Can you make chickens? Well I can! Sort of…
Yesterday evening, I took the eggs out of the turning rack in the incubator and placed them flat for hatching. Then I did a little “hatch dance,” which is something like a rain dance, but not really.
I have a total of 26 eggs due to hatch this Sunday. I’m hoping for a 75% hatch rate, which would give me about 19-20 chicks. This is probably a lofty goal considering most of the eggs were collected during a bad cold snap with temperatures in the low teens, but maybe I’ll get lucky.
A few facts about the chickens responsible for these eggs…
The hens are a mixed lot – Jersey Giants, Turkens, Black Copper Marans, Barred Plymouth Rocks, and an odd-ball Rhode Island Red (but I just had her for dinner last week, so she’s kinda out of the picture now).
Both Roosters are Transylvania Turkens. So my thought was… Are these rooster’s genetics dominate over the hens’, which would cause all the chicks to be Turkens? This I don’t know, I’m clueless when it comes to these things, but i’m very interested to find out!
What’s a Turken you ask? Well, you can read about that here on Wikipedia if you’d like an explanation. Very odd looking birds they are, but very friendly. And tasty. And good egg layers. And… they’ll make your visitors ask “What the hell is that?” I always love the shock-factor!
Anyway… I have a fun little quiz for you all:
(1.) Will the chicks all turn out to be Turkens like their fathers? Or be a mix?
(2.) How many chicks out of the 26 eggs will actually hatch?
I can’t wait to see what you all come up with! Have a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and good luck with your guessing! (Write your comments / guesses below) ~A
