Hatching Mille Fleur eggs...big problem

[chanda]

I was given a young Mille Fleur trio and was told they were not good setters. Since getting them, I've tried to hatch out 2 clutches of eggs. The incubator (Little Giant) is set at 99.5, and I keep the pan filled with water. The problem is that the eggs are fertile and develop, then they fail to hatch. (Dying in the eggs) At first, I thought it was my incubator, but I've hatched Barred Rocks and "mutt" chickens out with no problem whatsoever. (Hatched some just last night.)

In the past springs/summers, I've hatched quail, pheasants, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese from this incubator with very little problem and high hatch rates. I'm currently having high hatch rates with everything EXCEPT the MF's.

Anyone have any idea what's going on? Thanks in advance!

Chanda

 

[Hotwings]

I can't give any advice on incubators, but the mille feur bantams I know go broody very well. My friend Denise had three hens hatch out standard barred rocks a few years ago. She hadn't any bantam roo so there wasn't any bantam eggs, but her hens took over some barred rock eggs and sucessfully hatched and raised them. It was quite comical to see standard chicks that got to be larger than their foster mamas!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I've heard that there can also be a problem with the eggs themselves. I'm having problems with my buff orps doing the same thing. I'm told that if you up the protein content for the laying hens with quail food (?) that it improves the quality of the eggs.
Dunno. Hopefully someone smarter than I will post.

 

[chanda]

Thank you both for your responses! As far as the hens go, they're actually SCARED of chicks! I had a chick hatch out by himself (broody BR hen kept laying eggs in her nest, and they all hatched at different times), and I thought I'd try to find him a surrogate mother -- besides ME! None of the BR's would take him, and when I took him into the MF pen, they ran away scared! (FYI: I ended up naming him "Governor" and currently have him in the house with me! He's such a sweetie!)

I *do* think that, at this point, I'm going to leave them in the pen with the hens as I have some broody pheasants in there as well. Maybe I'll get more that way.

And, I DO have quail feed. I may try feeding that to my MF's in addition to some vitamins in their waterer.

Thanks again. I've about lost hope of hatching out more of them, and I LOVE the grown MFs that I have! Maybe, with practice, we (my MFs and I) will somehow get it right!

I meant to ask, the incubator sounds ok to you all?

Chanda

 

[chanda]

Just wanted to add that I'm starting to doubt myself, even though I've hatched out HUNDREDS of chicks...as if I'm missing something STUPID. If anyone has any suggestions, please, share them with me!

Thanks again!

Chanda

 

[chanda]

Okay, I JUST found this information. Maybe I can try this...

" I use an incubator for hatching, but with certain strains the hen is best. The majority of people seem to have some problems with incubators, the most common being "dead in shell", where the chick dies at the point of hatching. I have heard of numerous reasons for this, but have not come to a conclusion, and have found it is better to set difficult eggs under a hen. Because I vaccinate for Marek's disease the eggs are removed at about 18 days and, after washing, are put in the incubator to hatch. My Millefleur d'Uccle would rarely hatch in the incubator, but by using this method a good success rate has been achieved."

http://users.tpg.com.au/channan/breeding.html