Poor Cuckoo Marans hatches

[hatchingbunnies]

I'm scratching my head over this one. I have been hatching for several months now and had no problems (some 100% hatches). Until I started hatching my Cuckoo Marans' eggs. This past hatch I set 15 RIR, 9 Ameraucanas, 9 Cuckoo Marans, and 1 Serama mix. Temp was 100 with no variations, humidity 55%-61% with spikes during hatch. I culled out 2 Marans and 1 RIR for lack of development partway through the hatch. We got 14 RIR's, 9 Ameraucanas, the Serama and only 1 Marans. Of the 7 that made it to day 18, 1 chick, 2 no-shows, and 4 pipped then died. This was my 4th setting of Marans, and every time I get 1-5 chicks out of 9 -15 eggs. They are the only breed showing problems.

Could it be breeder age (they're about 34 weeks old)? Genetic? Or are they more sensitive to temp/humidity than the other breeds? The chicks I do get are large and healthy--they pass the other breeds up in size by a couple of weeks.

I have an older, unidentified cabinet-style incubator with auto-turning that works wonderfully.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[tazcat70]

Some people believe that the dark coating on the Marans egg causes the egg to retain more moisture. You could do a search on here to find out more information.

Good luck!

 

[Mahonri]

The last hatch where I sat Marans I got 2 of 6. 4 dead in the shell, fully developed.

 

[hatchingbunnies]

Anybody else have any clues? I hate seeing these babies die so close to hatching!

 

[cracking up]

I just started trying to hatch BCMs this year. Never hatched anything before, I've always just had a chicken disappear and come back later with a bunch of chicks. I've gotten a few cuckoos out of the broodies so when I set my eggs from other people I always throw in a couple of cuckoo eggs and they always hatch. My worst are the BCMs. It's really sad because they are fully formed and die at the very end. Last time I flat out peeled some that hadn't even pipped. I guess they don't absorb the blood until the air hits the membrane so it's long and tiring and sad for the ones that I got to too late.

I know it's a huge controversy and I really would love it if I could figure out how to make them hatch on their own - one or two always do - but I don't know what goes wrong.

I always read the questions about marans because I think that is how I'll learn. Some people say they hatch great with other eggs and no special humidity.

I would love to hear from people who have really successful hatches. Type of incubator, temp., humidity, and especially hatcher conditions.

Thinking of going back to broodies.

 

[Katy]

I've been hatching my cuckoo's eggs on and off for several years. I've never incubated them any different than I do my other eggs and incubate them together all the time. I don't have any more of them make it to the end and not hatch than I do any of my other breeds. I generally have good hatches with them.

 

[onthespot]

I keep my temp and humidity the same and hatch them mixed with other eggs, including silkies, bantam cochins, NN, EE, and the only thing I do differently is make sure the air plugs are out from the start, I put the bators up on blocks a little to make sure there is plenty of air circulation. My theory is that they suffocate the last few days or during hatching, due to extra pigment on the egg.

 

[kathyinmo]

The only Marans I have hatched were from my Cuckoo Marans. I had 8 of 9 hatch. I did not do anything differently than I do usually. I don't know what the problem could be with yours. Sorry, I am no help.

 

[hatchingbunnies]

The crazy thing is 100% of everything else in the incubator at the same time hatches! All my RIR's, Ameraucanas, and even the Serama!! And 1 out of 9 on the Cuckoo Marans. My next batch I'm going to try hatching the Marans in an egg carton. I'll post how it turns out.

 

[onthespot]

if air circulation is part of the problem, which I think it is, an egg carton would not help. It would decrease air movement around the eggs. Do you have a circulating fan in your bator? That might really help a lot too.