Incubating problems

[Grandpa EGGhead]

I started incubating 20 eggs on March 27th and had to discard 12 after 7-10 days as no development had occurred. When I discarded those I also added 12 more fresh laid eggs which were still warm in the nest box. I had to discard all 12 of them today as there was no development. I'm using the same incubator for the 8 I still have from initial batch which are doing well with movement of chicks being seen when candling, I will stop turning eggs tomorrow, with expected hatch on the 17th. I have 1 rooster per 18 hen flock, what are the chances all 12 were not fertile? I don't think temperature was the issue, however I do have an extra digital thermometer which has read 104 at times while the incubator temp was 99.5-100 This isn't the first time I've incubated eggs, and have used this incubator before. I started out with my own homemade incubator but since have been using one from tsc. What could I have done wrong?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I have a rooster for up to 8 hens... I'll look it up and see.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I looked it up it says 1 rooster for up to 10 hens maximum. My roosters also have their "favorites" and only breed them.

 

[Grandpa EGGhead]

I looked it up it says 1 rooster for up to 10 hens maximum. My roosters also have their "favorites" and only breed them.

I know the rooster/hen ratio is a little small, but you'd think there would have at least been a few fertile out of 12. My first batch was 8 fertile out of 20.

 

[cadeschicks]

It seems unlikely but it's definitely possible that fertility could be the issue. I do have a couple of older hen that the rooster pays no attention to (they don't like him either). Have you tried cracking some fresh eggs into a dish and looking for the bullseye to see what percentage you could expect to be fertile?

Also, if you think that temperature fluctuations may be a problem you may want to get a bluetooth thermometer/hygrometer that records the info for you to download to your phone. That way you can see what is happening all the time, not just when you're looking.

I got a Govee brand one for $18 on Amazon and it's given me a lot of peace of mind since my test hatch struggled with humidity issues (the bator was reading 10% higher than it actually was). Now even if the power goes out I can know how out of line temp got while the bator was down.

 

[Grandpa EGGhead]

I don't think it was a temperature or humidity issue otherwise the 8 that are still incubating would possibly have perished, I'm thinking fertility.

 

[oregonkat]

Have you done a random check of several eggs by cracking them open and looking for the tell tale bulls eye on the yolk? This at least will give you an idea of fertilization without having to go through the frustration of trying to incubate them.

 

[cmom]

Even at 10 females to a male, it is a crap shoot. There will probably be some blanks. I do have a coop with 10 females to a male but most of my breeding coops have 5/6 females to a male. In a couple of coops I have 3 females with a male. Often times the male will have favorite females and may not breed with them all. I do have some general population coops where I keep different breeds together with a backup male in those coops for my chosen breeds. Good luck and have fun...