Last hatch had a failed chick

[chickfused]

My last hatch had one chick that was moving around and whatnot on day 20 and then never made it out. Didn't even break it's membrane, much less pip. It was in the proper position. What might have gone wrong? I've got more due in 2 weeks, don't want a repeat.

 

[SilverBirds]

Did the others in the same clutch hatch? It's possible the baby was just too weak to hatch. The other possibility is that you had the wrong temperature or humidity, but this is more likely if other eggs struggled, too.

 

[chickfused]

Everyone else hatched and thrived.

 

[SilverBirds]

Everyone else hatched and thrived.

It sounds like he was just too weak to hatch on his own, which isn't super out of the ordinary. Most experienced hatchers aren't expecting 100% rates every time.

 

[chickfused]

I didn't really expect it, but was just wondering if perhaps there was something I should look out for. Thanks!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I had quite a few failed eggs last hatch. Like 50%. I didn't open them or candle them or anything because I was using a broody hen but I don't think 1 is worrisome

 

[Wonder Quails]

Like other people said, temps and humidity affects hatch rate greatly. Make sure the egg is in the proper conditions! Also, I usually only get like 2 thirds of my eggs hatch, so it's totally normal!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll link some troubleshooting guides so you can see how many things may have gone wrong. As you can see there are several.

Each egg is different. The egg laying process is pretty complicated, sometimes things just go wrong and the egg doesn't get put together perfectly. Or one may be more or less porous than another which could affect what is the best humidity during incubation for that specific egg. Since the rest hatched you probably did everything right, it's just a difference in the individual eggs.

Incubation Troubleshooting - Incubation and Embryology - University of Illinois Extension

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)