need advice

[muddstopper]

I have been haveing terrible luck hatching my cuckoo marans eggs. Figureing fertility being the culprit since everything else seems to hatch well. Recently a friend gave me 64 goldencommet eggs to hatch. Eggs had been washed very clean. I was skeptical but decided to put them in the incubator anyways. I already had 11 CM eggs in there for a week and had plenty of room for the others.The following week I added another 72 assorted eggs plus 14 welsummers. Normally, once I set the incubator I just leave it alone so until it was time to remove the CM's from the turner trays to the hatcher, I simply didnt open the bator. When I did open the bator, i found the Golden comet eggs all oozing and the smell was terrible. I decided to candle and get rid of all eggs that didnt look right. I saved about 10 GC eggs. My CM I didnt candle or mess with because I figured it was so close to hatch date that they either would or wouldnt hatch. Well, 4 days late one CM chicked hatched, severly deformed. When I cracked open the other CM eggs, they where all clear, no signs of chicks developeing. I am fixing to throw out the remain GC eggs ( already 4 days over due), as well as 14 welsummers, as they dont seem to be any signs of life in them either. I was also given 200 more assorted eggs to add to the incubator but, before adding, I removed all eggs and placed temporary in the hatcher. I then cleand out the incubator and used clorox to disinfect. I then replaced the first 72 assorted eggs and the second 200 assorted eggs back in the bator and closed the door. The first 72 assorted eggs are due to hatch this week, I havent candled any of these altho i am consider doing so when its time to go in the hatcher.

My question is, does anyone think that the washed and oozing GC could have spread or caused enough bacteria to my CM to have stopped them from developing, and what about the first 72 assorted eggs that are due to hatch this week. Could they also be compromised and be removed to prevent them from infecting the last 200 eggs that where placed in the bator. My other 2 bators are full, as is my hatcher, so I cant just isolate those 72 eggs without destroying them.

One thing I know I wont be doing again is trying to hatch washed eggs. Eggs wiped off are fine, but these eggs looked as if they had came out of a dishwasher using soap. Also until this hatch, except for the CM, hatch rates where over 90%.

 

[paddock36]

Do you clean your incubator after hatch. I don't know if it could stop you entire hatch but sounds like bacteria could be part of your problem.

 

[tellynpeep]

It sounds like the CM eggs should have shown at least some development since they were in for a week before you added the contaminated eggs. Assuming the bacterial contamination killed them, you should have seen something there, not just clear yolks.

Were these shipped eggs? I've had TERRIBLE luck with shipped eggs.

Hopefully cleaning out the 'bator will do the trick. Good luck.

 

[muddstopper]

I have had severe fertility problems with my CM eggs since Dec. I am about ready to make dumplings out of the rooster. On the other hand, my Welsummers have been almost 100% hate rates, but this last batch, added after the GC eggs, is past due without even a pip. The remaining GC eggs are mixed with the Welsummers and are past due as well, with no pip. I have pretty much written those eggs off. My main concern is the 72 mixed assorted eggs that are due this week and the 200 assorted eggs that are still in the incubator. They where just put in this past Friday evening. My fears are that the 64 eggs might still contaminate the other 200 eggs, even tho I disinfected the incubator. By the way, none of the eggs where shipped and the CM and WS are all from my personal stock. I do have some CM and WS in another incubator and will be adding more of each at the end of the week. I have to make sure its the Roo and not incubator problems before making the dumplings. I will not be adding any more eggs to the bigg incubator until everything in there now has either hatched or been thrown out. At that time I will disassemble the incubator for a through cleaning and disinfecting.

We are now NPIP and as soon as I get my fertility issues straighten out we will be selling WS and CM, as well as CGM strain buckeyes hatching eggs later this fall.

 

[Junkmanme]

Bill,
It seems to me that you've done all you can do at the moment....just wait a bit longer and see what turns up.

After that, of course, you're "thorough cleaning" should remove THAT as a possible problem.

I think you're doing all you can at this point.

Good Luck !!!
-Junkmanme-

 

[muddstopper]

Well, I busted open the GC and WS that where over due to hatch. About 2 doz eggs in all. What I found was some very ugly, almost greenish yuck inside the eggshells. I had one that started and died and one that looked developed and also died. These eggs are out of the bator now. I did candle the 64 assorted eggs and found 2 clear and the rest where all dark with a intact air sack. These eggs are due this coming weekend. Hopefully the bacteria from the oozing eggs was taken care of with the disinfecting before I added the other 200 eggs. No more hatching washed eggs for me.

 

[mstricer]

My last hatch of cuckoo marans I 2 out of 6 which is much better then the past. I never opened the bator once, until I removed turner. I got 14 out chicks out of about 33 eggs. out of 15 shipped I set only 2 made it and ironicly it was the marans.

 

[muddstopper]

Update,
This morning I woke up to 5 assorted chicks with several more pipping. I havent checked in the last little while, but there is tons of peeping and chirping inside the bator now. Looks like the disinfecting/cleaning of the bator helped. The fact that the eggs now hatching where pretty dirty when they went in the bator might have helped prevent the bacteria from spreading inside the assorted eggs.

I also have 4 out of 18 black australopes hatched in my other bator with plenty of pipped eggs in there as well. In my newest bator

I have 11 CM I set last week and another 21 CM and WS I just set today. I will probably put on hold hatching anymore for a while after this bunch hatches. This is just a trial run for the new bator. I should have around 300 chicks in about 2 more wks. I either have to stop hatching or start building.

 

[Junkmanme]

Did you use your NEW home-designed Thermostat in this incubator?

-Junkmanme-

 

[muddstopper]

Well, the story on my controller design is that I paid a big sum of money and got burnt. The guy that was building it claims to have it working, but he hasnt shipped it to me and I found him on another forum trying to sell the design. I may one day finally get the controller I have already paid for, but I aint holding my breath.

In the incubator pictured, I have a thermo, humidity, motor controller that Cbiblis built and it seems to be working just fine. It doesnt have the fancy LCD readouts, but hold temps and humidty rock solid. The motor controller was a already proven design that we put together and have used in some of our other incubators.

I have found another person that can build my controller design, but he wants $1800 for the prototype. I think I am going to wait a while and see if Chris can figure out the chip programming and see if we can do it ourselfs.