Late incubation guinea eggs won't hatch! Help please!

[sunflower7]

I am a newbie and have been trying to hatch guinea eggs. Did pretty well with the first hatch. The second hatch had about 7 eggs that would not hatch with the others. Most of the 25 eggs hatched from day 26-30. One more hatched on day 35. Then we had 6 eggs that just would'nt hatch. We waited until day 40 and nothing. My husband broke one open, and he said he had a hard time breaking the egg! When he finally broke it, of course, the chick was fully formed and dead. Since this is very new for us, we don't know what we did wrong. I know a guinea shell is very hard, but these last 6 were incredibly hard. On lock down, I run the humidity between 75 and 80%. Can anybody give me some ideas why it would do this? The first batch we hatched, there were about 3 late ones, and when my husband broke open one of the 3 eggs that hadn't hatched yet, about day 35, the chick was alive but had not absorbed it's yolk sac. I am so puzzled. They are put in the incubator at the same time. I'd appreciate any help from someone! Thanks !

 

[Texas4T]

I am a newbie and have been trying to hatch guinea eggs. Did pretty well with the first hatch. The second hatch had about 7 eggs that would not hatch with the others. Most of the 25 eggs hatched from day 26-30. One more hatched on day 35. Then we had 6 eggs that just would'nt hatch. We waited until day 40 and nothing. My husband broke one open, and he said he had a hard time breaking the egg! When he finally broke it, of course, the chick was fully formed and dead. Since this is very new for us, we don't know what we did wrong. I know a guinea shell is very hard, but these last 6 were incredibly hard. On lock down, I run the humidity between 75 and 80%. Can anybody give me some ideas why it would do this? The first batch we hatched, there were about 3 late ones, and when my husband broke open one of the 3 eggs that hadn't hatched yet, about day 35, the chick was alive but had not absorbed it's yolk sac. I am so puzzled. They are put in the incubator at the same time. I'd appreciate any help from someone! Thanks !

What are your guineas eating? If you feed chicken layer ration, it can have too much calcium and make the shells harder. My guineas free-range so I only feed them a bit of wheat at night to bring them back to the barn.

 

[sunflower7]

The adult guineas free range, but my husband does feed them with a bird feed of sorts. It has milo and flaked corn and grains in it. I don't think it's a layer ration. It is so puzzling to me.. Thanks for answering. Any other ideas?

 

[Texas4T]

Even when my guineas are incubating their own eggs, there are always some that don't hatch. This past week I had a single egg that I left for 3 extra days until the guinea hen stopped setting the nest altogether and I knew it would die. I stuck it under a broody hen in my coop, not expecting anything. Two days later, she had a peeping guinea keet under her! Never expected it.

Are you candling your eggs? I had one nest of guinea eggs that only hatched out 4 keets. When I candled the rest, they were all blanks (infertile).
How are you handling your eggs that you plan to set? Do you collect them and store them, turn them, or just take them fresh out of the nest and put them in the incubator?
Also, I don't know what kind of incubator you are using, but yours isn't a bad hatch rate for some brands of incubators.

Lastly, there are many reasons why eggs don't hatch. Sometimes it could be a genetic problem, development issue, bacteria that entered the egg, parental factors, heat, humidity...too many reasons to mention. It is amazing we can hatch them artificially at all. You may never know why those eggs didn't hatch. I know that isn't very comforting, but it is a fact none the less. Incubation is an art as well as a science!

Sorry that I am not more help. Hang in there!

 

[sunflower7]

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I do candle my eggs. These were developing fine with the others. They were full and ready to hatch when I candled them last. This particular batch was a pile that I gathered from a clutch I found. They were fairly fresh, like about 5 days. They were put in the incubator the same day I brought them home. I have a Little Giant brand of incubator - that's all they sell around here. I live in a really small town. Anyway, it has racks that slowly turn the eggs several times during the day. I usually wear plastic gloves that come in a box (like from a hair dresser) and that's how I handle the eggs so I don't put any other bacteria on them. Even when I candle them, I wear the gloves. I may have to be happy I got as many hatches as I did. This is just all so new to me. Seems like that's all I do is research and walk around them clucking. ha You are so right - it is an art to get everything just right to hatch. We have another incubator with 36 eggs we bought. I hope they hatch. We could not add them to the incubator for a week after we received the eggs. I kept them in the basement where it's about 65 and turned them daily. Hope they hatch! I will candle them next week to see how they are coming along. Thanks so much for replying.. It is nice for support!

 

[Texas4T]

I have two of the Little Giant still air incubators(with turner) and two Brinsea Eco20s with turning cradles. The LGs are VERY temperamental as far as having heat spikes or low tems. I have been working with them and reading all I can on here to get them to be stable temperature-wise. I got this great little thermometer that records highest/lowest temps at the bottom (digital) as well as current temp. I like that it keeps a history.

Also, these articles helped me so much with my Little Giant still air incubators:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chookschicks-incubation-cheat-sheet
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601352/little-giant-incubator-tricks

I also fill all the channels in the bottom of the incubator with those glass craft pellets (little flattened glass "coins" or drops). The glass seems to stabilize the temperature by working as a heat reservoir that doesn't change temperature as fast as the plain, empty foam (bonus, makes the whole incubator more stable because of the weight!). I still use the channels for water at lockdown with no problems, and the added surface area fo the glass beads actually helps with the humidity, too.

Good luck with your hatches! It is hard to lose them...any of them.

 

[Texas4T]

Oh, I almost forgot! Join us on the Hatch-A-Longs here at BYC and keep us up to date on how it's going with you and yours.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/983220/june-2015-hatch-a-long-hal/400#post_15409551

 

[sunflower7]

Thanks soooo much!! I appreciate your help tons! I will go buy some of the glass coin things. I can certainly see how this would help with stabilizing the temperature. Brilliant. I will read these articles your recommended. And I'll get on the site you suggested about hatching. Tons of info in your reply. Thanks again!!

 

[Texas4T]

You're welcome! Happy hatching.