Help what would cause total hatch loss?

[Akhntr]

So this will be a bit long. I hatched three different hatches early this year. All BYM and did great. So my turkey's began to lay. No change in my incubator just started putting the eggs I got in every 5 days. My first hatch the embryos were almost totally developed but not quite. The second hatch all were earlier in development and all died at the same time but earlier than the second hatch. So I've got another 100 eggs in the incubator but no confidence they will hatch. What could kill all the eggs in my incubator in a few days?? I haven't loss power or had any temperature events. This had to be a disease that got introduced some how. I can't think if why this happened. Very sad but really just want to learn how it happened. I wonder if anyone else ever had something like this happen to them.

 

[my sunwolf]

I had this happen with multiple hatches, turned out my temperature was creeping up when I wasn't looking to 101 or 102, then coming back down. Obviously my incubator doesn't work too well. I've found that it has gotten worse over time, as I used to have okay hatches but with each subsequent hatch has fewer eggs hatch and eventually none. They would all develop until about Day 18 and then die in the shell.

There are a few diseases that can cause die-off in the later stages as well, but usually you still get a few that survive.

What incubator are you using?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Egg/breeder quality, certainly can. Inaccurate temps (have your thermometer(s) and hygrometers ever been checked for accuracy?) Humidity extremes. Unknown heat spikes. There are many variables.

 

[Akhntr]

Home made incubator with a digital controller. Also multiple thermometers and hydrometer a. Don't trust any one meter. I've had multiple hatches so don't think this was a incubator failure. Could this be a disease of some sort?

 

[KWSRetMSgt]

Hello everyone not sure if this is the right thread to put this, but here goes. I had 10 duck eggs in the bator and yesterday we lost power for almost two hours, temps dropped to 89 with 77% humidity. My question is "Any chance any of them may still hatch" ?

Thanks KWS

 

[WalnutHill]

Home made incubator with a digital controller. Also multiple thermometers and hydrometer a. Don't trust any one meter. I've had multiple hatches so don't think this was a incubator failure. Could this be a disease of some sort?

Are you cleaning or sanitizing eggs prior to or after setting, or using any Quaternary Ammonium compounds as a sanitizer for the incubator or fixtures? QA is toxic to turkeys even in relatively small concentrations.

Disease would not normally wipe out all, nor at the same stage.

Temperature will, so if you don't have a memory thermometer in there you should get one. Even a cheap Accutemp will be fine, it just needs to record min/max/current. You may find surprises.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hello everyone not sure if this is the right thread to put this, but here goes. I had 10 duck eggs in the bator and yesterday we lost power for almost two hours, temps dropped to 89 with 77% humidity. My question is "Any chance any of them may still hatch" ?

Thanks KWS

Yes. Many people have lost power for longer than that and still had a decent hatch. It may cause a lower hatch rate, but it does not mean that there is no chance at all. Fingers crossed that you still get to see some babies. How far along in incubation are you?

 

[KWSRetMSgt]

Yes. Many people have lost power for longer than that and still had a decent hatch. It may cause a lower hatch rate, but it does not mean that there is no chance at all. Fingers crossed that you still get to see some babies. How far along in incubation are you?

Saturday 04/18 when we lost power we were on day 11. I had placed 17 eggs on the 8th and i candeled them just that morning, pulled 7 that weren't doing anything, leaving me 10. It may not be a complete loss if they dont come thru, because about a week ago when rounding up the birds to put to bed. We discovered we were missing one of our young hens, after about 20 minutes of searching discovered her under a wood pile, directly behind my shop, sitting on what looked like a nice sized nest. Since that night she hasn't gone in with everyone else. So this morning i saw her running around the yard, figured it would be a good time to check out the nest. Well my surprise it's not a small nest, two eggs deep and looked like there had to be about 20-25 eggs in there. Even if only half make it, that quite a few more then i was planning for this spring.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Saturday 04/18 when we lost power we were on day 11. I had placed 17 eggs on the 8th and i candeled them just that morning, pulled 7 that weren't doing anything, leaving me 10. It may not be a complete loss if they dont come thru, because about a week ago when rounding up the birds to put to bed. We discovered we were missing one of our young hens, after about 20 minutes of searching discovered her under a wood pile, directly behind my shop, sitting on what looked like a nice sized nest. Since that night she hasn't gone in with everyone else. So this morning i saw her running around the yard, figured it would be a good time to check out the nest. Well my surprise it's not a small nest, two eggs deep and looked like there had to be about 20-25 eggs in there. Even if only half make it, that quite a few more then i was planning for this spring.

LOL That's funny.Have you candled them since to see if there is still any movement?

 

[KWSRetMSgt]

LOL That's funny.Have you candled them since to see if there is still any movement?

The nest outside, no i figured i'd leave it up to Mother Nature. My only fear is that she'll abandon them after they hatch. Reason being she'll be a year old come June. But so far she's showing very good decisions about becoming a momma. I suspect she's been sitting on her eggs at least two weeks (on & off) and pretty steady the last week. So if all works out there could be a bunch of ducklings running around sometime mid May.