I just tried to incubate chicken eggs. Only 10 out of 44 hatched. The rest are fully formed but dead inside the eggs. I helped 3 out after I noticed 2 tried to get out but died after hours of trying. The rest never even tried to get out. I have a forced air incubator with automatic turner and I never had the lid off for more than a few Seconds. Any thoughts would be great?! Thanks
That's so sad, I wish I could help but I have no experience with this yet. I'm sure someone with knowledge of this problem will respond very soon.
Welcome to the BYC. Sorry you had a bad experience. There are tons of things that could have happened. Moisture balance could be a part if the shells were too dry and hard and the chicks shrink wrapped. Search on the site. There are lots of threads that address incubation issues. Better luck next time, but enjoy the ones that made it.
We're glad you joined us! I'm sorry about the poor hatch. There are many incubation conditions that could cause the hatch you described. For more help, I would recommend posting in the Incubation section of the forums: Incubating & Hatching Eggs Hopefully, the members in that forum can help. Good luck!
Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the bad hatch, hope you are able to figure out what is going on.
Howdy y'all <:0) I wanted to join so I could possibly get some answers. I purchased 6 chickens (variety) last March (2014) and I'm sadly to say I only have 2 left. My dog is really mean and she killed four of my babies. Now my dog stays inside while they free range. The two I have left are RIR's and I absolutely love them they are truly the sweetest things ever. My question is with them being almost a year old, I'm wanting to know if they'll be okay with new baby chickens. I'm wanting to purchase more in March from Tractor Supply like I did the first time around. My husband made our old horse barn a chicken coop so the chickens have a mansion lol. The two Rhode Island Red's that I have are calm and very friendly. I never had any issues with them while I had all six. I actually had 3 reds and 3 black & white chickens (not sure of the name). The 3 b & w chickens were dominate of the flock. But anyhow, I'm wanting to get at least 6 to 8 babies this time and I want to know if the hens I have now will accept them. Any help will be appreciate it Thank you!!!
Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined! Sorry for your losses! It is a hard ordeal to introduce new chickens to an already established flock. BUT it can be done! The easiest way to introduce properly is to set up a barrier in between the two sets of chickens. (Make sure the new ones are at least 8 weeks old.) This insures that they can meet but not fight. After about three weeks of this, you can let them mix. Except frequent fighting and only interfere if there is bloodshed. They should all settle down after a week or so. Here are two important links to check out also https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...often-underestimated-part-of-raising-chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock Best of luck!
