Hens won't go broody, incubator does not work

[barleysinger]

In the past I had ONE really good broody hen. She was half sylkie and the sweetest hen ever. A great mom.
She was fox killed along with *all* of my all organic flock (except for a rooster) so back to new
conventional girls and raising new babies. Now All I have are two reds, and my half sylkie male.
The girls will NOT sit on eggs. No matter what. No matter what season. I know these eggs are fertile so
I bought a small incubator - yet none of the eggs will hatch out. About 1/2 to 2/3 of the eggs (at bare
minimum) - when tossed out after way too much time, show lots of internal development (all the way to
feathers) but nothing ever hatches, They just die and rot and go green inside the shells. I have no idea
what I am doing wrong.

 

[bobbi-j]

I wish I had something helpful to say. It's hard to know what's going on without more details. Incubation temps? Humidity before and during lockdown? Those are what comes to mind at the moment. The problem with using a broody is you have to wait for her timing, so I can see why you want to use the incubator.