Egg Color and Hatch Success

[KellyMP]

So, I just hatched my first set of eggs from my incubator. Out of the 11 eggs, only 4 hatched. Three were from the same hen that lays darker brown eggs, her eggs hatched at an 100% success rate. One egg hatched from my hen that occasionally lays brown to a creamier pink color. The egg that hatched from her was a darker brown. None of my blue eggs nor the lighter brown eggs hatched. They candled well early on but didn’t seem to make it throughout the process. I just find it interesting the lighter eggs didn’t survive. Has anyone experienced this? Any thoughts on correlation or purely coincidence? (The hens are all the same age, two are Easter eggers, and one a speckled Sussex).

 

[talkinboutchickens]

My thoughts are that each rooster favors a certain hen or a few certain hens, so he is likely mating with the darker brown laying hen the most. I am not sure of the other reasons why this could be happening.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

My thoughts are that each rooster favors a certain hen or a few certain hens, so he is likely mating with the darker brown laying hen the most. I am not sure of the other reasons why this could be happening.

This was my thought too but the eggs were developing at first so that can’t be the case.

How many roosters do you have?

 

[redinator]

So, I just hatched my first set of eggs from my incubator. Out of the 11 eggs, only 4 hatched. Three were from the same hen that lays darker brown eggs, her eggs hatched at an 100% success rate. One egg hatched from my hen that occasionally lays brown to a creamier pink color. The egg that hatched from her was a darker brown. None of my blue eggs nor the lighter brown eggs hatched. They candled well early on but didn’t seem to make it throughout the process. I just find it interesting the lighter eggs didn’t survive. Has anyone experienced this? Any thoughts on correlation or purely coincidence? (The hens are all the same age, two are Easter eggers, and one a speckled Sussex).

How long have the pullets/hens been laying? How long did you save eggs prior to incubation? How did you store them?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

This was my thought too but the eggs were developing at first so that can’t be the case.

How many roosters do you have?

Oh oops sorry I didn't completely mentally process the first post...

 

[KellyMP]

This was my thought too but the eggs were developing at first so that can’t be the case.

How many roosters do you have?

I would have assumed the same had the others not developed. 3 of 4 of my blue eggs developed good looking veins (one I tossed early as nothing happened with it), but when I candled them at 14 days they were all sloshy. The other light brown ones haven’t hatched (it is day 22, so I am still waiting to see if maybe they hatch late)…. But I just have the one rooster!

 

[Yardmom]

Most likely it has more to do with egg quality of individual hens than the incubation, but there are a few connections possible. First where were the eggs in the Incubator? We're the ones from the same hen together. If this is the case there is a chance there was a more suitable temperature in that spot. Humidity can affect different eggs differently. I have heard it mentioned that Marans eggs (dark) take a bit less humidity than others. This is more likely connected to how porous the eggs are than the color.

 

[KellyMP]

How long have the pullets/hens been laying? How long did you save eggs prior to incubation? How did you store them?

They’ve been laying for just over a year. Maybe closer to a year and a half. The eggs were all collected within the week, and stored in the coolest part of my house in a carton, pointy side down.

 

[KellyMP]

Most likely it has more to do with egg quality of individual hens than the incubation, but there are a few connections possible. First where were the eggs in the Incubator? We're the ones from the same hen together. If this is the case there is a chance there was a more suitable temperature in that spot. Humidity can affect different eggs differently. I have heard it mentioned that Marans eggs (dark) take a bit less humidity than others. This is more likely connected to how porous the eggs are than the color.

This is where my brain went, the porosity of the colors potentially being the factor that changed the outcome of the eggs. I’m in Colorado, so I read to keep the humidity a bit higher out here. It was around 40-45 and then 65-70 for lockdown. I did group the eggs together by hen, although I feel like the browns eventually got mixed up.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I seriously doubt the color of the eggshell had anything to do with it.
But they were laid by different hens, that could. At least some of them started to develop so they were at least fertilized.

Which incubator did you use? Did it have a fan? That might help with the "position in the incubator" theory.

Of the seven eggs laid by these two hens only one hatched. With the other eggs hatching I don't think it was an incubator or rooster problem. So something with those hens.

For an egg to hatch it has to be put together perfectly. It is possible something is wrong with those hens in how they put the eggs together. It could easily be something you cannot see visually. Porosity is a possibility but I'd think that would affect the egg later in the incubation process, not early on. You got lucky with one of those eggs.

It is possible the she is not processing a certain nutrient correctly. The nutrient, whatever it is, is available as the other hen's eggs hatched, but the other is not eating it or maybe the body just doesn't process it.

I've had it happen where none of a certain hen's eggs hatched while others had a great hatch rate. But those never started to develop at all, I don't think they were fertilized. I don't know what happened with yours.