Need some help about what went wrong with my hatch

[Shaf9]

So, i went and bought some copper maran eggs from ebay and tried to hatch them. Wasn't able to get any to pip or hatch. Had 15 eggs overall. I checked the inside of the eggs and 4-5 had a black fetus which took up most of the egg and one fetus which was under developed. The rest were yellow yolk and runny texture. I'm not sure if this is something to do with the humidity or temperature. I wasnt able to candle the eggs because they were dark and couldn't shine light through them. any help is appreciated. I also wasn't using a secondary thermometer so temp might have maybe different than the incubator stated. I did use a second hygrometer though which was calibrated with the salt water test. the humidity during lockdown was 80%+ so not sure if that killed them.

 

[FridayYet]

Eggs can suffer a lot of damage during shipping, basically scrambling them even if the shells are intact. This damage can keep the embryos from forming and can also lead to higher deaths at lockdown due to faulty formation of the membrane that is responsible for oxygen exchange.

Your hatching humidity was high, too.

Try again with some local eggs to make sure you can hatch in your incubator before taking on the additional challenge of shipped eggs.

Sorry you had a bad batch!

 

[Shaf9]

Eggs can suffer a lot of damage during shipping, basically scrambling them even if the shells are intact. This damage can keep the embryos from forming and can also lead to higher deaths at lockdown due to faulty formation of the membrane that is responsible for oxygen exchange.

Your hatching humidity was high, too.

Try again with some local eggs to make sure you can hatch in your incubator before taking on the additional challenge of shipped eggs.

Sorry you had a bad batch!

Kind of hard to find local bcm eggs unfortunately. So you don't think the temperature was a factor?

 

[MeepBeep]

If you have several that did not start to develop that is a sign they were not fertile or were damaged (aka killed or scrambled) when shipped...

As for the rest that quit, you REALLY need to have a 2nd or 3rd thermometer unless you really know your incubator is proven beyond a doubt to hold an accurate temp...

Since none pipped I doubt humidity was that much of a problem but unless you see they are having a hard time hatching, pipped but trouble zipping or slow zipping where the membrane is visibly starting to shrink wrap the chick, you don't want the humidity that high...

Kind of hard to find local bcm eggs unfortunately.

Just get cheap fertile barnyard mixed eggs and practice with those, give the chicks away or sell them for a $1 on Craiglist or what not after they hatch... The cost for a dozen or two dozen fertile barnyard mixed eggs is a lot easier on the pocketbook than losing another round of BCM eggs...

 

[FridayYet]

Probably not for the 10 eggs that never started growing.

If you get a second, calibrated thermometer you'll be able to tell how far your temps were off, and rule that in or out based on your results.

 

[Shaf9]

If you have several that did not start to develop that is a sign they were not fertile or were damaged (aka killed or scrambled) when shipped...

As for the rest that quit, you REALLY need to have a 2nd or 3rd thermometer unless you really know your incubator is proven beyond a doubt to hold an accurate temp...

Since none pipped I doubt humidity was that much of a problem but unless you see they are having a hard time hatching, pipped but trouble zipping or slow zipping where the membrane is visibly starting to shrink wrap the chick, you don't want the humidity that high...
Just get cheap fertile barnyard mixed eggs and practice with those, give the chicks away or sell them for a $1 on Craiglist or what not after they hatch... The cost for a dozen or two dozen fertile barnyard mixed eggs is a lot easier on the pocketbook than losing another round of BCM eggs...

Very informative. Thank you. Won't let the bad hatch get to me.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I agree with a lot that has been said though not everything. Having at least two accurate thermometers and a hygrometer is the best thing you can do. You haven't mentioned what your incubation humidity was the first 18 days and that is what would concern me with having fully formed DIS chicks. If your humidity runs too high for your eggs the air cell will not grow and the chicks will drown and either not make it to internal pip or make the internal pip and die due to excess moisture entering the pip. One thing that seems to be a repeated "theme" with BCMs is that they need a low humidity because they loose moisture slower. (My understanding is that it has something to do with the pigmentation that makes the eggs so dark). I would consider doing a low humidity incubation ( http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity ) and I know it's hard to candle BCMs, but if you can get a bright enough light just to illuminate the air cell, that would help in monitoring the air cells so that you can adjust humidity if neccessary. Even with my eggs I run 30%ish for the first 17 days and up it to 75% at lockdown, which often ends up being 80%+ at hatch time.

I too would get some local cheap eggs to practice on. If you don't want to grow them out and/keep them you can try selling, but this will give you the experience and help you tweak your methods so that when you attempt the shipped eggs you have a better idea the process and how much of the loss is due to shipped eggs and not user error.