Fully Formed Chicks Not Hatching?

[The Monkey Mama]

I had 5 Welsummer eggs that were supposed to hatch this past weekend. At the same time I had 11 OEG bantam eggs hatching in the same incubator.

None of the Welsummers hatched, but 10 of the 11 OEGs did and the OEGs were fine. [They are absolutely adorable in fact!]

I finally decided today to open up the Welsummer eggs to try to see what happened. 2 of the eggs were no good - chick died really early or infertile, not sure which.

But 3 of the eggs had fully formed chicks - perfect chicks who looked ready to pip and hatch. The yolks were absorbed and everything.

What would cause chicks to develop perfectly and then not even pip?

My humidity was high in the incubator and the OEGs [which were supposed to be the more fragile of the two] hatched fine. I opened up the one OEG egg that didn't hatch and it was "just" an egg, no chick, so it had no chance of hatching anyway - all the ones that were fertile hatched fine.

I feel like I must have done something to kill these Welsummers [bummer too, I really wanted these guys!], but I have no idea what.

Ideas?

Kelly

 

[pbjmaker]

I wish I knew. I just had some Black Copper Marans that didn't hatch and they were fully formed also. One made it the rest that developed didn't.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

How many days did u leave them in the bator? It seems like some just take longer than they should...How do u know when to give up?

 

[laxrick]

Out of three of my eight eggs that appeared ready to hatch, two quit right when yours did: perfectly formed...

I did get a cute serama though, but the loss of chicks so developed was very upsetting.

 

[pbjmaker]

I left mine in for 24 days. The only one that survived hatched on day 21. One pipped and died on day 22.

My BCM is now living with a 1 week old serama chick. Those little guys are fiesty!

 

[The Monkey Mama]

They were due to hatch Friday and all but one OEG did hatch Friday, the last OEG hatched Sat morning. I couldn't hear any movement in the shells or anything on the Welsummers, so I cracked one open just now - day 24 - [left the membrane intact at first just in case they were still alive], but it was dead. I checked the others too - 3 perfect, beautiful little chicks - all 3 dead for no reason I can figure out.

Kelly

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
What was your hum day 1-18 ?? What did you up your hum to on day 18 ?

Check this site out.... http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AA204

 

[CindyS]

that is odd. Since all the oegb eggs hatched, it could possibly be a nutritional issue with the welsummer hens?

 

[allbreednut]

There could be a lot of different causes. If the humidity was too high toward the end of incubation, that could do it. If the parents were inbred, I've heard that could do it -- have you been breeding from a small flock of Welsummers for awhile, or do you know if the person you got them from may have been inbreeding for a few generations? I'm not saying that inbreeding is necessarily bad, it just has to be planned -- pretty much all the best show chickens come that way.

If the humidity was good those last few days, you might do exactly the same thing next time with the same number of eggs and get good results. It's risky to generalize from such a small number and only one experience. There was probably a "cause," but maybe not. I'd say just try again!

 

[allbreednut]

It just occurred to me: If your Welsummer breeders are still very young, that could result in more than the usual number of dead-in-the-shell chicks.