Not hatching

[Ann Duckworth]

Hi

i am new to this and I am on my third attempt at hatching, it was ten eggs each time the first two lots were shipped so the third ones I collected myself, my temperature is fine I purchased a humidity temperature so I my humidity is ok I candled this batch after 8 days and I cannot see any veins what am I doing wrong? I will not give up on this I really want my chickens

Ann

 

[EmilyRobb]

@Ann Duckworth if you couldn't see anything in the egg after a week of incubation, meaning that the candled eggs looked as if you were candling ones from the store, then I don't think that they'd be fertile in the first place. Infertility wouldn't be an issue that you can necessarily control, aside from ensuring that hens and roosters are suitable for mating. Sometimes hens reject the rooster's contribution to an egg even after mating, and sometimes roosters just aren't overly fertile.

I've never kept my eggs for more than a week leading up to incubation. I store them in a cooler place (maybe just under 20 degrees Celsius) around 60% humidity, and those that are viable will begin to develop in incubation. I always candle my eggs on day 7, 14, and 17 of incubation. On day 7 I look to make sure that the egg is not "clear" and consists of a network of veins, and a little embryo with the black spot being the eye, and I outline the air sac with a pencil. On day 14, I check to make sure the embryo has developed, making the egg more opaque and causing the air sac to grow, which I outline again. On day 17, before lockdown on the incubator, I mark the air sac once more, make sure that everything is sound, and put what appears to be a completely opaque egg back into the incubator until it hatches.

If the temperature and humidity are sound in the incubator, I would have to believe that the eggs were never fertile to begin with if there's no signs of development. If you keep the rooster with the hens, so long as the hens aren't getting too "beat up", I'm sure you'll be bound to collect some fertile eggs down the road