Less than half of fertile eggs are developing

[Allisona53]

Hi! First time incubating chicken eggs. I bought 12 fertilized eggs from a local farmer. I put them in the incubator after letting them rest on the counter for 8 hours. My temp has been at 100.5 and humidity at 50%. I candled them yesterday at day 5. It seems like 5 of them are developing with proper veining, one has a blood ring, and the other 6 are either duds or just a big shadow and can’t see anything. For some reason I expected more development than 50% of the eggs from farm fresh eggs. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for your input!

 

[Allisona53]

Embryo and veining from one of the successful ones so far

 

[Canadian Wind]

There is never any guarantee that an egg will be fertile, unfortunately. You seem to be doing everything right, although I would lower the temperature just a touch.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Also, !

 

[Allisona53]

There is never any guarantee that an egg will be fertile, unfortunately. You seem to be doing everything right, although I would lower the temperature just a touch.

Thank you for your response!! I was following the instructions on another website but after furthering researching on here I’ll lower to 99.5. I hope I haven’t overheated them

 

[Canadian Wind]

No, you're still within the parameters. My incubator's instructions also says 100.5. It's always best to double check using an separate calibrated thermometer though, just to make sure, as well as checking the humidity with a hygrometer.

 

[SilverBirds]

Welcome to BYC!

Do you have a separate calibrated thermometer and hygrometer in the incubator? The built in ones are almost always off, which means that the temp could actually be much higher or lower than you think. It's also possible for your incubator to have hot and cold spots, which can cause the eggs to develop differently. If everything seems fine with your incubator, it's probably due to the eggs being unfertilized, too old, or had a rough trip.

Best of luck with your hatch and let us know if you have any more questions!

 

[Predoggg]

Just read in another post that someone candled on day 5 and all looked dead but left them in the incubator to candle on day 7. Turned out only 1 egg was bad.

I suggest to put it back and candle again at day 7/8.