Day 9 and most look dead

[chicken-tender]

I set 18 eggs in my Nurture Right 360. When I checked on day 7, several looked like they had veins and embryos showing, but several looked like the bad egg pictures attached. I thought they were fine and just further along. I read more on the site here and saw pictures that looked too much like those in my incubator,
so I checked again today. Sure enough 2 look like the unfertilized egg and now all the rest are like the two bad egg pictures. Are they all dead? My temp has been very steady at 99.5, the moisture have fluctuated be tween 49 and 54 but most times at 53. I included a photo of a couple of eggs for color reference. If these are all dead, do I just throw them out? (compost)

 

[nuthatched]

Dead and looks infertile. I'm sorry.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I set 18 eggs in my Nurture Right 360. When I checked on day 7, several looked like they had veins and embryos showing, but several looked like the bad egg pictures attached. I thought they were fine and just further along. I read more on the site here and saw pictures that looked too much like those in my incubator,
so I checked again today. Sure enough 2 look like the unfertilized egg and now all the rest are like the two bad egg pictures. Are they all dead? My temp has been very steady at 99.5, the moisture have fluctuated be tween 49 and 54 but most times at 53. I included a photo of a couple of eggs for color reference. If these are all dead, do I just throw them out? (compost)

Could you get clearer photos of the first two? Candle right over the air cell and try to get it in focus. The last two look like they either weren't fertilised or quit very very early.

 

[chicken-tender]

Hi BelovedBirds,
I cannot post the photos you requested because there is no air cell visible in any of the eggs this AM, only the light spot at the bottom of the egg. I have aborted the incubation on all of them. I did open one first and it was definitely not alive. I am not sure but they may have gotten too cold before I was able to collect them from the nests. I kept the eggs in the house at room temp until I had the number I wanted to attempt to incubate. The house is never colder then 64 degrees.

Guess I will try again after I put the rooster back in with the hens. Not sure how many days to wait before I start collecting eggs to incubate again. The rooster is/was slated for freezer camp because he attacks my wife and is wearing the hens backs bald.

Thanks to you and Nuthatched for helping with the answers to my questions.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi BelovedBirds,
I cannot post the photos you requested because there is no air cell visible in any of the eggs this AM, only the light spot at the bottom of the egg. I have aborted the incubation on all of them. I did open one first and it was definitely not alive. I am not sure but they may have gotten too cold before I was able to collect them from the nests. I kept the eggs in the house at room temp until I had the number I wanted to attempt to incubate. The house is never colder then 64 degrees.

Guess I will try again after I put the rooster back in with the hens. Not sure how many days to wait before I start collecting eggs to incubate again. The rooster is/was slated for freezer camp because he attacks my wife and is wearing the hens backs bald.

Thanks to you and Nuthatched for helping with the answers to my questions.

Are you sure about the air cells, I can see the air cells in the first two images...
If the eggs were freshly laid, being cold will most likely not matter, I've hatched refrigerated eggs before! If they had started to develop and had been sat on before getting cold, that could be harmful of course.
How long did you store them? If less than 10 days, most likely they were viable, past that, and they can lose viability. How many hens do you have to mix with the rooster? Were they definitely fertilised?

Anyway, I'm sorry this batch hasnt worked out too great!
Have you tried any training with your rooster? How many hens does he have?
A few small adjustments could make him a better rooster to have around, or perhaps you could find a home or even bachelor flock for him to join!

 

[chicken-tender]

You are right about the air cells in the pictures, but when I re candled this AM, two eggs were non starters, as in the picture "infertile "bator egg" or "test egg". The rest were all dark inside with a lighter area at the bottom (like an air cell) but the air cells on the large end of the egg were all missing. The eggs were all laid within a week of starting the incubation. I date each egg as its gathered ( Had a bad experience with an old egg in child hood). Altho I have heated nest boxes, we had temps in the low 20s. and I found the eggs really cold and then discovered ( after a couple of days) that the power to that circuit was off. As I said in the other post, I did crack one of the dark eggs open, it had started but then quit. There was blood and bits of an embryo started. I have 5 hens for this one rooster which I know is somewhat of a problem. We have raised these since last year from chicks. I ordered 9 pullets and one rooster but on delivery, We lost 4 hens. They are Partridge Chanteclers from Ideal Hatchery in Texas. I have not been able to find any closer to us here in Michigan.
I have put him back in with the hens and will try to set eggs again early next week. I would give him away if I was sure they would keep him and not eat him but around here that does not happen. So I would rather do it myself, as for keeping him, I would not be able to stand the pressure from the lady he attacked. I think she trained him well when it happened, but there is no forgiveness in her heart when it comes to that. (She is an old farm girl and takes after her Mom).
Again, Thanks for your help and advice.

