Hatch Rates?

[Chellester]

Quote:
Yes, most definitely.

I think the way you count hatch rates is dependent on what is most important for you to get out of it.

For example, I count only my fertile eggs because since I am still fairly new at this I am more concerned with the success of my incubator and my calibrations of it than anything else. Of course, if I bought a batch of eggs and an unusual amount of them were blanks, I would make note of that. But, for right now, making sure I got the whole incubating thing dialed in is more important to me.

Once I start hatching eggs from my own stock, I will be more concerned with fertility rates as well, so I will have a new variable to consider and therefore will change how I view my overall hatch rates.

 

[Haviris]

Most eggs I have bought have had pretty good fertility, once I get them it's up to me to keep them alive and get them to hatch. When I buy I deside if 50% is worth the price. So if I am looking at buying 12 eggs, I deside if the price is worth 6 chicks. I figure I should get that even counting a few infertile ones. Obviously if there are alot of infertile eggs I will make note of that, and be careful about buying anymore from the same person.

Most recently I bought 12+ eggs, I figured as long as I got atleast 6 chicks it would be worth it. They ended up sending 14 and ALL were fertile! I hatched 7, which would be 50%, which I'm very happy about, although I still would have been happy with 6!

Really right now I am like Chellester, I'm still trying to perfect my incubating skills.

 

[hinkjc]

I just want to clarify that just because an egg candles clear or never develops doesn't necessarily mean it was infertile to start with. I think that's important to remember when assessing sellers. There are too many factors that play into if that germinal disc will ever start to grow.

For example, not too long ago I sent two batches of eggs to two different areas of the country. One person told me they were all infertile, while another said they all grew and hatched. Why the two different results? Could be many things...Po handling, shipping conditions to that specific location, x-raying of packages, incubation methods, etc. I just don't think its fair to claim the seller is bad based on a single result.

Jody

 

[speckledhen]

I just want to clarify that just because an egg candles clear or never develops doesn't necessarily mean it was infertile to start with. I think that's important to remember when assessing sellers. There are too many factors that play into if that germinal disc will ever start to grow.

Thanks, Jody, for saying that again. I have tried to tell people that same thing, that development can be stopped right at the get-go and appear at candling to have been infertile. Just get a batch of eggs you are certain are fertile from your own flock, sit them in 90 degree weather/hot sun for a few hours then try to incubate them and you'll see what can happen to perfectly viable eggs in extreme conditions, most often caused by the P.O.​

 

[Haviris]

I do realize that just because they candle clear doesn't always mean they were infertile, which is why I said I'd be careful rather then that I wouldn't buy again. Thankfully, like I said mostly I've had really good luck with shipped eggs, and no reason to complain, the worst I've had was 5 out of 12 clear (my first time, I managed to hatch 3)! If I did end up with some where all or most were clear I would consider that it may be something that happened before they made it into the incubator, which could be a number of things. I WOULD be careful about buying again, but if the seller had a pretty good record, and especially if I'd bought from them before with good results, I'd probably give them another chance.

I just think of eggs that candle clear as infertile, because either way I won't have any chance of hatching them.