5 ameraucana bantams have hatched today!
5! And that's just so far; today's their hatch-date, and everything's going great so far. They've all made it out on their own, piping and zipping without trouble! I'm going to get some pictures of everybody soon, and will post them up here; they're all so cute.
~
As for the remaining BBS orpington eggs, I've about given up. In fact, I'm temped to look up the best way to crack them and take them outside to try and figure out what happened.
I've had several theories on what could have happened. My first was, humidity. Maybe they're shrink-wrapped, and can't hatch.
I've been spraying them, and keeping the trays filled with water, and the ameraucana eggs aren't having any trouble, so that's not it.
My next thought was, maybe I didn't turn them enough; is it possible that they aren't developed enough?
The three orpington chicks that have hatched all hatched big, fat, and fully-formed. They're big ol' babies.
So again, scratch that.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the embryos were hurt during shipping on some of the eggs or something---I mean, one nearly exploded, and one seems clear, and another, I did notice this morning, seems to have a broken air sac (finally got a better flashlight to use for candling.) So, I don't think the orpington eggs are all going to hatch---disappointing, but it happens. Next time I'm just going to have to get more eggs. :)
