how to improve next hatch? results poor

[BairleaFarm]

Maybe not poor but i got 22 out of 96. Here are the details:

1. Home made forced air incubator
2. 23 mixed large fowl from ebay
3. 23 welsummer eggs from ebay
4. 29 americana. half ebay half local
3. 2 eggs from my flock

Lowest temp 98.1 highest 100.9
pre lock down lowest 20% highest 26%
during lockdown lowest 66% highest 77%

Not one of the welsummers hatched. I randomly crack 5 of the eggs. 4 looked had regular yokes 1 had a half way formed chick. All smelled ok.
1 from my flock hatch
half the large breeds hatched
the rest came from the americaunas. a few of those eggs were rotten
I had 2 chick die after they piped and had 4 die after hatch.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Wow! Only 22 hatched? Now im really worried my 6 duck eggs wont hatch. (also from ebay)

 

[Shayna]

Adorable pic of your chicks in a basket! If these were shipped eggs, they're known to have a low hatch rate, from what I read when I ordered mine. I'm still hoping for the best with mine I have in incubation! I'll be happy with a 25%-50% hatch rate. For the yolk eggs that never developed, maybe they were not fertilized? I'm a newbie, so take my two cents for what it's worth. Congrats on the cute babies that did hatch, and here's a free bump for your question!

 

[yinepu]

The eggs were probably good when the seller(s) shipped them.. it's what happens in transit that can destroy a batch of eggs or drastically lower your hatch rate.. I've had hatches of anywhere from 8% on up to 68% on shipped eggs.. and i have a 90-100% hatch rate on my own home grown eggs... so with shipped eggs you just never know how they will turn out.. it's kinda like playing the lottery.. ya win some and ya lose some..

 

[BairleaFarm]

yeah but 0 out of 20? So your assumption would be the eggs not my incubation methods?

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
Not necessarily. If the eggs were xrayed by mistake when shipped to you they would start to develop and then die usually within the first week. Also just regular shaking and bouncing in transit can cause problems for the eggs as well. It's not necessarily your incubator or hatching methods. With such varied results from each shipment it would be hard to put the blame on the incubator.

 

[BairleaFarm]

xray would make sense. Im setting 4 dozen eggs tomorrow and 12 dozen eggs next week and they are all local so well see how they do.

 

[lampshadeee69]

human handling can also casue severely low success rates. When i had a batch going, i often forgot to wash my hands before i candled them, i would also candle them every night (i was EXTREMELY anxious, you know how it is.) Anyways, that's a bad idea. I was successful with 1 egg out of approximately 40. The others would die at all stages of development, sometimes right before pipping.

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Pity about your Welsummers. They're a gorgeous breed. I'd love some myself! My assumption would be the eggs and not your incubation methods, but not as in, the eggs were infertile or anything like that. Just that the handling they were subjected to in transit more than likely ruined them. I'd let the seller know your outcome, not to accuse them or anything, but just to let them know that all of your other eggs except these ones managed to hatch some chicks. They would probably want to know, maybe so they could decide whether to use a different shipping company in future.

Love your chicks-in-a-bucket pic btw, very cute!

 

[Gypsy07]

.... and I also meant to say, for shipped eggs, your hatch rate was pretty good.