 

[chicken-tender]

Update: Wife relented on rooster so now he is for sale on Craig's list.

Now for the eggs, I removed them all from the incubator, cracked open two, one infertile and one with the black shadow. Looked like the black shadow tried to grow and stopped. I froze the rest to use in the garden later and reset 12 more eggs. When I candled at 7 days, they looked like the first batch, 9 were dark and 3 showed veins and such. I marked them with a dot, closed everything back up and pondered what was wrong. Checked on the 17th day with the same results.. Selected one at random and took it out and cracked it open. Lo and behold, a black chick was very clearly developed and had been alive until I opened the egg. I checked two more from the freezer clutch , thawed, opened and there was an obvious chick started and it was black. the second one had a meat colored mass in it. I never mention in the posts above until the last one what breed of chicken I am working with. The Partridge Chanteclers have black or dark colored chicks, one hen is a Buff Chantecler which accounts for the light colored meaty mass. I still don't know why the eggs look like the dead ones I have seen else where on the site. I do have pictures of the ones I opened and will post them as soon as I can. At any rate Monday May 2 will tell the full story as that is hatch day.

I want to make sure everyone understands I am not posting this to throw rocks! Every comment here just re-enforced what I suspected myself from my research. I just want to point out there may be something wrong with my research results and what others found also. The only thing I can figure to be the cause right now is that the chicks are mostly black and this is my first attempts at hatching eggs. Monday May 2 will tell it all.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Update: Wife relented on rooster so now he is for sale on Craig's list.

Now for the eggs, I removed them all from the incubator, cracked open two, one infertile and one with the black shadow. Looked like the black shadow tried to grow and stopped. I froze the rest to use in the garden later and reset 12 more eggs. When I candled at 7 days, they looked like the first batch, 9 were dark and 3 showed veins and such. I marked them with a dot, closed everything back up and pondered what was wrong. Checked on the 17th day with the same results.. Selected one at random and took it out and cracked it open. Lo and behold, a black chick was very clearly developed and had been alive until I opened the egg. I checked two more from the freezer clutch , thawed, opened and there was an obvious chick started and it was black. the second one had a meat colored mass in it. I never mention in the posts above until the last one what breed of chicken I am working with. The Partridge Chanteclers have black or dark colored chicks, one hen is a Buff Chantecler which accounts for the light colored meaty mass. I still don't know why the eggs look like the dead ones I have seen else where on the site. I do have pictures of the ones I opened and will post them as soon as I can. At any rate Monday May 2 will tell the full story as that is hatch day.

I want to make sure everyone understands I am not posting this to throw rocks! Every comment here just re-enforced what I suspected myself from my research. I just want to point out there may be something wrong with my research results and what others found also. The only thing I can figure to be the cause right now is that the chicks are mostly black and this is my first attempts at hatching eggs. Monday May 2 will tell it all.

are you rehoming him due to the poor results of the incubation? If so, how old is he and are you using a calibrated thermometer in the incubator to check the temperature is accurate? Incubators are almost never correct. And are you ensuring they are being turned correctly?
I'm sorry it hasn't gone too well so far.
On another note, if an egg has veins, or shows movement, it is alive. The veins break down very fast, so its best to candle to check for life signs before breaking open

 

[chicken-tender]

No, I am re-homing because I have too few hens for him. It will be at least 8 months before I have more, so to give my current hens relief. Plus my wife insists he goes after attacking her.
I have double checked the temperature and humidity with an thermometer and humidity gage(?) and it reads the same. The egg turner was/is working well.The candling is what caused the trouble the first time. For some reason, candling shows just dark shadows on most eggs at 7 days and again at 14 days. I randomly candled a couple at 18 days and they looked the same. I did candle one of the ones I had put the black dot on. We will know for sure Monday if I am right and the eggs hatch. Fingers crossed.

 

[chicken-tender]

Well, May 2 arrived and has gone. I had set 12 eggs, Candled them all on day 7 and 9 were dark as in the first post on this. Waited until day 17, nothing smelled but I still did not know what the status was so I stupidly cracked one open and found it was growing, lost chick obviously.
On Monday, May 2, eight of the eleven left hatched. 3 candled then as not fertile or just blank nothing showing, looked like an egg just put in the incubator.. I still do not understand why they looked like the first batch I started which looked dead when compared to other pictures on the site. Others who looked at the pictures I posted also said they looked dead. So now I guess I just don't candle next time and wait and see what happens 21 days later.
Here are the new chicks photo. I also have photos of the other eggs that I cracked open if anyone wants to see them. They are rather gross, so I will not posted them to the site.