Dead Chicks Inside Egg?

[BirdsNRabbits]

Hello!,

I just recently put in a batch of chicken eggs due to hatch on April 2nd. eight Dominique, two Bantam Cochin, and eight mixed breed. Well none of my mixes hatched, they were all yolkers. The two bantams hatched, and only one Dominique hatched. I had read somewhere to give the rest of the eggs a few more days as there may be a late bloomer so I did and no one else hatched. Earlier this morning I cleaned the incubator out and got rid of the leftover eggs and two of the Dominique eggs had fully developed chicks inside of them. Dead, obviously.

I know its possible for them to die right before the hatch, but why? I can't remember what causes them to die. Temps and humidity were good throughout hatch, lockdown was on day 18 and I only opened the incubator *very* briefly twice. Once to refill some water and the second time to get the other three chicks out.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Oh, probably at least 10 different things.
If they died at 18+ days and temperature/humidity were correct throughout, it could be:

• inadequate turning
• improper ventilation
• contamination - especially molds
• eggs chilled moving to hatcher or moved too late
• cracked shell
• nutritional deficiencies in the breeder flock - Vitamins A, B12, D, E, K, folic acid, pantothenic acid, biotin, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, lineolic acid
• heredity
• breeder diseases
• opening hatcher too frequently during pipping
• embryonic malposition
• embryonical development accident

.

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Oh, probably at least 10 different things.
If they died at 18+ days and temperature/humidity were correct throughout, it could be:

• inadequate turning
• improper ventilation
• contamination - especially molds
• eggs chilled moving to hatcher or moved too late
• cracked shell
• nutritional deficiencies in the breeder flock - Vitamins A, B12, D, E, K, folic acid, pantothenic acid, biotin, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, lineolic acid
• heredity
• breeder diseases
• opening hatcher too frequently during pipping
• embryonic malposition
• embryonical development accident

.

So lots of different things... So for some of those it may have not been my fault?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Right. The temperature, humidity, turning, ventilation, contamination, handling during hatching and if they are your birds, nutrition is under your control.

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Right. The temperature, humidity, turning, ventilation, contamination, handling during hatching and if they are your birds, nutrition is under your control.

Yes. From what I monitored, the humidity and temperature were OK during hatch but it may have been off. We have an automatic turner that has always been reliable in the past. There are some ventilation holes on the incubator. Contamination may have been a possibility, I'll be sure to clean the bator really well next time. I only candled the eggs once, on day 14. Other than that I didn't handle them. They weren't my birds so nutrition wasn't up to me.

The fact that three other eggs hatched, the rest weren't even fertile (clears). It might have just been something genetically going on with these two chicks. Cause one of their siblings did hatch. They may have just not been strong enough. One did seem misaligned or it was in a weird position. That might have been it. Thanks for your help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The turning issue is usually if turned by hand. Just double check that your auto one is working.
The clears are either not fertilized or stored too long.

Were any of the eggs yours?

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

The turning issue is usually if turned by hand. Just double check that your auto one is working.
The clears are either not fertilized or stored too long.

Were any of the eggs yours?

Yes some of them were mine. Ten of them to be exact. Two of them hatched. I have a feeling mine were just not fertilized as they weren't stored for too long before I put them in the incubator.