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[fayediddles]

I had an bad Incubator, I had 32 Japanese hatching eggs in for about 5 days then I was able to move them into a new incubator, my question is March 4th was the 21st day and there is no peeps, cracks, movement nothing!!! is there still ANY hope of babies???

<y profile pic is of my Japanese chicken but the other day a Hawk took my hen, that why I'm desperate to hatch her babies hoping I can replace her. and if I can't where can I ask about buying a new hen or chick

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I had an bad Incubator, I had 32 Japanese hatching eggs in for about 5 days then I was able to move them into a new incubator, my question is March 4th was the 21st day and there is no peeps, cracks, movement nothing!!! is there still ANY hope of babies???

<y profile pic is of my Japanese chicken but the other day a Hawk took my hen, that why I'm desperate to hatch her babies hoping I can replace her. and if I can't where can I ask about buying a new hen or chick

If March 4th was 21 that makes today day 24. Chances are very low at this point. I would definitely candle and see if there is any signs of life. If they aren't even internally pipped I wouldn't hold out much hope. On top of everything else, Japanese bantams carry a lethal allel from the creeper gene (short leg gene) in which 1/4 of the chicks are expected to die in the shell before hatch. So the odds are made worse just by breed alone.

We do have a sales/auction thread that you can check out, or look for breeders in your area that might be able to provide you with replacements or guide you to where you can find some.

 

[fayediddles]

Thank you for the info, I didn't know about the gene. I did candle them when I took them out of the turner and most had full chicks inside. I'll give them till Wednesday before I throw them out.

I'm not sure I want to replace her now. If it's going to be this hard each time to hatch out chicks.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for the info, I didn't know about the gene. I did candle them when I took them out of the turner and most had full chicks inside. I'll give them till Wednesday before I throw them out.

I'm not sure I want to replace her now. If it's going to be this hard each time to hatch out chicks.

In one of my hatches last year I bought chickens from a local gal who has pure Black Japanese Bantams and she included a couple eggs just for fun. I wasn't sure I'd get one of them to hatch because of the gene, but surprisingly they both hatched. Of course they both ended up being girls, the one time I would have liked to have an extra roo....lol

Usually, if everything is optimal you can get a good hatch, but they do have a higher mortality rate prior to hatch because of the gene even if you did everything right. There's lots of articles and info out there if you want to know more about it. It's called the creeper gene and it's the gene associated with the shortened legs. If they get two copies of the gene it's fatal. 1/4 are expected to get two copiesand perish, 1/2 are expected to hatch with the typical shortened legs and 1/4 possibly have longer than normal bantam legs.