Eggs are not hatching - first timer

[Hybridchucks]

VERY VERY VERY GOOD POST! Ridgerunner

 

[Cadey Charfen]

If an egg is smelling bad carefully get rid of it. Bacteria has gotten inside and multiplied. It's producing gas which puts pressure on the egg. It could start leaking a really stinky fluid that can infect the other eggs or it can explode and create a horrible mess. With that bacteria inside any chick that might have been growing has been killed. Remember handle them carefully, you don't want that exploding in your house.

About the last thing a hen does when she lays an egg is to put a layer on the egg called bloom. This is why an egg looks wet when it is first laid but it very quickly dries off. This layer of bloom helps stop bacteria from getting inside the egg through the porous shell. As long as that bloom is intact it is very effective, but if you remove some of it by washing or sandpapering the egg to clean it bacteria can get in. A dirty egg can let bacteria in too. I don't mean a light dried streak but a clump of poop or dirt. So don't clean your eggs and don't set dirty eggs.

It's also important to have a very clean incubator before you start. You want it sterile so there is no bacteria in there to start with. And only handle the eggs with clean dry hands.

I consider the float test a last ditch emergency test you can do before you toss the eggs. As long as the chick inside has not external pipped it won't harm the chick inside, but it cleans off the bloom which can allow bacteria inside so I save the test for emergencies. If you put the egg at that stage of incubation in a basin of calm water it should float, if it sinks at that stage it is no good. If it wiggles on its own there is a live chick in it, put it back in the incubator. If it does not wiggle there is no live chick in there. it should only take a few seconds to be able to tell.

I assume you are talking about chicken eggs. It's not unusual for them to be a couple of days early or late, there are many different things that can affect the exact time of hatch. But if they are all that late, it's likely your incubation temperature is low. I never trust any thermometer unless it has been calibrated, they often don't read right. One way to calibrate it is to put the thermometer in a glass of warm water along with a medical thermometer that has been calibrated. An oral or rectal thermometer works but those can be challenging to find anymore.

it's also possible something happened that killed all the developing chicks, a prolonged temperature spike for example. If you open the unhatched eggs (not one that stinks, too dangerous and foul) you might get an idea of when that happened. Since you had some develop many were fertile to start with. With that many eggs you should have had some that hatched or at least pipped. Something did go wrong.

I would immediately do a smell test on each individual egg, that's important. You can give the other eggs another day if you wish, there is always hope, but I'd then consider the float test. If they have not hatched by 25 days they won't.

Before you try again, calibrate your thermometer and make sure your incubation temperature is correct. And sterilize your incubator. If an egg is stinking in there consider your incubator contaminated.

I also use a Hovabator to hatch, mine is an old style model 1588. it took a couple of tries to get the temperature right, mine was set too warm from the factory, but once I got it adjusted it's been really reliable.

Great information and thank you.

 

[Hybridchucks]

Did you candle them? xx

 

[Cadey Charfen]

Well, we candled the eggs and honestly the majority of them never really developed. Could have been the incubation temperature. Out of 34 eggs we have 5 in the incubator, but I am not hopeful. When I looked at the candling photos online it looks like the 5 almost made it and look similar to the fully grown eggs at day 18. I am not seeing any movement so it may have been the other eggs that contaminated the incubator. These eggs were mailed to us. I have some calls out to local farms in our area that sell roosters to see if they have any fertilized eggs. Sad day in our house, but we are determined to get this right and produce some baby chicks. We will sanitize our incubator and make sure that we are candling at the right times to pull the eggs that are not developing out. The only thing that I can think of is that the thermometer on the incubator is not registering correctly. We will get that calibrated as well. All part of the learning experience. I really appreciate everyones help this morning. Wish I had known about BYC a few weeks ago.

 

[Yackers]

I know. This whole thing is breaking my heart a bit. Barely slept worrying about these baby chicks. Waiting for my daughter to wake up and we will candle them all and let you know what we see. The one I candled this morning looked good to me, but I don't know exactly what I am looking for either since this is our first time.

I have a question because I am hatching my first batch of duck eggs and I can't stop candling them. In fact this am I took the ones in the hatching incubator and put the light up to them and low and behold, I really thought they had died and now they are chirping and on their way. CLOSED that lid fast! My question is, why didn't you candle them? Is there something I'm doing that I shouldn't be? Thanks.

 

[Cadey Charfen]

I have a question because I am hatching my first batch of duck eggs and I can't stop candling them. In fact this am I took the ones in the hatching incubator and put the light up to them and low and behold, I really thought they had died and now they are chirping and on their way. CLOSED that lid fast! My question is, why didn't you candle them? Is there something I'm doing that I shouldn't be? Thanks.

Honestly, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. We should have candled more often. I was following our babysitters lead since she has hatched chickens multiple times in her life. She is only 22, so I am thinking that when she was a kid her parents probably helped a lot and this is something that I didn't consider. This was a tough lesson to learn. We do have 5 eggs still in the incubator and they may hatch. I hope so, but I am not counting on it. If they do not hatch today, I will do the water test tomorrow that was recommended in this thread. We are sad today, but will try again.

