My Fertile Eggs are Not Hatching !! The Are fully grown in their egg and wont pip

[braden rowland]

Hi

I Am having trouble as to incubating my eggs.

I started out with just a manual incubator with a fan which i had to turn the eggs every day. ( I seemed to get pretty good hatch ratings)

Now I have have got one of those set and forget incubators, and i am setting eggs in it at different times, when they are ready to come off the turners ( day 18 ) i put them in my old incubator so when they hatch they wont mess all the other eggs in my automatic incubator.

Although they are fully grown and moving around in their eggs about day 18-20 i find them dead in their eggs. Failed to pip, when i crack the egg open a fully grown chicken is in it, but just wont pip.

My new automatic incubator turns the eggs every two hours. Is this to much ??

Looking forward to your help

Thanks

 

[sumi]

I'm afraid there are a number of possible causes for embryo deaths at this late stage, so I'm going to list them for you below and hopefully that will help you figure it out:

- Incorrect incubator temperature; too high or low.
- Incorrect humidity; again too high or low.
- Contamination, from dirty incubator, hands when handling the eggs or mold (aspergillis etc) in the incubator.
- Eggs chilled too much at some point during incubation/transfer.
- Broken or otherwise damaged egg shells, pre-incubation or during transfer.
- Nutritional deficiencies in breeder flock resulting in inadequate nutrients in the egg.
- Embryonic malposition, embryo failed to move into correct position for hatch.
- Poor shell quality of eggs.
- Disease in the breeder flock.
- Hatcher opened too often, too long during final stage of incubation and during hatch.
- Inadequate turning of eggs, especially during early stage of embryo development (well, we know that's not the cause here!)
- It may be heredity.
- Inadequate ventilation, especially during the final stage of incubation (lockdown)
- The eggs were stored too long prior to setting them.

 

[braden rowland]

Hello again

Thanks for your information
My eggs coming from My Polish, Hamburg and Silkie Breeding Groups
Some eggs may be up to 5 days old before they have started incubation and they are collected and just sit in an egg carton.

My incubators temp sits around 37.5 C and my Humidity sits around 60%

When hatching / Lock down i try and get my Humidity up to 80%

My Transfer between the incubators is quick, and my incubators are just in a room inside.

My New Automatic is a 80W Digital 48 Eggs Incubator Automatic



My Old Manual Is ( Not sure what it is called )



Thanks Braden

 

[sumi]

I don't recognise those incubators. What makes are they? I forgot to ask, how do you place the eggs in the incubator? On their sides, or upright? Incorrectly placed eggs (pointy end up) can also result in hatch failures. Your humidity is a bit high, especially for lockdown. Once the chicks start hatching I find it sometimes goes up to 80%, but at that stage it doesn't matter too much. I found I get my best hatches at 40-45% for the first 18 days and 65% after that. Have you always hatched at those figures? Also did you double check the temperature and humidity to make sure the readings are accurate? And how good is the ventilation in the hatcher?

 

[cmom]

Hi

I Am having trouble as to incubating my eggs.

I started out with just a manual incubator with a fan which i had to turn the eggs every day. ( I seemed to get pretty good hatch ratings)

Now I have have got one of those set and forget incubators, and i am setting eggs in it at different times, when they are ready to come off the turners ( day 18 ) i put them in my old incubator so when they hatch they wont mess all the other eggs in my automatic incubator.

Although they are fully grown and moving around in their eggs about day 18-20 i find them dead in their eggs. Failed to pip, when i crack the egg open a fully grown chicken is in it, but just wont pip.

My new automatic incubator turns the eggs every two hours. Is this to much ??

Looking forward to your help

Thanks

Hello again

Thanks for your information
My eggs coming from My Polish, Hamburg and Silkie Breeding Groups
Some eggs may be up to 5 days old before they have started incubation and they are collected and just sit in an egg carton.

My incubators temp sits around 37.5 C and my Humidity sits around 60%

When hatching / Lock down i try and get my Humidity up to 80%

My Transfer between the incubators is quick, and my incubators are just in a room inside.

My New Automatic is a 80W Digital 48 Eggs Incubator Automatic



My Old Manual Is ( Not sure what it is called )



Thanks Braden

I agree with sumi. One reason I think your hatches are so poor is that you humidity is too high during incubation. Try lowering it to around 35% and when hatching during lockdown then increase it to around 75%. I think too much condensation is building up in the air cell in the eggs and when the chicks pip the air cell inside the eggs, they are drowning. Also have you calibrated your hygrometers and thermometers?

 

[Sphinx]

If I were you, I'd try the following: Use your new incubator only. Set all of your eggs at the same time. Have low humidity throughout incubation- around 35-40%. At lockdown, remove the turner, have eggs on their sides, and bump humidity up to 80%.

Make sure before you start the next incubation that you thoroughly disinfect your incubator and make sure it's holding temperatures steady for a day or so before you set.

I'd also check your old incubator to make sure that it's properly calibrated and disinfected. Once you see if your new incubator is working, you can try switching your eggs to the old one for lockdown, and then starting a new batch.

Staggered hatches are not easy to do, and given your luck, is probably something you should hold off on doing.

 

[braden rowland]

Hi All

Thanks For Your Information

Braden