Wally Welbar
Hatching
- Apr 19, 2019
- 2
- 1
- 7
Hello all!
Three weeks ago I bought black copper Maran eggs from a person who lives far away. I didn't see their farm setup or their breeder flock. After getting home in the afternoon, I waited until evening to put the eggs into the incubator (I purchased 10, but I have an incubator that only holds 9 eggs, so I left one out). I put the humidity and temperature at what's recommended. Having used the incubator to hatch eggs from my own farmyard chickens twice before, it was nothing new to me.
Twenty days later, cracks in the eggs started forming. Two females hatched, and, after letting them dry, I put them into my brooder. I was so excited because I've never had chocolate brown egg layers before, and I was ready to start my own flock of Marans. After the two hatched, I sat back and began to wait for the rest (I wasn't concerned at all because, in my previous hatches, there was always a 12-24 hour gap between the first and last hatchers). My two little females seemed to be completely healthy.
The next day there were still no new babies in the incubator. I started to think that my first two chicks to hatch had come out maybe a little too early. Three of the eggs had cracks in them, so I knew that they were working on coming out.
But on day 22, nobody had hatched. One egg made a lot of progress, pipping a line out of more than a quarter of the egg's circumference. I heard them peeping several times. I was starting to get worried about the other four eggs that hadn't moved yet.
And then, everything seemed to freeze. Several wet feathers stuck out of the egg that was almost all the way pipped through, and I could see a little egg tooth sticking from another. But there was no movement. The three eggs that I was confident would hatch didn't.
Opening the incubator, I discovered that something smelled off. I knew that one of them had died, but I wasn't sure which. I waited longer, but after no success, I came to the conclusion that all seven of the unhatched eggs would never hatch. They died while pipping, or before they had even pipped at all.
I don't know why they died. I don't know if it has something to do with the farm that I bought them from, or if they had somehow caught a disease that kills them while they're breaking from their eggs. I was very sad that only two of my nine, only 20%, of the eggs had hatched--not only because they were the breed of chicken I've wanted for so long, but also because I spent lots time and electricity taking care of the unhatched eggs, waiting three weeks for disappointing results.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone help understand this loss? I would greatly appreciate anything!
Three weeks ago I bought black copper Maran eggs from a person who lives far away. I didn't see their farm setup or their breeder flock. After getting home in the afternoon, I waited until evening to put the eggs into the incubator (I purchased 10, but I have an incubator that only holds 9 eggs, so I left one out). I put the humidity and temperature at what's recommended. Having used the incubator to hatch eggs from my own farmyard chickens twice before, it was nothing new to me.
Twenty days later, cracks in the eggs started forming. Two females hatched, and, after letting them dry, I put them into my brooder. I was so excited because I've never had chocolate brown egg layers before, and I was ready to start my own flock of Marans. After the two hatched, I sat back and began to wait for the rest (I wasn't concerned at all because, in my previous hatches, there was always a 12-24 hour gap between the first and last hatchers). My two little females seemed to be completely healthy.
The next day there were still no new babies in the incubator. I started to think that my first two chicks to hatch had come out maybe a little too early. Three of the eggs had cracks in them, so I knew that they were working on coming out.
But on day 22, nobody had hatched. One egg made a lot of progress, pipping a line out of more than a quarter of the egg's circumference. I heard them peeping several times. I was starting to get worried about the other four eggs that hadn't moved yet.
And then, everything seemed to freeze. Several wet feathers stuck out of the egg that was almost all the way pipped through, and I could see a little egg tooth sticking from another. But there was no movement. The three eggs that I was confident would hatch didn't.
Opening the incubator, I discovered that something smelled off. I knew that one of them had died, but I wasn't sure which. I waited longer, but after no success, I came to the conclusion that all seven of the unhatched eggs would never hatch. They died while pipping, or before they had even pipped at all.
I don't know why they died. I don't know if it has something to do with the farm that I bought them from, or if they had somehow caught a disease that kills them while they're breaking from their eggs. I was very sad that only two of my nine, only 20%, of the eggs had hatched--not only because they were the breed of chicken I've wanted for so long, but also because I spent lots time and electricity taking care of the unhatched eggs, waiting three weeks for disappointing results.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone help understand this loss? I would greatly appreciate anything!
Last edited:
What incubator, temp, and humidity?