 

[Cadey Charfen]

Did you candle them? xx

Well, we candled the eggs and honestly the majority of them never really developed. Could have been the incubation temperature. Out of 34 eggs we have 5 in the incubator, but I am not hopeful. When I looked at the candling photos online it looks like the 5 almost made it and look similar to the fully grown eggs at day 18. I am not seeing any movement so it may have been the other eggs that contaminated the incubator. These eggs were mailed to us. I have some calls out to local farms in our area that sell roosters to see if they have any fertilized eggs. Sad day in our house, but we are determined to get this right and produce some baby chicks. We will sanitize our incubator and make sure that we are candling at the right times to pull the eggs that are not developing out. The only thing that I can think of is that the thermometer on the incubator is not registering correctly. We will get that calibrated as well. All part of the learning experience. I really appreciate everyones help this morning. Wish I had known about BYC a few weeks ago.

 

[Hybridchucks]

sorry, i hope those 5 eggs will be ok.......
did you open some of the rotten eggs

 

[AmyLynn2374]

If an egg is smelling bad carefully get rid of it. Bacteria has gotten inside and multiplied. It's producing gas which puts pressure on the egg. It could start leaking a really stinky fluid that can infect the other eggs or it can explode and create a horrible mess. With that bacteria inside any chick that might have been growing has been killed. Remember handle them carefully, you don't want that exploding in your house.

About the last thing a hen does when she lays an egg is to put a layer on the egg called bloom. This is why an egg looks wet when it is first laid but it very quickly dries off. This layer of bloom helps stop bacteria from getting inside the egg through the porous shell. As long as that bloom is intact it is very effective, but if you remove some of it by washing or sandpapering the egg to clean it bacteria can get in. A dirty egg can let bacteria in too. I don't mean a light dried streak but a clump of poop or dirt. So don't clean your eggs and don't set dirty eggs.

It's also important to have a very clean incubator before you start. You want it sterile so there is no bacteria in there to start with. And only handle the eggs with clean dry hands.

I consider the float test a last ditch emergency test you can do before you toss the eggs. As long as the chick inside has not external pipped it won't harm the chick inside, but it cleans off the bloom which can allow bacteria inside so I save the test for emergencies. If you put the egg at that stage of incubation in a basin of calm water it should float, if it sinks at that stage it is no good. If it wiggles on its own there is a live chick in it, put it back in the incubator. If it does not wiggle there is no live chick in there. it should only take a few seconds to be able to tell.

I assume you are talking about chicken eggs. It's not unusual for them to be a couple of days early or late, there are many different things that can affect the exact time of hatch. But if they are all that late, it's likely your incubation temperature is low. I never trust any thermometer unless it has been calibrated, they often don't read right. One way to calibrate it is to put the thermometer in a glass of warm water along with a medical thermometer that has been calibrated. An oral or rectal thermometer works but those can be challenging to find anymore.

it's also possible something happened that killed all the developing chicks, a prolonged temperature spike for example. If you open the unhatched eggs (not one that stinks, too dangerous and foul) you might get an idea of when that happened. Since you had some develop many were fertile to start with. With that many eggs you should have had some that hatched or at least pipped. Something did go wrong.

I would immediately do a smell test on each individual egg, that's important. You can give the other eggs another day if you wish, there is always hope, but I'd then consider the float test. If they have not hatched by 25 days they won't.

Before you try again, calibrate your thermometer and make sure your incubation temperature is correct. And sterilize your incubator. If an egg is stinking in there consider your incubator contaminated.

I also use a Hovabator to hatch, mine is an old style model 1588. it took a couple of tries to get the temperature right, mine was set too warm from the factory, but once I got it adjusted it's been really reliable.

Xs 3

Well, we candled the eggs and honestly the majority of them never really developed. Could have been the incubation temperature. Out of 34 eggs we have 5 in the incubator, but I am not hopeful. When I looked at the candling photos online it looks like the 5 almost made it and look similar to the fully grown eggs at day 18. I am not seeing any movement so it may have been the other eggs that contaminated the incubator. These eggs were mailed to us. I have some calls out to local farms in our area that sell roosters to see if they have any fertilized eggs. Sad day in our house, but we are determined to get this right and produce some baby chicks. We will sanitize our incubator and make sure that we are candling at the right times to pull the eggs that are not developing out. The only thing that I can think of is that the thermometer on the incubator is not registering correctly. We will get that calibrated as well. All part of the learning experience. I really appreciate everyones help this morning. Wish I had known about BYC a few weeks ago.

Always calibrate/check thermometers. Never trust an unchecked thermometer, especially on the incubators. The digital Little Giants are notorious for being two degrees or more off. Lost my first batch 3 years ago to an unchecked faulty thermometer and high humidity. Learned real fast.

Shipped eggs are risky. Period.

I highly recommend candling at least days 7/14/18. Check the development, pull clears by day 10, monitor and mark air cells. You're air cells will tell you if your egg is loosing enough moisture and guide you in how to adjust for their needs. I'll give you a link to understand that. I find 30% is my ideal humidity for the most part.

Past day 24, there's not a lot of hope. Often hatchers this late, are weak and fail to thrive. If candling does not reveal any movement, sign of life, draw down or internal pip, there's not really any hope. An egg not even internally pipped at this point, hasn't got much hope. I highly recommend doing eggtopsies if you can handle it. This will point to at what stage they died. If they are fully formed, very wet, excess fluid in the shell, you can pretty much conclude high humidity leading to drowning. Developmental defects, often point to temp issues. Dry, shrinkwrapped, (the membrane is so dry it pulls the chick tightly into the bottom half of the shell), points to too much moisture loss. Not everyone can handle eggtopsies, but if you can it can be a valuable tool in pin pointing problems in a bad hatch with multiple DIS chicks.

These are my recommended links: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

http://hatching411.weebly.com/