thursday between 2:30 - 5:30, they must be pretty sure the hatch is done? That kind of certainty for a backyard breeder, with the 22 &23 day hatches being the norm is a bit mind boggling.

Well I made my road trip today to Mill Pond Hatchery, 5 hours plus round trip plus I have another stop that made it longer as well.

Picked up my 25 White Rock meat chicks, 26 actually, they all look nice and healthy. I ordered them without even asking the cost, they were cheap, just over a buck each. For custom hatching I dropped off 79 eggs of various breeds (BC marans, houdans, cream legbars, ayam cemani, olive eggers and green eggers (bielefelder x legbar) I ended up piking up 59 chicks. Which I was very happy with!!! Since I knew the drive down there transporting the eggs might have a bit of an impact, plus, all my cemani have had not great hatch rates and hatched on day 22 or 23, so I was worried I would get no cemani. I have not actually counted how many of each breed but I did get 7 cemani chicks out of 8 eggs, so very happy!!! All in all very please with dealing with Mill Pond and I will definitely use them again.

On my way home I made a quick stop and a breeder to pick up a few call duck ducklings.... some how a few ended up being 10. So 85 new chicks and 10 ducklings, I would say a very successful trip.

JimW

[Ontario Chick]

Thank you for your comprehensive report Jim, I feel better about the whole thing now :)

Are they dottes? Does Autumn have any or is that just Ameraucanas?

Just Ameraucanas.

[JimW]

Yes OC I would not hesitate to use Mill Pond to custom hatch for me again in the future. It is a bit of a drive but price is cheap and seems to be a good operation.

I just counted my chicks (after they hatched, lol) from Mill Pond and my totals are....

21 out of 25 eggs cream legbar (looks like 15 girls, 6 boys!!!)
4 out of 5 eggs Mottled Houdans
7 out of 8 eggs ayam cemani
10 out of 11 eggs Bielefelder x Legbar (looks like 5 girls and 5 boys)
5 out of 13 eggs Olive eggers (BC marans x Ameraucana)
12 out of 18 eggs BC Marans.

Some of the Olive Eggers and BC marans eggs were older eggs from a cancelled order, so I expected a lower hatch rates. Very happy with overall hatch rate.

JimW

[Killerbunny]

Sounds excellent Jim!

OK a word of warning to those who have turkeys and love Irises! DO NOT plant white irises just outside the turkey pen. Their growth habit makes them look like my BSWs but outside the pen at a quick glance or on an early morning.

[Ontario Chick]

If I may pick your brain a bit more Jim, did you mark the eggs or just the boxes ?
Just a bit curious about how they keep the eggs separate and sure you get your own back.
I am thrilled for you, those numbers sound excellent, especially the Ayam cemani.

[baronrenfrew]

So far so good from your eggs Jim. (Legbars and legbar/bielefelder)

From 18 eggs 15 are good
Hatch due Wed i think

[JimW]

If I may pick your brain a bit more Jim, did you mark the eggs or just the boxes ?
Just a bit curious about how they keep the eggs separate and sure you get your own back.
I am thrilled for you, those numbers sound excellent, especially the Ayam cemani.

I did not mark the eggs just name and phone number on the egg cartons. I don't know how they keep the eggs separate, I never asked, set them in different trays. I had them incubate my eggs in 2 separate batches, with my BC marans and Olive Eggers separate and my legbar and Bielefelder x Legbar separate from each other because hard to tell apart, and that worked out with no problems.

[kenya]

Congratulations excellent hatch!