Everything was going SOO well... I thought

[Blue Legs]

So I am currently on day 18 and about to start my lockdown. Using a forced air incubator with an egg rocker, temp steady 99-100f. I had the humidity a bit too high for the first ten days, lowered it, and all seemed well except for air cell development in many eggs which never seemed to progress past day 7 appearances. Last night, I candled the eggs. About half of my bresse eggs had died at some point, down to 9/20, I'm not exactly sure when. My candling skills apparently leave something to be desired. I have a few thoughts/variables that may be relevant.

1- My bresse stock is 2 years old at this point, and the roosters are related to a few of the hens
2- I am also incubating jersey giant eggs, which have not experienced any losses 0/6, have universally appropriately sized air cells and are on course to hatch saturday
3- My humidity ranged between 50-65 for the first two weeks almost

Due to the success rate of the giants, I am inclined to believe that I have an issue with my stock somehow. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I thought I actually had it right this time... SAD

 

[Tonyroo]

How large is your Breese flock?

 

[Blue Legs]

I have 5 hens, 3 sisters and 2 from a hatchery along with 2 roosters who are brothers and the descendants of the 3 sisters

 

[Tonyroo]

I would have removed one of the rooster brothers or replaced both with unrelated bloodline.

Having 2 rooster with 5 hens can make mating a little difficult. When one of the roosters try to mate the other one will try to kick them off. I seen this in my flock.

 

[Blue Legs]

Out of 21 eggs, 19 grew to at least some point of development, I could see them all moving on day 7 when i discarded 2 that were non-viable/hadn't developed. But at some point between day 7-17, something went wrong and just with the bresse eggs.
I debated which rooster to keep recently, and I chose these guys because they seem to represent the breed standard better than my other option did. I lost my original rooster last year to a raccoon so I try and keep a backup around after that experience. The two groups of hens are unrelated

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I would have removed one of the rooster brothers or replaced both with unrelated bloodline.

Having 2 rooster with 5 hens can make mating a little difficult. When one of the roosters try to mate the other one will try to kick them off. I seen this in my flock.

Yes, especially if they are close to each other (I.E brothers).

 

[Tonyroo]

Consider using one rooster for breeding, having two with the hens creates problems.

 

[Blue Legs]

If 19 out of 21 eggs were viable, is fighting over breeding still likely to be the cause of eggs aborting between days 7-17? I just want to understand how that could cause that, I'm very new to this. I would have thought the eggs would have simply never developed

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

If 19 out of 21 eggs were viable, is fighting over breeding still likely to be the cause of eggs aborting between days 7-17? I just want to understand how that could cause that, I'm very new to this. I would have thought the eggs would have simply never developed

I agree that it probably has nothing to do with the roosters if they got that far into incubation, but Bresse are already so inbred and you are taking it to another generation of inbreeding is going to cause some major problems.
https://bitchinchickens.com/2019/10/14/hatching-egg-fails/

 

[Blue Legs]

That was my big concern, I tried to help by bringing in fresh stock but the roosters are probable descendants of 3 of the 5 hens. That link was full of great info but wow, some of those pictures nearly caused me to lose my breakfast. Definitely motivation to get it right, I don't want to bring something to life just for it to suffer.