HARD SHELLS

[mark s]

HELLO, I AM NEW TO BYC AND WOULD LIKE SOME INFO ON WHYMY BLACK AUSTRALORPE EGG SHELLS ARE SO HARD, THE CHICKS ARE DYING IN THE SHELLS, CANT PECK THERE WAY OUT.any help would be great, thank you

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Most of my eggs have pretty hard shells too. I have to wack them off the counter real good to crack them when I cook them. However, my chicks hatch just fine from them.

Some more information on your set up and incubation practices might help. It could be any number of things causing them to die before hatch, and maybe it has nothing to do with the shells.

 

[mark s]

i have a still air incubator, temp set at 100, humidity at 60%, all the eggs had chicks in them, 4 out of 19 eggs hatched with our help, but the others didn't, they had very very little peck spots in them. we have never had this problem before. stumped

 

[NatureChica]

So sorry for your loss. I think to get so close where you lose them at the last second is harder than if they were duds. If you did an eggtopsy did u find they were shrink wrapped in the membrane?

Does anybody else think maybe for his area the humidity was too low? My area ( hot n humid in coastal NC) 70% for lockdown is good. 65-70 is my goal all 4+ days