Low hatch rate.

[PimentoPlymouth]

I agree and temp flucuation is hard on them in the beginning especially. It is defiantly easier to have a broody hatch them. I had one go broody last year and it was so easy I literally did nothing just let her and mother nature do thier thing and all the eggs hatched except one. She had tossed it out of the next box and I have heard they can sense when something is wrong so they get rid of the egg. I hope everything starts going better and your hatches get better. Have you tired purchasing eggs from somone and trying to hatch them to see if their rates are better?

 

[Chic CAN]

Yea could be a genetic thing..........only one way to find out.

lol yeah quit my breeding program. Just start all over *sigh* too expensive. my new hens are so perfect looking. Just keep the few and stuff my freezer full of the other chickens and buy some new sexed chicks from a reliable source Will see what happens.

 

[Chic CAN]

I agree and temp flucuation is hard on them in the beginning especially. It is defiantly easier to have a broody hatch them. I had one go broody last year and it was so easy I literally did nothing just let her and mother nature do thier thing and all the eggs hatched except one. She had tossed it out of the next box and I have heard they can sense when something is wrong so they get rid of the egg. I hope everything starts going better and your hatches get better. Have you tired purchasing eggs from somone and trying to hatch them to see if their rates are better?

No I cringe at he price. especially when my organic eggs sell for $4 a dozen and are fertile lol but they have been in the fridge. I may try adding molasses to their food. It increases certain hormones which might make them more broody. Will start that end of march. As an experiment.

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

Hopefully you wont scratch the whole project. I was thinking maybe try to get another Roo or hen from someone else and see how that works. Yea incubators can get expensive. Not sure how savoy you are with building things but I have seem some Coolerbator designs on here that people have had really good success with their hatches. I hate it that its not working out because I think those breeds are awesome looking. Trial an error are the best teacher even though the result may not be what you want at the time.

 

[Chic CAN]

they are rare hard to find one close by that I can afford. I have 12 roosters. only 3 will be kept after processing. And I am picky about which ones to keep. An no not all roo are in with the hens. But I have recently rotated. Yeah hens are really the only thing I an fluxuate. I can't use a buff roo That I know of I cant find another in this state. I am in CA.

 

[Chic CAN]

And thank you I hope it changes soon. I am going to do the cedar shavings again and see what happens.

 

[subhanalah]

Cedar shavings? Those are TOXIC and should be avoided.

Also, am I hearing this correctly that you incubate duck eggs and chicken eggs together? This is not recommended, duck eggs need higher humidity and one species or the other will ultimately suffer by accommodating the other.

There are several issues with the incubation process, I really don't think it is a stock problem, so you can rest assured there.

You can add stones to the incubator to help keep the temperature steady when you open the incubator. Also you can cover the whole thing with a blanket to help insulate it from the outside air if your room temperature fluctuates more than 10 degrees, there's a major problem right there. How a batons are relatively reliable, but there are some prerequisites that need to be met.

I've heard that home made incubators are very reliable and cheap to make. I don't think you need to spend a lot of money to remedy your problem.
Also have a look at the thread titled "humidity in bator excellent info here everyone should read this" here on BBC in the incubation and hatching forum. The thread name says it for itself. It is only talking about land fowl eggs and not waterfowl, like I said, they need different requirements to hatch properly.
You should try very hard to set your eggs all at one time to help increase the accuracy of your incubator's thermostat.
Don't worry about your stock. That's clearly not the problem.
I hope I've helped hope I haven't forgotten anything. It's a bugger typing with this new fangled technology.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Too many roosters will hurt the hatch rate because when one roo tries to tread a hen two or three more may run up and try to pull him off, interrupting the copulation process.

What the problem really sounds like is a deep seated case of malnutrition. Every molecule of the good stuff inside the egg is taken directly out of the hens own body. None of the energy, minerals, and vitamins in an egg comes directly from what a hen eats, her diet is only used for replenishment of the energy, minerals, and vitimines that has already gone into her eggs. Once a hen or even a rooster is malnourished you are chasing a fast departing train if you think that you can return him or her too full reproductive health with a change in diet. The malnourished chickens' reproductive train has pulled away from the station, usually never to come back. Once a hen has become severely malnourished (not starved, but only vitamin challenged) you would be better off making dinner out of her that trying to hatch her eggs. How can a hen regain her full reproductive potential if every egg she lays only stresses her ability to store up enough vitimins and minerals to lay a viable egg and with every egg she lays the vitamins she has managed to hoard go into new eggs. Do you see the difficulty here? I guess you could try and maker a hen not lay until she catches up on her vitamins, but nonexistent eggs don't hatch well either.

