Cause of early embryo death???

[countrychix]

I am finally getting a majority of fertile eggs from my pullets but now every fertile that I have set is dying early. I just checked the last set and all the fertiles looked scrambled with minimal veining upon candling and when I cracked some of the eggs open the embryos appeared to be at about 5-6 days development and the yolks were running. They were on day number 7 in the incubator. Any ideas of what is going on? I previously hatched 2 of 5 fertiles, the only 2 making it to lockdown, but none of the other 3 looked like these- scrambled I mean. This is the second enter set that I lost this way and I was hoping to do another set tomorrow.

 

[gingerly1983]

I'm sorry about your eggs.

Lots of things could be happening. Are the parents getting proper nutrition? Their good nutrition makes the eggs have better nutrition in them. How are your temps in your incubator? If you only have one thermometer in there, put 2 or 3, just to make sure the temps are right. If it's too low then it will cause them to develop a lot slower, or stop altogether. If it spikes and gets too high it will kill the development right there. I'm not sure about the scrambled part. I'm sure you're not tossing them around like baseballs before you set them so I really don't know. Maybe someone else will chime in with some advice?

 

[countrychix]

Thanks Gingerly1983 for the response. The parent stock is getting a good quality layer pellet, with scrambled eggs as an occasional treat. The incubator is holding temperature well (2 thermometers) with no spikes to my knowledge. I check quite often. There are goose eggs in the early stages of development in there too and those are doing great. I do not mist my goose eggs until they go in the hatcher so no problems with that and the humidity has held constant as well. It's especially confusing with the yolks breaking down so fast, looking scrambled. I have seen it in quitter eggs that were much further along in development, past the 2 week mark, but nothing early like this before. I'm stumped.

 

[texas75563]

Are you using an egg turner? Are you leaving your chicken eggs in incubator 24 hours before turning?

I'm on my 1st batch. Was just a thought. Day 16, started out with 19 eggs down to 14.

 

[SeaHen]

This might be a long shot, but could infection be a possibility? If the incubator isn't disinfected properly between uses it can harbor bacteria that can kill the embryo. Are you setting the eggs unwashed so they're protected by the bloom? Sometimes there just isn't any obvious answer. My goose hatched one gosling out of 10 fertile eggs three nights ago, and the nine that didn't make it were all early demises as well. It's a mystery.