All my hatching eggs died!!

[Peepfreak59]

I am not sure what happened, they seemed to be coming right along and then a small bit of liquid started to ooze from each egg about the 20th day and then nothing. I waited a day or so later to candle and no movement. I had seen a couple of the eggs move the day before. I don't know if the humidity was wrong or what. This was my first attempt!! Anyone have advice on what went wrong.

 

[rebel yell]

dont give up, mabe your humidity was a little high dont know a lot about incubators, allways used hens, but am trying a bator i made right now, i guss we will learn from our mistakes, try again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ColbyNTX]

It sounds like too high of heat with too high humidity. I like a high humidity (75%) at lockdown but I drop the temp to 98.5 for the last three days. I haven't had that problem since!

 

[Peepfreak59]

Thank you or all the suggestions. I am looking forward to trying again. I also had ordered them form Tx and I have read that shippped eggs have a lower success rate than those from local birds.
I do have my leghorns and reds starting to mate so I will try them soon. I just wanted to try some rare eggs, these were jersey giants. Better luck next time, I still feel bad though

 

[Kedreeva]

What was your humidity and temp at? Are you sure your instruments are accurate? Eggs should never ooze anything unless they are rotten... did you crack them open to find out what they looked like inside? I have seen eggs look like they were growing chickens, but in fact they were growing very thick bacterial cultures... or in one disgusting case... meat. Just meat in random order

If you still have the eggs, you can crack them open and check them against this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=363717

Read through the top first though... and if you have oozers... use the plastic bag method that's written there!

 

[Peepfreak59]

thank you for the great info and the website with pics....I did crack one egg the smell was terrible and it did have an underdeveloped chick.... I wonder too if there was the bacteria you mentioned. I did candle several times and saw what I thought was chick progress but now I know it was bacteria. You have been so helpful. Now with my next batch I will know better.
My temp was at 95 and humidity was about 50%. I wonder if I may have contaminated them. I washed my hands with antibacterial soap each time I turned them. What do you use for humidity check, I used an in/outside temp gauge like you would use for the weather.

Thanks so much !!!

 

[Kedreeva]

Were the eggs washed when you got them? If the eggs were washed when you got them, the bloom may have been scrubbed off by whomever you got them from. Make sure that your incubator is clean before putting in washed eggs.

If it smelled bad, you can nearly bet that there was bacteria involved. They are what makes meat rot and they are what give off the disgusting smell. If your incubator is clean and your eggs are 'clean' (not washed, but clean) then even dead chicks will not smell very badly.

As for what you measure with, the tool is called a hygrometer (not a hydrometer, those measure rainfall). You can buy them at pretty much any pet store, just have a look in the reptile section. If you ask, someone should be able to help you find it.

If you have questions and I stop reading this thread for some reason, please feel free to PM me.

 

[ColbyNTX]

I have seen eggs with fully developed chicks ooze right after pip! Seen it hapen too many times in the begining until I figured out about high temp and high humidity. Lower the temp 1 deg at lock down and raise the humidity and I bet you don't see it again. I hatched about 100 turkeys, 200 guineas, 9 pheasants and lord knows how many chicks this year without ever seeing this, this year. I did see it several times in the past before I started lowering the temp a deg at lockdown. I don't know what the big deal is about lightly washing eggs. I do it all the time with my eggs that I am going to hatch with no change in the hatch rate. Most of my hatches of my own eggs is atleast 98% even with half of the eggs being washed. I don't want a dirty egg in my bators and I wash them lightly with tap water with just a light rub on poop then dab dry with a paper towle. I don't wash any eggs I sell to people because someone in some book said to never wash them and people really freak out about it but I do wash any dirty egg that goes in my bators. I have a job and can't always pick up eggs 3 times a day so they can get soiled.

 

[Kedreeva]

I think when people talk about washing eggs, they are not talking about rinsing eggs (or at least I am not). Rinsing them in water to get off the chunks (if there are any) and such is ok... it's when people start scrubbing them spotless that it becomes a problem. The eggs have a mineral coating called 'bloom' that coats their pores and provides excellent protection from bacteria getting through the shell. Scrubbing an egg removes this coating, and can even do as much damage as to push bacteria through the pores into the egg while cleaning- resulting in a visually clean egg that is already infected on the inside. It also now has no protection if you (or someone else) touches them for turning (or any other reason) without having just washed your hands. Don't get me wrong, I don't care at all who washes and who doesn't- this is just most peoples' reasoning behind not scrubbing down their eggs or being upset about washed mailed eggs. I personally don't wash my eggs, but my eggs are never dirty- I only collect once a day as well, but my nest boxes are not dirty and my chickens are not the least bit inclined to stay on the eggs... so there's never been a reason.

There are, of course, ways to clean eggs that are safer than others. Big hatcheries often try to employ these methods but to date there is no product/method of washing eggs that (in any study) improves the actual hatch rate by a significant amount. Their best method is to sterilize everything every time, which is what we should be doing anyway.

 

[Peepfreak59]

I purchased them from Ebay, a small poultry farm in Texarkana, They came Fedex a day late due to weather, the eggs were very clean, wrapped in paper towels in egg cartons. they did have marking on them so I wonder if they were contaminated then, I don't know. I don't want to blame anyone. I just want to know what to look for and do it right this time. I do have my own chickens and roos but they are just now starting to lay and mate... So I got the fever and wanted to try my hand at hatching.....

Thank you for all your help and advice, I appreciate all of it so very much!!!!