I quit.

[CrazyFowlFreak]

I stink at hatching eggs. I had put 24 big name breeder of Silkies eggs in the bator. 12 of them weren't fertile. Little pissy about that since I spent $58 on them. Ugh. Then I had 8 Salmon Faverolle eggs, and 4 of my mutt eggs. I ended up with 1 Silkie, 2 mutts, and 1 Salmon Faverolle.

I have followed incubating instructions to a "t" and cannot figure out what went wrong. I'm using an incubator with a fan, had a thermometer/hygrometer in there and temps and humidity were kept at an optimum level with no big spikes. Didn't open the bator but on day 10-ish to candle (and discovered 12 unfertile Silkie eggs) and again when I locked them down, candled them at that time, too. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what I am doing wrong. I am beyond frustrated and ready to say chuck it all and sell my bators.

Anyone have any insight for me? I've just been sitting here, crying over this. I have no idea what my problem is and why my hatch rates stink so bad.

 

[Msbear]

Are you saying the silkie eggs were infertile because they candled clear or because you opened them up and found an infertile spot? Did the rest of the eggs develop and quit or did they just never develop?

How many times have you incubated and what type of bator do you have?

I made a couple different versions of the styrafoam prissy bator. My first hatch was awesome and it went to my head. I slacked just a bit the next time around with keeping perfect temps and had a terrible result. Now, I try to keep up with it the best I can (I hand turn app. 100 eggs 3 x a day)

I still don't have the results others have but am slowly getting better. For me, I know the problem is hot and cold spots in my bator. Im learning where they are and how to ventelate without creating more. I move the eggs in and out of these areas so none are exposed too long. As for shipped eggs... well, it's a gamble I try not to make if I really want the birds. Shipping is incredibly hard on the air cells and most are broken by the time they reach their destination... add incubator operator error and maybe fertility issues and the cards are stacked against you. I have found it's much cheaper and more rewarding to buy the birds and have them shipped

Incubators are still more reliable than broodies!!!

 

[bantiesrule]

Is this your first attemt or have you tried before? What kind of incubator do you have? Have you checked your thermometer/hygrometer to see if it is accurate? Does your incubator have a turner?
Did you get these eggs through the mail? I have terrible luck with shipped eggs, pretty much gave up on them.

 

[rooster0209]

my first try at incubating was not good either. I made the mistake of candeling and them putting the eggs back in the turner...upside down

 

[dak]

CFF, I'm sorry about your bad luck!!!! I'm in the process of my first hatch, and had to dispose of 5 of my 15 eggs yesterday on day 8. They were shipped. When I opened them, they had broken yolks, or no development. Fortunately 10 were wiggling. I'm still not willing to get excited. It seems so many things can go wrong at hatching. Try , try, again. Wishing you luck in the furture

dak

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

Quote:
When they candled clear, I opened them and found not one bullseye in 12 of them.

The others were fertile, started to develop and then just died in shell.
I'm using a Hovabator 2362N with a blower and an egg turner. My other is a Hovabator 1620N still-air with an egg turner. This hatch was the 2362N, however.



Quote:
I've tried incubating eggs 6 times before this seventh hatch. I must just stink at it.

I've calibrated my hygometer and double checked the thermometer with a mercury one to be sure. Yes, they were shipped eggs. Blah. So frustrated.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Please don't quit now! it took me 2 years & several disasters to figure it out. You can do this. If I can do this, trust me, a trained monkey can do this. I have several lost hatches I buried & cried over.

My big breakthrough -- (ya, I hear ya'll laughing) - was that, when the hygrometer/thermometer says "100 degrees" & it shuts off-- guess what? it"s still hot & will still keep heating up for a few minutes AFTER that reading--- so, when you are adjusting, you have to take that into consideration. Once I figured out that basic fact, I was able to "tweak" my thermometer/hygrometer within a 1/2 (.5) degree of where it needed to be.


2nd big breakthrough--shipped eggs seem to often have irregular air cells -- they do NOT look like normal eggs - I have now hatched my 1st generation from my own flock & I see the difference---I threw out shipped eggs in the past that I *thought* were bad-- and they were not--if they are not clear, & they don't stink, & they don't show a definite blood ring, leave them in your bator - just because the "outlines" are irregular in shape does not mean that they are not viable embryos inside. Also don't discard them just because you don't see veins or movement - I found out I'm really, really bad at seeing what I'm supposed to see. If you're not sure, if it doesn't smell bad, leave it alone!


Those darn 'water weasels' -- they are worth their weight in gold -- or the $1.00 you spend on them at Walmart or wherever (ours were in the 'party favor' section of Walmart next to the gift cards) -- trust their readings & you won't go wrong. They were called "water snakes" here. PM me if you can't find them.

Humidity fluctuates depending on where you live--I'm in Louisiana--I got the best advice from Halo (Kathy) who lives in Florida--I hatch on low humidity now, keep the bator in the upper 30s/low 40 -- it's made a world of difference in my hatches--I got 100% hatch on shipped eggs! Find out what others in your area are hatching at as far as humidity is concerned--it's so easy to drown the babies before they hatch.

Don't give up. Keep trying. You will succeed if you persist, & those chicks will be all the more precious because you did. We have faith in you; we know you can do it!

edited to add; i use a Hovnabator 1602 w/a fan my husband installed & an auto-turner.

 

[technodoll]

Maybe some chicks just have stronger genetics than others?

I just incubated a bunch of eggs for my friend as he was having terrible luck with his hatches the past year (eggs quitting, chicks not hatching or dying soon after hatching), so we tested his eggs with my forced-air Hovabator (with auto turner) here. I'm home all day and check temps & humidity all the time but this being my 2nd hatch, I wasn't too worried...

23 big healthy chicks hatched from 24 fertile eggs.

Last baby was fully developed, no idea why it didn't hatch

This proved the problem was not his eggs, it's his machine - he changed the heating wafer and bought a hygrometer, I'm hoping it helps!

For the record, I opened the incubator 3 times to candle the eggs, and twice a day during lockdown to turn other eggs that aren't due until next week. During lockdown the humidity was down, then up, I had temperature spikes - the works. Chicks started hatching at day 19!! I had to help 5 out of the shell and treat one for a slight case of spraddle leg, but that's it.

Babies are barred plymouth rock, chantecler, polish mixes, cochins, brahmas and one RIR.

Eggs were not shipped but he did have to drive them here.

Original egg count in the bator: 35. Fertile eggs in all: 24.

Please don't give up!!! Try local eggs, try a friend's bator, something at some point will work!!

 

[Katy]

I'm not real sure that after ten days of incubating you're going to be able to tell whether they're fertile or not by lack of a bullseye. Whenever I've opened up eggs...especially that far into incubation the yolk is certainly a different consistancy from being exposed to the conditions in the incubator and is very fragile and generally breaks. Just because an egg doesn't develop does not mean the seller shipped you infertile eggs.....shipping does a number on them from the day they're shipped clear thru hatching. When I'm selling eggs I'm constantly iincubating eggs here so I know that they're fertile, but I can have 100% fertility & hatch here at home and eggs I sent out from the same time period don't always all develop...or hatch.

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

Katy, you may be right. I'm a wear the shoes out of the shoe type of person.

I'm going to let DH try his hand at this next time. He has more patience than I do, that's for sure.