not hatching?

[greening]

we opened up the eggs that didnt hatch and for two hatches in a row, there were fully formed chicks in all but a few eggs (out of 40 or so). whats the problem? our humidity was 60-90% during hatching and about 50% during the actual incubation. and the temp was a perfect 99.5 (our thermometer is correct)

 

[smokeykk]

how many days did you leave them in the bator?

 

[greening]

an extra 3 days. no pips either. we did chicks last time and guinea hens and ringneck phesants this time with the same results...using the same incubator

EDIT: so that would be 24 for the chicks, 31 for the ringnecks, and 27 for the guineas

 

[ninabl]

i just had the same problem with 1 egg. gave it a few extra days and it was dead in the shell.

 

[skelly]

I'm having the same problems too.My first hatch this year was good and now even though everythings the same I having chicks not hatching.It's really starting to get depressing.

 

[Ceinwyn]

Are these from your own stock?
If yes what are you feeding them?
If humidity and temperatures are fine its usually diet related.

 

[greening]

no, they arent my own chickens that died, and that makes complete sense. because the ones that i hatched of my own, all of them hatched so i had a 100% hatch rate on my personal chickens and they dont get any food during the summer, they just free range (but i give them plenty of water and oyster shells) but i do live on a farm so they probably find all kinds of food in the fields. and they get egg layer in the winter. the ones that i dont get to hatch are all from ebay and then i dont know what they are getting fed. that makes 100% complete sense. thank you, i probably will start to hatch some of my own again, because i do have a pretty frisky rooster,,,and i only have 11 hens. but i have 4 6wks and 5 2wks

 

[Ceinwyn]

If your going to use your own girls the diet they have sounds good.
You might considering giving them some brewer's yeast.
It's the best source of riboflavin which is one of the most common problems with hatchrates.
It's water soluable but goes rancid pretty quick so its best to have a seperate water source for it and remove after a few hours.