bad luck or am I doing something wrong?

[junior67]

will try to do the shortened version of this.

So I have 7 hens and 1 roo..... I decided to try to hatch out some BBS Cochins (I have 1 blue hen and 1 blue roo)...... got an incubator and started some of the blue hens eggs......... None hatched...... checked fertility some here said fertilized some said no........ tried again no luck (added a couple of the other girls eggs to see if they did anything as well with no luck)......... Trimmed butt fluff on the roo and hens and started to collect eggs from the blue hen again. the day she laid her 3rd egg she went broody........

Ordered eggs on ebay that SHOULD have been BBS Cochin eggs. 4/12 were broken when they arrived. Gave my broody 4 plus 2 of her own eggs, and put 4 plus 1 of my blue Cochins eggs in the incubator...... I had 2 shipped under the broody start to grow, and 2 shipped in the incubator plus my broody's (the one she laid the day she went broody)........ 1 incubator shipped quit around day 5 I think it was. Then my Blue hens egg quit around day 10...... 1 shipped incubator baby hatched, 1 under mama hatched. The 2nd under mama internally pipped, absorbed all the yolk and veins but never externally pipped and DIS. (this part was bad luck was the 2 that hatched weren't even cochins never mine BBS cochins which is what I ordered from ebay). so hatched 2/12 total eggs but 2/8 that came unbroken (1 in incubator, 1 under broody)

Then 2 more girls went broody..... I ordered BBS Cochin eggs again from a different seller. All arrived unbroken. gave each broody 9 shipped eggs and gave them each 1 from 2 of my other girls (just to see. one was from my EE one my buff cochin)....... The ONLY egg out of 20 eggs to develop was the EE egg.......... That egg is now on day 15.....

while those were under my broody hens my Blue mama Cochin started to lay again so after 8 days of the shipped eggs being sat on I got rid of any I could 100% tell were clear and gave the first broody the rest plus my EE egg that was growing....... I gave the other broody 3 of my Blue hens eggs and 3 of my EE eggs (figuring one was already growing so that should mean they were fertilized (all eggs laid with in 4 days of giving them to her. maybe 5 but 2 of them laid the day I gave them to her). She sat on them from Sun-Wed. I was going camping and every now and then the broody would go back to the wrong nest (both of them) but I have a cam in the coop so I would get them back to the right nest fairly quick..... so I didn't want them doing that and not being around for a few days so I put the 6 new eggs and the viable EE egg into my incubator on Wed. I checked them tonight when I got home...... Day 7 for the new eggs and there is ZERO development....... The first EE egg that is on day 15 is still going strong.

So am I messing something up??? I have calibrated hygrometers/thermometers in my incubator so temp has averaged 99.8 and 44.5% humidity. I have the NR360, but it isn't even just in the incubator but under my broodys that I am having bad results........ so is it just bad luck with eggs or am I doing something?

How could one EE egg be fertilized and grow then 8 days later 3 of the same hens eggs do nothing?????

I have more shipped eggs coming this week so want to be sure I am not messing something up first. I let my shipped eggs sit about 12-24 hrs before I set them. I know shipping is hard on eggs and don't expect a good hatch rate but would think at least 4 out of 18 would do something..... But it is my own eggs too. I see my roo doing his job......... Maybe he needs trimming again? but he has fertilized 2 eggs weeks apart.....

 

[junior67]

Anyone with any ideas before my new shipped eggs come in? If it is me I really don't want to mess them up again.

 

[007Sean]

Do you have calibrated thermometer(s) and a 'salt test' calibrated hygrometer in the incubator? or are you using the incubators sensors? NR-360 holds temp and humidity pretty well but the factory sensors are worthless.

Letting the eggs 'rest' at room temperature this time of year is a bad idea, if you want to rest them put them in the incubator with the turner off or if hand turning, don't turn them for a day or two.
Temperatures can reach well up into the 130 to 140°F on USPS trucks.
Letting the eggs rest in AC ambient temperatures of a house can kill the developing embryos.
I've had shipped eggs arrive and upon opening the box, took the temperature of the eggs (scanned with an IR thermometer) they were at 96°F, if I had let them rest in house temperature conditions, the embryos would have been killed.

