Hatching issues

[Sarah and the kiddos]

Hello
We have incubated 40 eggs as a first hatch.
12 were bought from a neighbour. The rest were ours. At day 18 about 20 candled well and went into lockdown. BUT only 5 hatched and all were from the neighbours eggs.
what am I doing wrong? Is this an egg handling issue?
Could it be my rooster?
Or is this and incubation problem?

 

[cherrynberry]

Hello
We have incubated 40 eggs as a first hatch.
12 were bought from a neighbour. The rest were ours. At day 18 about 20 candled well and went into lockdown. BUT only 5 hatched and all were from the neighbours eggs.
what am I doing wrong? Is this an egg handling issue?
Could it be my rooster?
Or is this and incubation problem?

What incubator do you own?

 

[americanchicks]

Hello
We have incubated 40 eggs as a first hatch.
12 were bought from a neighbour. The rest were ours. At day 18 about 20 candled well and went into lockdown. BUT only 5 hatched and all were from the neighbours eggs.
what am I doing wrong? Is this an egg handling issue?
Could it be my rooster?
Or is

There are so many variables in hatching it's hard to pinpoint the cause sometimes. Since only the neighbors hatched the problem very well likely could be on your end. If rooster is too old or too young sometimes they have trouble getting the job done. You can check your eggs for fertility. If your hens are young sometimes there can be issues as well. I usually wait until my hens are almost a year old before I collect eggs to hatch. Nutrition can also be a factor. I always make sure my hens eat extra well before I collect eggs for hatching. Genetics could be another issue. You can breed father to daughter but not recommended brother to sister. Storage of the eggs before incubation is important as well. I always let my eggs rest for at least A-day before I put them in the incubator. Good luck

 

[Sarah and the kiddos]

Farm innovations hold 42 eggs has thermostat and humidity reader. Both read wrong and so I used an additional hygrometer

 

[cherrynberry]

Farm innovations hold 42 eggs has thermostat and humidity reader. Both read wrong and so I used an additional hygrometer

What’s your ratio of rooster to hens

 

[Sarah and the kiddos]

1 rooster it was 9 hens. Now 7 after we lost 2 to an animal attack.
rooster and hens not related.
mall about 1.5 years old.

 

[cherrynberry]

1 rooster it was 9 hens. Now 7 after we lost 2 to an animal attack.
rooster and hens not related.
mall about 1.5 years old.

That sounds about right, did you clean the incubator? How much protein is in their food?

 

[Sarah and the kiddos]

Incubator was brand new. Didn’t clean it.
hens eat a layers mash. Fairly high protein I think.

 

[cherrynberry]

Incubator was brand new. Didn’t clean it.
hens eat a layers mash. Fairly high protein I think.

Do you know the percentage? My best guess is that the eggs were not fertile

 

[Sarah and the kiddos]

They candled well and had a nice network of veins. I thought that means they were fertile?