OMG! What Is Going On!

[americanchicks]

Hey all.
Well Saturday was hatchday! The clutch included, 10 olive eggers, 2 barnyard mix, and 5 rouen mix ducks. I had been using an incubator I had used many times. Even hatching %100 in the past. Well I had one OE hatch right on time! The next day 2 ducks and a barnyard mix. Yesterday 2 more ducks. This morning had the last duck pipping and the last barnyard egg peeping but no pip. Just went to check on them. The duck is well on its way but all the other eggs are gone. I know they say give them 3 days after due date but I have hatched before and can tell they are dead. Sure enough the rest of the OEs, all 9. Non pipped nor absorb yolk. The other barnyard mix had stopped peeping. Opened it up and OMG......

The little thing was deformed, no wonder it could not hatch. The rest of the chicks looked fine just dead. This is not the first time I have had issues. My last hatch of 15 OEs resulted in only 8. I now wondering maybe its an egg problem or genetic. Maybe the birds while free ranging ate something they shouldn't. The OEs and the deformed barnyard mix are F2s. Daughters bred back to the father. Reading it says that is fine up until about 5 generations. But maybe the problem is with the genetics. I had no issues with the F1 OEs.

I have more OE's in incubators now. If I knew it was going to be another bad hatch I would of penned up the birds for a week or 2 before gathering eggs again, just to rule out environment. Monitor everything they are eating and drinking.

Incubation stats:
Temp 99.7-100
Hum: 40- 45%
Turn. Auto (and working)
Using a Nature Right I had used many times.

Well I have eggs in my other incubators now. 11 OE due on the 28th, 11 more on the 5th, and 4 due for the hatch-a-long. Not feeling very optimistic, but we will see.

Here is the chick with deformities, it is a first for me. It had been cheeping in the egg for a while but never pipped.

You can see its beak, parrot beak right? No wonder it was unable to get out. Its head was also not right either but was in hatch position.

 

[sourland]

Have you calibrated your thermometers and humidistat ? If the rooster is from an inbred line, breeding him back to his daughters may be part of the problem.

 

[Desiree Brown]

I usually keep my humidity lower . I like it in the 20's. I have had birds die late in the hatch from to high humidity. Once I switched to dry hatches I stopped having that problem. I don't know if that helps.

 

[americanchicks]

Funny you said that because I have been reading up on Dry hatches. I am trying it out with the eggs I have now. With that group of eggs I would let the reservoir dry out over night so hum was around 18% in the mornings.

 

[americanchicks]

Have you calibrated your thermometers and humidistat ? If the rooster is from an inbred line, breeding him back to his daughters may be part of the problem.

Temp and hum is good. I had 2 in the incubator. Including the one on the machicne.

Mothers of the OEs where pure bred Wheaton Ameracauna. Dad not shue about his pedigree. He is a blue copper maran and came from a dark egg, that is what I was told. Got him off CL so cant not be sure. He is such a good roster to the hens but he is almost 3 and from what I read the fertility starts to drop. I am starting a new OE project. I already have some lovely Lavender Ameraucanas that are 11 weeks. Going to locate a blue copper maran from a breeder. I may just keep Toby, my maran, with the layer hens. I is such a good roo.