No development in any of the eggs -what went wrong?

[tatiana916]

I've just incubated my first batch of eggs, today was hatch day but I cracked open the eggs and there was no development in any of them, not even a few blood vessels.

All the eggs were from my own flock. 6 eggs were from my young polish who's less than a year old and one egg from my hybrid bluebell who's been laying for at least 2 years now. The cockerel is also less than a year old and is polish.
I used the Brinsea automatic incubator and it was set up exactly how they said to do it in the manual, there was no temperature spikes and the water was in one half of the pot, as described in the instructions. They turned perfectly and evenly so I doubt it was a problem with the incubator.

I did notice when I candled the eggs that the shell was very spotty -would that indicate that they were too porous? I've never candled eggs before so I wasn't really too sure what I was looking for, plus I was only using a small torch so didn't know how effective that would be compared to a proper candler, but didn't want to give up on them just incase!

Any ideas what could be the problem?

 

[morrisonmanor]

Well I can't explain what happened in your specific situation but your not alone. I purchased 42 fertile eggs and had them shipped. I've been candling but just like you I'm not real experienced at it. Today is lockdown day so I did one more candle and the results were not good at all. Mine were all just yolks, no growth. One whole dozen gone. There are probably more bad but I'm tryin to be hopeful so I left them in the incubator and just separated them from the ones I think are good.

I feel your disappointment. Trying to be optimistic for the next few days until hopefully at least some will hatch.

 

[my sunwolf]

I assume that you've cracked open your eggs and checked to see if they're fertile. Otherwise, I would say that maybe your Polish roo is not getting the job done.

Splotchiness on the shell does indicate that you have a porous egg. Were all of them like this?

All of the eggs were less than 1 week old?

Do you have a backup thermometer to double check incubator temperature? Sometimes the thermostat on the incubators are wrong--if too low, it can screw up your hatch. However, it shouldn't be running so low that you see absolutely no development.

 

[tatiana916]

How do I check they're fertile? I see him mating with the chickens on multiple occassions throughout the day, weve only got 3 hens and he's got them all to himself. So at least he's doing that bit.

They don't seem to respect him as a cockerel, I don't know if thats got anything to do with it. They don't come running to him when he's picked up a treat and they pretty much ignore him and chase him away.

Morrisonmanor.
Its so frustrating isn't it. What breeds are you hatching? Fingers crossed most of them hatch! Thats what mine looked like the whole way through, I could see the yolk and the white but it didn't change the whole time they were in there. I didn't really know what I was looking for so the first 14 days I kind of just went with it but for there to be no difference between day 1 and 21 I knew they were pretty much all infertile, hence why I cracked them this morning instead of waiting a few days. I knew my hatch rate wouldn't be great as its my first time but for no growth at all? I've just put another 7 in to test but I'm not expecting much. The egg shells look a lot better than the first round, less spotty.

 

[my sunwolf]

There is this bullseye thing that happens when an egg becomes fertile, here's a post about it.

Exactly how old is the cockerel? How long has he been in with the hens?

I know in some breeds butt-fluff can get in the way of a proper mating. The solution here is to trim the feathers above the vent on females and below the vent on males.

It's always hard to tell with incubation troubles

I really hope this next round goes better for you!

 

[morrisonmanor]

I'm incubating lemon cucko orphingtons, coronations sussex, light brahma and Cornish meat eggs. The meat eggs were from a hatchery but the others were from a private breeder with good reviews. Got rid of a dozen today before lockdown and it was just yolks . Some intact some not.

Yes frustrating. Guess I start lookin for more eggs to try again.