Hatch Rate

[Kknight3]

What is the hatch rate for a hens first eggs? My hen started laying a month ago. She only lays one a day and I have been putting them in my incubator. So, they are not all at the same stages. That may not be the correct way of doing it but this is my first time incubating eggs. So far 1 out of 6 has hatched. 2 died very early in development, 1 piped then died, and 2 were chirping and moving inside egg but died before pipping. Im starting to think that I am doing something wrong. But i dont know what because I have the temp and humidity right. Any suggestions? Is it because the hen just hasnt started to lay good eggs yet? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Doing a staggered hatch is very difficult if you only have one incubator. Most people doing staggered hatches have a separate incubator or hatcher for lockdown. Because your eggs have been set at different times they all need different incubation conditions. It's far easier to collect your eggs up for a few days then set them all at the same time. Day 1-18 you need 45% humidity in order for eggs to lose enough weight and your air cell to grow bigger ready for hatching. At day 18 when you put the humidity up to 65% for hatching that's not good for your younger eggs because they won't be losing enough moisture therefore not making the air cell bigger. Humidity has to be an average over the entire incubation period. Also depending if you have a turner or are hand turning your younger eggs, opening the incubator while others are hatching is not good for them. I have a rule for myself I NEVER open the incubator after lock down no matter what is going off in there. If they can't hatch then they are likely to be weak or sick birds. Hope this has helped and sorry for the essay I got carried away. Have a look at this link it's a very good read. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[AmericanMom]

What is the hatch rate for a hens first eggs? My hen started laying a month ago. She only lays one a day and I have been putting them in my incubator. So, they are not all at the same stages. That may not be the correct way of doing it but this is my first time incubating eggs. So far 1 out of 6 has hatched. 2 died very early in development, 1 piped then died, and 2 were chirping and moving inside egg but died before pipping. Im starting to think that I am doing something wrong. But i dont know what because I have the temp and humidity right. Any suggestions? Is it because the hen just hasnt started to lay good eggs yet? Or am I doing something wrong?

What it sounds like you are attempting to do is called staggering your hatch, Typically eggs are gathered over a period of up to 7 days but not more than 10 days, They are stored in an egg carton, fat side up in a cool place and turned 2-3x a day and then when enough are gathered they are placed in an incubator or under a broody hen and incubation then begins... Placing an egg a day in the incubator means they will not all hatch together and although some folks here do it, they normally have a second incubator used just for hatching.. I am not sure of where you live, but in my area I don't need a lot of humidity inside my incubator, I allow the hatching chicks to create enough humidity for the remaining hatchlings, but if your humidity is really high for the first egg, it may be to high for the last..

A lot of us do not try to hatch a pullets first eggs, some wait along time, I typically wait at least a couple months. When I have broken my own rules and got impatient and incubated a newbie egg its been with a lot of problems, the eggs are very small and if the chick makes it the full 21 days although sometimes it will pip, its to large in the shell to turn and zip. More often then not they aren't even able to position themselves to pip..

My advice would be to wait month or so, gather your eggs, store them and then start them all at the same time. Here is a wonderful guide to newbie hatching

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/878773/attention-newbies-to-incubating

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Ditto. I've only hatched pullet eggs once. I put a dozen in the incubator (at the same time) and only 2 of them hatched. They were the tiniest little chicks I'd ever seen! I still have one of those chicks, the other I had to put down due to some serious leg issues, which I assume came from being cramped up inside the small egg. Here's the girl I still have, I love her, but it was a stressful experience dealing with those pullet eggs!
As chicks, I had to put the blue down

The one I got to keep.

 

[Kknight3]

Thank you, yall have been very helpful! I actually just bought a second incubator to put my lockdown eggs in. Hopefully that will help a little since I am hand turning my eggs and having to open the incubator 3 times a day. It sounds like I need to just wait a while before I try to hatch again. Im just so impatient!

 

[Kknight3]

I just got home from school to find that one egg has started to pip and it is only on the 19th day. And the membrane is bloody. Im sure this is not good. What should I do?

 

[AmericanMom]

I just got home from school to find that one egg has started to pip and it is only on the 19th day. And the membrane is bloody. Im sure this is not good. What should I do?

Personally There isn't much you can do MHO... It needs to rest and absorb more of the blood and probably the yolk sack... If you helped it out it might rupture another blood vessel..

Is it still moving/chirping?

 

[Kknight3]

Ok. Yes it is still chirping moving

 

[Kknight3]

What does MHO mean?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

MHO= My honest opinion