3rd batch, very few surviving!

cassy

Chirping
Jul 8, 2017
29
14
71
Hello Guys, hoping you can help me out. I have a flock of 14 black and lavender Orpington girls and one handsome black Orpington rooster! I had one broody girl this spring, so I let her sit on a clutch of 14 eggs. I candled them and there were 8 not fertilized, NONE of the 6 that were fertilized hatched! (I ended up buying 3 day-old chicks and she has adopted them). I waited till day 25 before I took the eggs from her. All of them were fully developed when I broke open the shells, all died a day or two it seemed like before hatching. Round 2 was 2.5 dozen eggs I gave to a neighbor to incubate, at day 21 when I talked to them four of mine had started hatching, I haven't spoken to them since so I don't know how many they ended up getting. Round 3 I gave 2.5 dozen eggs to my daughter's grade 2 class to hatch in their incubator. It's day 22, no peeping, no movement, it's not looking promising. So my question is, what's up? Momma's clutch died, and the class room ones aren't doing so good either :( It seems as if my neighbor was the only one to get at least a few chicks. My rooster came from a local breeder and he is not related to MOST of my girls ( two of the girls are his sisters). Everybody seems healthy and in fine breeding form, and we have tried 2 different incubators and a broody momma so it's definitely not a problem with an incubator. Any thoughts?
 
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Any thoughts?
Nutrition or flock age maybe?

What are you feeding including treats and supplements?

Here is a great hatching resource... failed hatch analysis starts around page 52.. and includes reasons according to what day (time frame) they failed.

Did your daughters class calibrate their equipment? What humidity are they using?

Having two sisters to the rooster should NOT be impacting fertility unless closely bred like that for several generations in the past... but only those two... so I don't think that's it.

:fl
 
Figured out the classroom issue! The teacher and taped over the air holes in the incubator!! the eggs weren't getting any air circulation! I asked her why she had them taped over, instead of answering me she defended herself saying that two small holes near the fan were not taped. I told her that they are too small to provide enough air. She wouldn't answer me. So, one mystery solved!
 

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