 

[Yardmom]

Being your broody hens are not getting the eggs to start, I would take a closer look at your flock. (Unfortunately the shipped eggs are not doing well, but the problems there may not be related). It sounds like the eggs from your own flock are not starting most of the time. Poor flock conditions (food, housing etc. )can affect fertility but My guess it is connected to your roo. He may not truly be hitting the mark often or he has weak fertility. Do you only have one rooster? How old is he? How old are the hens? Do you know anything about the parentage of the roo?
Hopefully your new eggs are in better condition. Good luck getting a few more hatches.

 

[junior67]

Do you have calibrated thermometer(s) and a 'salt test' calibrated hygrometer in the incubator? or are you using the incubators sensors? NR-360 holds temp and humidity pretty well but the factory sensors are worthless.

Letting the eggs 'rest' at room temperature this time of year is a bad idea, if you want to rest them put them in the incubator with the turner off or if hand turning, don't turn them for a day or two.
Temperatures can reach well up into the 130 to 140°F on USPS trucks.
Letting the eggs rest in AC ambient temperatures of a house can kill the developing embryos.
I've had shipped eggs arrive and upon opening the box, took the temperature of the eggs (scanned with an IR thermometer) they were at 96°F, if I had let them rest in house temperature conditions, the embryos would have been killed.

Yes I have 3 calibrated hygrometer/thermometers in the incubator. The last time I had eggs shipped was 2 weeks ago so here was cooler. When I did eggtopsies there showed no signs of development at all.

So I shouldn't let the eggs rest after shipping now?

 

[junior67]

Being your broody hens are not getting the eggs to start, I would take a closer look at your flock. (Unfortunately the shipped eggs are not doing well, but the problems there may not be related). It sounds like the eggs from your own flock are not starting most of the time. Poor flock conditions (food, housing etc. )can affect fertility but My guess it is connected to your roo. He may not truly be hitting the mark often or he has weak fertility. Do you only have one rooster? How old is he? How old are the hens? Do you know anything about the parentage of the roo?
Hopefully your new eggs are in better condition. Good luck getting a few more hatches.

My hens and roo are all a bit over a year. They turned a year in April. He is a Cochin so he may need more trimming as he is quite fluffy. Lol. I only have the one roo. I feed flock raiser and give oyster shells on the side. They are in an 8x8 coop with an attached 26x 8 run. They were bought from a local feed store that gets them from a hatchery.

While it would be nice to hatch some of my own, my focus is on the shipped eggs right now. So as long as there doesn't seem to be incubator issues or something I am doing to get the shipped eggs not to develop I am fine with not hatching any of mine.

 

[007Sean]

Yes I have 3 calibrated hygrometer/thermometers in the incubator. The last time I had eggs shipped was 2 weeks ago so here was cooler. When I did eggtopsies there showed no signs of development at all.

So I shouldn't let the eggs rest after shipping now?

No, I didn't say that....what I said, was instead of letting the eggs 'rest' at room temperature, when they have been shipped during hot weather, put them in the incubator to 'rest'....that way, if they are starting to develop, it won't kill them by letting them 'rest' at room temp.

 

[Egger4me]

I would probably put them in the incubator first at least until you know they are active. Then maybe give them to your hens. Also are you checking the air cells. Those can be hard to get to hatch. How old are your hens?

 

[junior67]

My hens are just over a year (turned a year in April). I do check air cells of shipped eggs. i have put some just in the incubator with out a broody at all and some under my broody's and seem to have the same luck.

5 days ago I started 2 sets of eggs from 2 different sellers. One was the 18 eggs that did NOTHING under my broody's last time. Then new seller I found.

The new seller sent me 12 eggs. 10 of those for sure are growing, 1 isn't but has a bubbly air cell so didn't think it would, and 1 I am not completely sure if it is.

The other seller sent me 17, 1 was broken which was odd since it was more in the middle of the box and they are packed well....... so set 16. there is 1 that "may" be doing something but I don't think any of them are.

SOOOOOOO think it was more bad luck than what I was doing. I think I know why the seller I have tried twice aren't doing anything but not 100% sure on why. But glad to know that a big group of one sellers are growing so that I know it isn't me doing something wrong!

With my own flock it could be a few things but I am not really trying to hatch them was just trying some eggs to see (well 1 girl I would love to hatch her eggs but she keeps going broody on me so hasn't laid much recently.....)

 

[nuthatched]

Shipped eggs require special incubation, a broody might not be enough. Shipping is also rough on eggs, even if they look ok, they might not be.