Day 14... Two are no good, what could have happened?

[dianneS]

I've candled my eggs today, its day 14. Two of them are certainly quitters, no good, nothing going on in there anymore. They were fine two days ago, I could still see movement. What causes them to die this far into the process?

I've just never really known what the reasons could be. All of the other eggs are doing fine. I can still see them kicking in there! I have a few more that are questionable, not sure if they are dead or just hard to see what's going on in there, so I can't give up on them yet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might check this site. They mention a few possible causes, temperatures, turning, ventilation among others.

Mississippi State Incubation Troubleshooting
http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/troubleshooting_incubation.pdf

 

[mulia24]

em, i don't think the embryo need to move all the time especially when you candle it.

i let my chicken eggs just inside bator as long as i don't see blood ring and die embryo (show no more development for days) in the egg.

for the question, many reason that could cause the dead and i think the pdf file included in post above from ridgerunner could help you.

 

[dianneS]

Thanks ridgerunner, that link was very helpful. I confirmed that 3 of 14 are no longer any good. I removed them from the bator. We're at day 16 now, two days til lockdown! Hopefully the rest will all be okay!!

 

[lngrid]

I hope you don't feel bad, dianne. According to that page there are so many things that could go wrong and would not be your fault. Keep plugging away at it! I'll bet you'll have yourself some fine fuzzballs in a week or so!

 

[dianneS]

That's true. I was concerned about the age of some of these eggs right from the start. Some of them had to be going on 10 days since layed when I got them. I just can't help but hope for that 100% hatch rate!

 

[dianneS]

We're in lockdown now. I removed the bad eggs. All of the rest showed both developement since I last candled them and I saw movement in all of them too! Now just to watch and wait! They could hatch tomorrow, but probably not until the next day.

 

[dianneS]

I've got chirping and rocking today! Yay!

 

[The Sheriff]

 

[Elite Silkies]

This may sound bad, but you'll get use to the quitters. There are so many things that can cause them to die. But, the way I look at it, is I really only want the strong to survive. It bothered me at first and I would help them out of the shell if they were struggling, but not anymore. There has to be a reason why they can't get out on their own. Now, if I think it's a humidity problem, then I will assist. Other than that, I just let nature take it's course.

It is very depressing at first. I set 6 of my own Aussies and they were all doing good and one quit about half way through. But, the other 5 are all doing great.

I wanted to test to see how long I could wait to set eggs, so I held an egg that I collected on 11/2 and did not set it until 11/15 and it's doing great. Next time, I will push one a little further. I would like to see just how old an egg can be and it still hatch.

It's is really hard when you first start incubating to lose them.

I don't think that you done anything wrong or the others wouldn't be doing so good.