Have trouble with BCM hatch rate everyone else is great

[Cowgirlgrace]

Any one out there have trouble hatching BCM compared to others? Fertility is great and all goes well till hatch but while all the others have a 90% hatch rate I'm only getting 50% on the Marans. They are incubated together and the BCM are not inbred so chicks should be strong and healthy. They don't pip, just DIS. Have heard there are different humidity requirements for BCM. Giong to try Dry incubation next to see if that helps but can't figure out why all the others do great and the Marans don't. Any shared experiences would be helpful

 

[Cornychick]

I would like to know the answer to this as well. Last month I lost a bator full (40) eggs of varied marans. Fully developed with no pips. I feel your frustration.

 

[onthespot]

what humidity are you running at? They need to dry out or the chicks drown when they try to pip. Try running it at 30-35% next time and see how it goes. I have some lighter colored eggs I would sell you reasonable if you want to try again. Three $/egg.

 

[Joyryder]

Did you open the unhatched eggs? I thought I had only 50% - 5/10, but when I opened the eggs 4 were unfertile, So my hatch was 5/6. That made me feel a lot better.

 

[lemurchaser]

I just finished a BCM hatch. I had 8 in the hatcher (out of 14 originally shipped), and 5 hatched. Two did it all by themself, but not until late on day 22. One started zipping and got totally encrusted into the zip, so I helped that one. The other 2 didn't pip, so on day 23 I opened them and they were alive and cheeping. So I got them started too. So lots of help needed, but they were all ready to hatch.

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

I haven't tried the dry incubation yet so they have all been around 55% during and 65% on day 18. I have read everything about having high humidity and what it can do but wondered why the other breeds did fine with it. This is the end of day 22 and there are four in the bator till tomorrow. I don't usually open them, its just so sad. The ones I have opened on previous hatches havn't even broke the air cell. I have 28 in another incubator so trying the dry hatch. Thanks for the offer of eggs. I have the parents so have a steady supply. I just have friends waiting for chicks and I have to keep telling them they have to wait longer when only half hatch. I guess the BCM maybe are more sensitive to the higher humidity but I thought I read somewhere that their thicker shells actually need more moisture. I'll post with the new hatch to let everyone know how it goes. I did get 14 BLR chicks out of 16. Too cute! And the BCM I got are the cutest too.

 

[onthespot]

I had read it was the extra pigment on the shell, makes it harder for the moisture to evaporate from the egg. That is why they were favored for stocking the larders of ships, because they stayed fresh a lot longer, because they did not evaporate out like normal eggs, and that Marans, France was a stock-up port for seagoing vessels...

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

Sounds like a dry incubation is defunately worth a try!