Help! Only 1 out of 25 eggs hatched!

[ChristinLewin]

Quick recap:
Bought eggs on eBay end of May, 3 different sellers
1. Out of 13 Wyandotte eggs, 3 hatched and all are doing well. Most didn’t make it past day 7 or weren’t fertile, but we did have one make it to lockdown, pipped and then just stopped and died. We cracked the egg and it was a totally perfect RLB Wyandotte, yolk absorbed, just dead.
2. Out of 10 Blue Barnevelder eggs, 7 hatched, two died, 5 are alive and well BUT I didn’t get the Blue Barnie, just splash and silver Barnie
3. Out of 12 Barnyard Mix, 5 hatched, 3 had severe deformities (like half the brain exposed) and had to be culled and 2 are doing well. I’m pretty sure This seller has a bad inbreeding problem so obviously I won’t buy from her again.

to be noted: the Barnyard Mix came from Michigan and were lost in the postal system for almost a week so I wasn’t surprised at the low hatch rate. The other 2 dozen I received 2 day shipping from Florida and Louisiana (I’m in Maryland). All eggs settled for 24 hours at room temp before incubation. Humidity was 40-50% and then upped to 65% for hatch.

Fast forward a month. Determined to hatch a Blue Barnevelder and after reading about Dry Hatching, I ordered another batch of eggs, this time a huge selection of rare breeds, 3 Deathlayer, 2 Pavlovskaya, 3 Ayam Cemani, 4 Brabanter, 3 Araucana, 3 Isbar, 4 Silver Barnevelder And 3 Blue Barnevelder For a total of 25 eggs (not cheap, as you can imagine with the rare breeds) Shipped from Florida arrived July 3rd and started dry hatch July 4, even went as far as to cut tiny egg holders to start them standing up and secure their air cells better. The first 7 days, I did not rotate them or open the incubator and my humidity was around 25-30% for first 18 days. After reading a ton here on BYC about shipped eggs and how to repair the shifty air cells with shipped eggs, I was confident that I would have a better hatch rate this time. It was Far WORSE!!

i candled at Day 7,14,18 and little by little they started dying off. I expected that somewhat because they are shipped eggs but I was heartbroken when the last of the Blue Barnevelder quit around day 12

Around Day 10, I realized that the eggs weren’t turning automatically for some reason so I would turn them by pushing the rotate button on the incubator, but I’m sure it wasn’t hourly or even close to hourly.

Out of 25 fertile shipped eggs, only ONE hatched and that was only with assistance!!!


At lockdown I candled and had hope for 2 Silver Barnevelder, 1 Ayam Cemani, 1 Brabanter, and the 3 “control group” eggs I had added at the beginning from my own hens and roosters just as a test. I had 5 originally but 2 were infertile so only 3 went to Lockdown. All together, 30 eggs were started July 4th and yesterday we finished the hatch with 4 total chicks, 3 from the control group, and one Silver Barnevelder. Yup. One chick from the 25 that shipped to me. I call them my “hundred dollar chicken” now

Of course I’m upset with the whole failed hatch and because I’m a sucker for punishment, I ordered half a dozen Blue Barnevelder, 9 RLB Wyandotte, and 9 Isbar (new seller but across the country so I don’t have high hopes).
I am giving shipped eggs one more chance and would love any tips or tricks to get a better batch this time!!

2 of the packages are at the post office now(Isbar and Wyandotte) and the other package will be there tomorrow(Barnevelder) I will start incubation Wednesday after the Tuesday eggs have a day to rest.

That’s a lot of backstory but I wanted to add as much detail as possible to try and help hatch shipped eggs with better than 1/25

Help!!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Turning is super important that first week. Incubating upright lessens the risks of turning with iffy air cells because the cell always is upright. Did you candle on arrival and toss any with ruptured air cells?

 

[ChristinLewin]

Turning is super important that first week. Incubating upright lessens the risks of turning with iffy air cells because the cell always is upright. Did you candle on arrival and toss any with ruptured air cells?

