I'm super annoyed with this hatch. I bought 2 dozen Salmon Faverolle eggs, they were shipped to me in Florida from Oregon. Clear across the country, I know. I had concerns with the distance but the seller assured me that they have shipped to Florida and the people had great hatch rates. I think the seller lied. This is the worst hatch I have EVER had. I received 29 eggs. They weren't in bad shape at all. No detached air cells. There were a few saddle cells, but nothing too crazy. One egg had a hairline crack in it and I covered it with scotch tape (it hatched BTW). Some of the eggs were 7 days old when they got to me. Anyway, I let the eggs rest for 12 hours and put them in the incubator. No turner for 24 hours. I'm not new to hatching, but I am not an expert either. Temp at 99.8, humidity at 42%. These numbers have always given me good hatches. I have a Brinsea Octagon 40 Advance with the auto humidity pump so the shipped eggs had a great chance at making it. I did random temp checks and it was always right. Well, after day 7, I had SEVERAL clears and about 6 early quitters. I was left with only 16 eggs out of 29 that were developing. Yeah. I opened some of the clears and there were no germinal discs on any of them. I asked the seller if they had any issues with fertility and of course, I was assured that there wasn't. By the time lockdown got here, I only had 12 eggs left. They started to hatch, 7 were out when I left for work tonight. One hatched on day 20, the rest that were out hatched on day 21. The first 2 were fine, the 3rd, well, it's deformed. One eye is grossly larger than the other. It's not infection or anything like that. It's the chick's actual eyeball. It's HUGE! I took a pic but I'm at work right now. I'll upload one in the morning. I've researched all I can online and the conclusion is that it is either improper temps during incubation, improper turning, eggs from breeders with poor nutrition or too much inbreeding. I know the temps were right and the incubator is in an auto-turn cradle. So what do you guys think the issue is?? Incubation? Bad eggs? Shipping across the country??? Should I bring this up to the seller? What would be a fair resolution to this problem?
Here's what the chick looks like. It's head isn't malformed, just that eye. It has eyelids that open and close over it. Nothing else is wrong with this chick. It walks around, eats, and drinks without a problem. My husband has lovingly names it "Crazy Eyes".
Here's what the chick looks like. It's head isn't malformed, just that eye. It has eyelids that open and close over it. Nothing else is wrong with this chick. It walks around, eats, and drinks without a problem. My husband has lovingly names it "Crazy Eyes".