Bad Luck Incubating

[chickychee]

This really bothers me. Whenever we get eggs from somewhere besides our backyard, they never hatch, ever! Last year we had over 100 eggs in the bator and only 3 hatched... and 75% of them were from local friends with fertile eggs. This year I fired up the bator and bought some White Rock Bantam eggs from PA (and im in MI). They all candled good at 7 days, now at 14 days i eliminated 3 because the embryos had died. The quail eggs I got from MSU were due Monday. I cracked one open and the embryo was like a greenish color and way underdeveloped and im scared they are all like this. I can only get the eggs I don't want to hatch(backyard mutts) to actually hatch. This is very tricky business!

 

[chickychee]

Ooops I forgot to add that when I look at eggs I thnk are no good anymore and break them open to see what happened, they are all that greenish color, its pretty gross.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I am having bad luck as well. First time with ducks and I dont know if they will make it. they are a day late. no pips, no peps, no nothin

 

[orlandoluv1]

hmm i honestly have no idea but im new tot his whole incubating thing so maybe someone with experience can come talk to us lol

 

[twigg]

When the 3 of your own hatched, how many had you set?

Finding the answer to a question like this is never easy, and involves us trying to find out what you did, so we can suggest other options.

 

[AussieSharon]

Can you tell us what kind of bator you are using, what the temperature and humidity was for the first 18 days? Did you hand turn or use an automatic turner? There are so many factors to consider when incubating.

 

[chickychee]

When I only hatched the 3 there was a full incubator, 42 eggs. its a hovabator table top incubator, circulated air fan and automatic turner. All the eggs that were set were fertile, but halfway through incubation they looked all muddled and brownish green inside.

 

[chickychee]

temp and humidity were 60-65% and temp stayed at a steady 100-100.5.

 

[twigg]

3 out of 42 is simply saying that, given good stock, something is badly wrong. This is esp. true if most actually started to develop.

If your eggs have come from a variety of sources, then you can rule out having set infected eggs. They could have become infected in the incubator, however, so a good clean out with a mild Chlorox solution will cure that.

Early death, given viable eggs, is usually a function of temp too high or too low. Do not trust your thermometer. Get several, run tests over 2 or 3 days. The medical thermometers and a ball of modelling clay, plus a water wiggler with a digital temp probe inside will all help you there.

Your humidity is too high, but that wouldn't have killed the eggs. Around 45-50% is better until day 18.

My guess is that the temperature tests will be helpful.

Remember, at egg height you want a stable temp of 99.5F, and in a forced air incubator you want 99.5 too, even at the top of the eggs. The wiggler and modelling clay will allow you to monitor temps over a period.

There are only 6 factors that govern incubation:

Temperature
Humidity
Turning
Good eggs
Time
Hygiene

Work through each one, and you WILL be successful.

hth

Steve

 

[chickychee]

thank you very much i will try this! im glad everyone on this site is so smart