Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

[totribet]

I'm so frustrated and ready to just give up. This is my third batch of eggs in the incubator and NOTHING to show for it. The first set of eggs, there was movement up to 3 days before hatch day and then nothing hatched. We thought maybe the humidity was off. I've researched until I"m blue in the face. Tried everything I've read on here. I dont' have a humidity gauge though.

This third batch I followed the dry hatch method but I never saw any signs of development any time I candled them. Hatch date was Sunday, they don't smell rotten or anything, but still nothing. I'm ready to just quit, but I really want to know what I'm doing wrong. I don't have a rooster so I've ordered the eggs that I've been trying to hatch. Would them coming from a different altitude make a difference? I'm in Albuquerque.

Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated or is it that I just suck at hatching eggs and should stop trying, lol.

 

[JosieChick]

Don't give up! When I first starting incubating I went through 3 batches of eggs trying to incubate with nothing to show!

What kind of bator are you using? What were your temps/humidity during incubation? What kind of chickens are you trying to hatch?

Some breeds are harder to hatch than others, some incubators are harder to keep stable too. Shipped eggs are always tougher than eggs that didn't have to travel usps. My last batch of eggs I set 13 from shipped eggs that I got 3 weeks ago. I have two chicks hatched today to show for it. I am pretty happy with that. The heat can damage embryos too so badly that they don't ever develop or start and then quit at some point during incubation. The health and nutrition of the flock the eggs came from makes a huge difference too.

I would highly recommend trying to source some "practice" eggs locally. Look on craigslist for hatching eggs from someones barnyard mutts. They will be much easier to hatch and not being shipped will increase your hatch rate too. It just takes practice and it helps if the practice eggs didn't cost you an arm and a leg.

 

[bigoledude]

It would make me crazy to not know what my humidity is. I guess living in Mew Mexico you might be able to rule-out too high of humidity. Absolutely, do not give up. You will figure out what your problem is and start hatching like crazy!

Do you REALLY trust your thermostat. A little too high and you get nothing.

We used to have eggs delivered to a post office in the next town over, so my brother could pick them up. We had terrible hatches with those eggs, every time. And, my brother was great at incubating eggs. We could only assume that the folks in that post office were rough with the boxes.

 

[Buckgawk]

whats your temp? wheres the thermometer? did you crack a few open to see if anything was inside? you may have just had stalled hatches with perfectly good babies inside.

 

[totribet]

The temp stayed at 99.6. The thermometer was on top of the eggs. I haven't cracked by of these