Lockdown egg loss

[MangerSainFarms]

Just put eggs into lock down after candling. Pulled 8 eggs out from 48 total. Is that a high, low, or normal sized loss? All were removed non developing. Will break eggs open tomorrow to see where they stand and where development stopped if it even ever started. Thanks for replies.

 

[WalnutHill]

If that was your first and only candling, it's hard to say if it's a "normal" number. If that was the loss between 14 days (usual second candling) and lockdown, that would be excessive.

Analyzing the duds will tell you more. If many show no development, that's no fault of yours, it may be too many hens for the number of roosters. If many look like they failed around the same stage, there may have been a temp spike.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Just put eggs into lock down after candling. Pulled 8 eggs out from 48 total. Is that a high, low, or normal sized loss? All were removed non developing. Will break eggs open tomorrow to see where they stand and where development stopped if it even ever started. Thanks for replies.

If they are clears (most likely infertile) it just means there's a chicken or two not getting any loving....lol My last hatch I got eggs from my sister- 32 of them. I believe the number of clears was 14 ish. I told her she had a couple hens that aren't getting loved like she thinks....lol Out of 48, I don't think that's too bad.

 

[waterbustn]

I just had 6 out of 7 die after lockdown, all active chicks until hatch time. The one that did hatch, hatched at 23 days. I cracked all the others open and they all never turned around to the large end of the egg. All yolks had been consumed. Not sure what happened. Temps did not spike or dip, the only thing I can think of is I had a huge drop in humidity one day, came home after work and picking up the kid and the humidity had dropped from 65 to 30. Not sure how that happened.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are many different things that can cause an egg to not start development, not just a rooster’s attention. How and how long it is stored, too hot, too cold, if it is shaken up, health and nutrition of the parent flock, many things.

There are many different things that can cause an egg to die at any stage of development. It is often very hard to tell exactly what the problem was. As an example, if the eggs fully developed but did not pip the humidity may have been too high. You get a big soft chick that may not be able to turn to position itself for hatch. If the humidity is too low, they can be shrink-wrapped even if you did not open the incubator during lockdown. If the average incubating temperature is too low, they may not have developed enough to hatch. If you do not have good air exchange, they may suffocate because the developing chick needs fresh air to breathe, the more they develop the more fresh air they need. They breathe through the porous shell. Improper turning in the early stages of incubation can cause a chick to fully develop but not hatch. Eggs incubated pointy side up instead of down can keep chicks from internal pip. A temperature spike at this point is much more likely to be a problem than a big temperature drop. At this stage the chicks are producing a lot of heat on their own and can handle some cooler temperatures.

I highly recommend opening the unhatched eggs to try to figure out what the problem might be. Sometimes you can narrow it down pretty well, but sometimes you still won’t know for sure. It’s the best you can do. I like the Illinois link best, but maybe these can help you interpret what you see.

Mississippi State Incubation Troubleshooting
http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html

Illinois Incubation troubleshooting
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html

Good luck figuring it out.

8 out of 48. That's a little high for clears. The commercial hatcheries normally get about 5% clears. They also normally get around 5% that develop but don’t hatch. 90% of the eggs that go in normally produce chicks. Sometimes I beat those rates but often I don’t. Each hatch is unique.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I just had 6 out of 7 die after lockdown, all active chicks until hatch time. The one that did hatch, hatched at 23 days. I cracked all the others open and they all never turned around to the large end of the egg. All yolks had been consumed. Not sure what happened. Temps did not spike or dip, the only thing I can think of is I had a huge drop in humidity one day, came home after work and picking up the kid and the humidity had dropped from 65 to 30. Not sure how that happened.

Usually with late hatches you'll find the average of your temp was lower than it needs to be. A drop of humidity for a day is not a killer. What day did your humidity drop at? 65% during the first 17 days is high, in my opinion. What kind of bator are you using (stll or forced air) and what temp readings were you getting?

I lost almost all of my first hatch to a bad thermometer, and the thing was brand new. I never checked and went into lockdown w/17 active eggs. All but one died. My thermometer was 6 degrees off. When I thought I had it steady at 99.5 I was no where near it. The one that did hatch was day 24. I started using 3 thermometers.

 

[waterbustn]

I built my own, it's a forced air one though. I had 4 diff thermometers and 2 read the same temp which were the ones I went with. Was 100 degrees.y humidity was 45-50, then bumped to 70%. We are super dry in the winter up here. I'm gonna tweek my bator a little and try again.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you calibrate some thermometers so you can have more confidence in the temperatures. These might help.

Calibrate a Thermometer
http://www.allfoodbusiness.com/calibrating_thermometers.php

Rebel’s Thermometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/ThermometerCalibration.html

Rebel’s Hygrometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/HygrometerCalibration.html