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Hatching percentages

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Guest:
Discussing breeds with someone this weekend, they mentioned they had been told that Ameraucanas have a low, 40%!, hatchability. Of course I doubt this but it did bring to mind if , as a breed, we have hatchibilty statistics?

Blue Egg Acres:
Looking back at random through last year\'s records, I show 30%, 58%, 75% 86% and 100%

John:
I gave up on figuring hatchability percentages years ago.
I do a few things to help with fertility, such as trimming the feathers around the vents on all breeders and start them on a game bird breeder pellet feed a month before collecting eggs for incubating.
Because the hatchability can vary between the different breeds, varieties and strains of Ameraucanas I think using one percentage figure can be misleading.
I do know that the silver bantams are hatching great so far this year.  I had 28 hatch out of 29 eggs last week.  The last one didn\'t pip and may have not been fertile since I don\'t bother removing unfertile eggs.

Guest:
I\'ve got 24 RIR (mating by Ameraucana rooster -- so the results of these are Easter Eggers) eggs in there and 22 pure-bred Ameraucana (Silver and Wheaten). The RIRs are 100% fertile. I pulled 3 infertile Ameraucana eggs out of the incubator on Day 8. I had changed the egg turner and three would not fit any more. There are another 5 I know to be infertile, but left them there for now to keep things even in the incubator. I\'ll pull them after the day 16 candling which is this Saturday.

14/22 = 63.64% Ameraucana fertile so far.

Now...consider: 4 of the Ameraucana eggs I had in the refrigerator. I put them just because. I could not reasonably expect those to hatch...I put them in just to fill out the incubator. So...let\'s work with:

14/18 = 77.77% Ameraucana fertile so far.

Now...my flock was a little different. I had two roosters and 7 hens, 3 of which are Ameraucanas. This might account for the high fertility rate -- so far -- remember I\'m only on day 12 now -- anything can happen -- but these are good numbers to start with.

Considering that the eggs were in the nest boxes at temps barely above freezing, these numbers are fantastic. If all goes according to plan, I should have 38 birds when this is done.

For those of you wondering why I\'m hatching RIR/Ameraucana crosses, I had to give up my roosters, so I decided to hatch everything I could get my hands on. Whoever gets the mongrels will know what they are.

Guest:
Barbara, did your percentages go up as the year (warmth) progressed, with different roosters/pens, or were they random?
John, have you found a difference in hatchability in breed/colors? Could you guess to rate them best to worst (understanding this is not exact and will vary greatly depending on strain, enviroment, and nutrition).

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