hatching 18th day

[brahmapapa]

I posted this the other day and the only answer that I got was that i was running incubator temp high. I already knew that warmer temp would cause early hatch I was running at 100 deg. Here is the senerio that perplexes me, I have three diff.color patterns of LF Brahma chicken eggs all set, randomly placed in the incubator, (so that discounts warm or cold spots in the bator as having this effect). when I set them in lockdown on day 18 one was pipping and was hatched in an hour. durring lockdown, I had the eggs seperated by type and all of one color pattern had hatched except 3 by day 20......one of the other color patterns have hatched two out of 11 and the third is pipped but not zipped yet. The third color pattern shows no sign of even pipping yet and they are due today. i know that they still may hatch within the next few days. my big question is could the type (color pattern)( they are all brahmas) have that much to do with the span of incubation time. The chicks that hatched earliest were Partridge Brahmas, The chicks that hatched second were the Blue Laced Red Brahmas, and the ones that haven't even pipped were Dark Brahmas. Anyone out there with any kind of explanation. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[BookWorm243]

I have no clue but I would love to know. I will keep an eye out on this thread, I hope someone can give you an answer.

 

[Ceinwyn]

Were all the eggs the same color, size, shell thickness, weight? All these things contribute to hatching. I'm not familiar with the different strains of brahma's to give you more than a generalized answer.

 

[brahmapapa]

to CEINWYN....the eggs were diff sizes, shades and weights but were all within the same color/type that hatched as an early group. thanks for your comment.

 

[brahmapapa]

anyone out there with an opinion i would appreciate it on this issue.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are several different things that can affect if an egg hatches early or late. Incubation temperature is the first one everyone, including me, thinks of first. Some of the other things I am aware of are humidity, relative size of the eggs (small eggs hatch earlier than larger eggs of the same breed) how the eggs were stored prior to start of incubation, and heredity. I read an article, I believe from the University of Virginia, that recommended that commercial hatcheries do not select their breeding chickens from the late hatchers to avoid this problem, so evidently heredity can be a big influence. I don't know yor specific circumstances, but some of these may have contributed.

 

[brahmapapa]

Ridgerunner, thanks for your input, you raise some valid points to think about. The perplexing thing is the eggs are of varying sizes, weights etc. the eggs that are from the two batches that did hatch both came from the same source and were shipped and arrived together, and were given the same handling and treatment. one group the Partridge Brahma batch hatched on the 18th and 19th days, and the other group yhe Blue Laced Red Brahma batch hatched on the 20th and 21st. As I said there has been no activity from the 9 Dark Brahma eggs. Sunday was day 21. thanks again