Hi, newbie here, Just went through the process with 24 "guaranteed" fertile eggs from farm store. Incubator is the 40+ egg with auto turner, styrofoam, basin for water, metal screen, etc. Had temp at 99.5 the entire time, etc., etc. Basically, I think I followed appropriate directions. Candling throughout the process showed veins and embryos, active movements, etc. Anyway, only about 8 of the 24 actually hatched on days 21-23, most of them from the white eggs, leghorns I think. Now we are at day 27 and most of the brown eggs haven't hatched. So, I bust one open this morning and there is a fully formed chick inside, no movement, no apparent sign of life, no foul smell. What is going on? Thanks for any advice!
I found this "troubleshooting guide" online at http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/trouble.htm#LD Maybe it will help answer your questions? There are so many factors involved in incubating eggs... sometimes it seems a hatch will go along perfectly and have a poor result for no reason while another hatch can be fraught with errors and produce a brooder full of fuzzy butts... I wish I knew the how and why but then sometimes "it just is".