Weak chicks, chicks that fail to develop, still born chicks, and chicks that fail to thrive are all symptoms of a malnourished or in some cases a severely inbred flock. Almost all pet type chickens have a gene pool that is a mile wide but only 3 inches deep. What I am trying to say here is that once the original gene mutation showed up it was bred for, it was re-in bred for, and inbred for again and again until the mutation finally became a dominant trait, or at least a dominate trait for a pure bred chicken of that particular strain or type. Since there is usually more than one gene responsible for a mutation, inbreeding for one mutation and one mutation alone results in a shallow and weak gene pool as gene after gene is discarded or lost.

 

[enola]

.......allowing the cats to sleep on the top of the incubator is also not a good idea, either. .........

 

[Chic CAN]

Too many roosters will hurt the hatch rate because when one roo tries to tread a hen two or three more may run up and try to pull him off, interrupting the copulation process.

What the problem really sounds like is a deep seated case of malnutrition. Every molecule of the good stuff inside the egg is taken directly out of the hens own body. None of the energy, minerals, and vitamins in an egg comes directly from what a hen eats, her diet is only used for replenishment of the energy, minerals, and vitimines that has already gone into her eggs. Once a hen or even a rooster is malnourished you are chasing a fast departing train if you think that you can return him or her too full reproductive health with a change in diet. The malnourished chickens' reproductive train has pulled away from the station, usually never to come back. Once a hen has become severely malnourished (not starved, but only vitamin challenged) you would be better off making dinner out of her that trying to hatch her eggs. How can a hen regain her full reproductive potential if every egg she lays only stresses her ability to store up enough vitimins and minerals to lay a viable egg and with every egg she lays the vitamins she has managed to hoard go into new eggs. Do you see the difficulty here? I guess you could try and maker a hen not lay until she catches up on her vitamins, but nonexistent eggs don't hatch well either.

Weak chicks, chicks that fail to develop, still born chicks, and chicks that fail to thrive are all symptoms of a malnourished or in some cases a severely inbred flock. Almost all pet type chickens have a gene pool that is a mile wide but only 3 inches deep. What I am trying to say here is that once the original gene mutation showed up it was bred for, it was re-in bred for, and inbred for again and again until the mutation finally became a dominant trait, or at least a dominate trait for a pure bred chicken of that particular strain or type. Since there is usually more than one gene responsible for a mutation, inbreeding for one mutation and one mutation alone results in a shallow and weak gene pool as gene after gene is discarded or lost.

I have 20 hens and 2 mature roosters and 2 immature cocks in with them. The others are in a separate pen.

They have top line nutrition. at $28 a bag So it's not that. Plus the get grass, fruit, veggie, and bread scraps all organic. Pasture time a few times a week. Massive run closed in with wire on all sides, Sparrows can't get in.

* Organic Corn & Soy-Free Layer Pellet #5615

Use: Layer pellets are formulated to be a complete feed, but are also useful as part of a pasture-based diet. Layer pellets can be fed starting at 15-18 weeks of age.
Ingredients: Organic wheat, organic peas, organic canola meal, organic milo, limestone, organic barley, organic sun-dried alfalfa, Redmond Conditioner (clay), organic kelp meal, diatomaceous earth, moncalcium phosphate, Redmond Sea Salt, DL methionine, poultry vitamin & mineral premix, organic garlic granules, organic horseradish powder, organic star anise oil, organic juniper berry oil
Guaranteed Analysis: Crude protein min 17%, crude fat min 3.1%, crude fiber max 6.8%, ash max 16.4%

* Organic Scratch #5039

Use: Scratch is used for added energy for egg laying while birds are on pasture. Made with cracked corn and whole hard red winter wheat, this mix is great for keeping the birds warm when the weather is cold.
Ingredients: Organic corn (cracked), organic milo (whole), organic wheat (whole), organic sunflower (whole)
Guaranteed analysis: Crude protein min 8.2%, crude fat min 4.4%, crude fiber max 4.0%, ash max 2.7%
* Organic Flax Seed: whole - 50 lb. bag



I recommend this feed to anyone. I get up to 2 eggs a day from the ducks on it. But yes I agree malnurtion would do it. But it's not my case.




I am on the second Generation and still breeding the first. Most of the hens have been removed but for the first Generation and the best quality second. I was planning on looking for new hens to add to the stock. But as far as the 'inbreeding' before I got them. I have no clue :/