pheasants not hatching..

[Birdman18]

Quote:
I have a forced air, yes thats a picture of the eggs in the bator. Yes the bator turns the eggs but i decided to hand turn them this time.

 

[kikescove.com]

I wondered that myself. Also at this point you won't be able to see much with candling. There won't be an "embryo floating around. It should be Black or clear. If you see clear, NOT GOOD.

 

[Birdman18]

kikescove.com :

I wondered that myself. Also at this point you won't be able to see much with candling. There won't be an "embryo floating around. It should be Black or clear. If you see clear, NOT GOOD.

oh ok, i guess i wont have any hatch because i did see a few that had a dark spot with a little clearing around it.​

 

[spectrumranch]

kikescove.com :

I wondered that myself. Also at this point you won't be able to see much with candling. There won't be an "embryo floating around. It should be Black or clear. If you see clear, NOT GOOD.

Very true.

I usually candle our Ringneck eggs at 5 to 8 days, as then I can see the bloodlines. Since the egg shells are dark to begin with, it makes them harder to candle. After the embryo is larger the egg is dark except for the air cell.

I'm thinking of candling them to see if i see movement, but i dont want to take the eggs out and have the humidty drop.

THe short time it would take to candle them would not create a humidity issue.

A few things I always think about when people hand turn is:

Number of times turned each day (I think an odd number is best).
Are the eggs turned completly over.
Did they wash hands before handling eggs. IMO, Even if hands are clean, the oil from hands is bad on eggs.

We ship alot of eggs- I always wash my hands before I pick eggs, I always take a bucket with me to pick eggs so I don't carry them in my hand, and wash my hands before I box them.

Randy www.spectrumranch.net​

 

[Birdman18]

Quote:
Very true.

I usually candle our Ringneck eggs at 5 to 8 days, as then I can see the bloodlines. Since the egg shells are dark to begin with, it makes them harder to candle. After the embryo is larger the egg is dark except for the air cell.

I'm thinking of candling them to see if i see movement, but i dont want to take the eggs out and have the humidty drop.

THe short time it would take to candle them would not create a humidity issue.

A few things I always think about when people hand turn is:

Number of times turned each day (I think an odd number is best).
Are the eggs turned completly over.
Did they wash hands before handling eggs. IMO, Even if hands are clean, the oil from hands is bad on eggs.

We ship alot of eggs- I always wash my hands before I pick eggs, I always take a bucket with me to pick eggs so I don't carry them in my hand, and wash my hands before I box them.

Randy www.spectrumranch.net​

Thanks for that great info. Spectrumranch!!
I'll keep this in time for next time, unless the eggs were unfertile to begin with.

 

[Birdman18]

I guess its time to pull the plug, no chickies, i will open all the eggs later to figure out the problem, maybe some were unfertile.

I just need to find out the problem so i can get another batch going soon........

 

[kikescove.com]

Where do you get your eggs?

 

[Birdman18]

kikescove.com :

Where do you get your eggs?

luvarabhorses gave me them, she wanted me to incubate them to check the fertility for her, but i should of gotten a few chicks out of them, its ok as long as i let her know how many were fertile out of the 6.​

 

[JJMR794]

i'd float test them before i pull the plug --- i have gotten too hasty in the past and killed late bloomer chicks--- especially with pheasants. pheasant eggs can be a major pain in the butt! they dont ship well(rarely imo has it been a fertility issue, its usually the jostling of being shipped or how they have been handled. and of course there's always the xray issue, temp during shipping, etc...) , humidity variances seem to wreak havok with them, and i always seem to end up with a low hatch rate from shipped eggs. good luck with them.


ps--- for what its worth some of these guys have the luck of the irish with hatching & raising pheasants and the rest of us make or selves bald and crazed trying to get 1 or 2 out of a dozen hatch, so i really think some folks just have the "knack" for it.

 

[kikescove.com]

Thats essentially why I asked. Its rarely a fertility issue. It can be but its often shipping that does them in, let alone the hatching process. Handling the eggs the least you can because of fluctuations caused by it, and contamination issues. Many newbies candle their eggs daily to watch progress. Many have to manually turn them(automatic turners REALLY increase your odds). Some incubators take time to restabilize temp a nd humidity everytime it is opened and the eggs are fondled. It all eventually contributes to the percentage what does and does not hatch. Many folks jump to the conclusion that non of the eggs were fertile.