Yes I candled before setting them and 5 or 6 had shifty air cells but after sitting pointy end down for the first 7 days, only 2 still had a shifty cell and didn’t make it past day 7 candling

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm following because I've had very similar luck with hatching. What incubator are you using? @MGG has been so incredibly helpful to me

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I honestly believe that USPS is a huge part of my problem but with my inexperience (the second largest problem), I could have had better hatch rates if I assisted. I've received a lot of completely scrambled (broken yolk, all contents mixed together, ruptured air cells), many broken, and I didn't even know that shipped eggs can and do arrive with intact air cells until recently because intact air cells are so rare here. Air cells are normally rolling so I do let them rest, some at room temperature and others in the incubator with rotation off. I've had the best hatch rates with eggs from my state. They still have to go through the rough USPS, but it's not as bad. I felt like using cut up egg cartons to incubate my eggs upright hindered the incubation, in my case, as my hatch rates were worse. Have you tried changing location of your incubator? Keeping a check on the temp and humidity throughout the day and night with a thermometer and hygrometer that have been checked for accuracy? I really hope you get this figured out because I know it's frustrating. Maybe our eggs are going through the same rough locations (not probable)

 

[ChristinLewin]

I'm following because I've had very similar luck with hatching. What incubator are you using? @MGG has been so incredibly helpful to me

 

[ChristinLewin]

With the last hatch (before the horrible one) I assisted 5 of the hatchings, 2 of them ended up dying shortly after and 2 had to be culled (the inbreeding seller) And 1 is going strong

I assisted one hatch this time and it ended up being the only shipped egg that hatched!
My hundred dollar chicken

 

[ChristinLewin]

I honestly believe that USPS is a huge part of my problem but with my inexperience (the second largest problem), I could have had better hatch rates if I assisted. I've received a lot of completely scrambled (broken yolk, all contents mixed together, ruptured air cells), many broken, and I didn't even know that shipped eggs can and do arrive with intact air cells until recently because intact air cells are so rare here. Air cells are normally rolling so I do let them rest, some at room temperature and others in the incubator with rotation off. I've had the best hatch rates with eggs from my state. They still have to go through the rough USPS, but it's not as bad. I felt like using cut up egg cartons to incubate my eggs upright hindered the incubation, in my case, as my hatch rates were worse. Have you tried changing location of your incubator? Keeping a check on the temp and humidity throughout the day and night with a thermometer and hygrometer that have been checked for accuracy? I really hope you get this figured out because I know it's frustrating. Maybe our eggs are going through the same rough locations (not probable)

I may switch to the Brinsea incubator at least for the first 18 days as it seemed to have the best hatch rates from the first batch.

 

[Mahyatt]

You need to verify the temperature of your incubator is correct with a second thermometer. Shipping eggs does reduce hatch rate, but birth defects and in shell death before hatching is a result of incorrect incubation temps.

 

[MGG]

You need to verify the temperature of your incubator is correct with a second thermometer. Shipping eggs does reduce hatch rate, but birth defects and in shell death before hatching is a result of incorrect incubation temps.

@ChristinLewin you need to calibrate at least one thermometer and check the temp. If you haven't checked it that's probably your problem. The digital readout is almost never accurate. There's something wrong with your incubation, for that many to develop and quit. Also, the not turning the first week is probably what killed them. No matter how bad the air cells are they have to be turned the first week. The first week is the most critical for turning. When you start turning them after the first week, the blood vessels which are adhered to the shell (from not turning) rupture and kill the chick. I think you should just try resting the eggs for 8 hours or so, depending on how bad the air cells are, and then incubate them as normal in the turner. If your turner doesn't work properly contact the company (manna pro) and ask them what to do. The Nurture Right is an awesome incubator and everything viable I've put in mine has hatched. I've had a lot of 100% hatches in it.