question for anyone who's incubated buckeye eggs

[Titania]

brown chicka brown cow, I'm sure your eggs will be fine! I've had so many wonderful hatches. That's why this is really frustrating me! Keep us updated!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have had worse. The condition of the eggs could be part of it, humidity problems could be a factor. There are many things that could have happened. Buckeyes are not any harder or easier. Your best chances are the freshest eggs from a disease free flock. Clean doesn't always matter, but sometimes it does. My first batch this winter (Feb) was Heritage RIR and Silkies, a full load of 34 eggs. I got one White Silkie. I was SO bummed, but I knew my incubator was having problems too.
I don't get a great number of hatched from shipped eggs, which is depressing. I get almost 100% from my own fresh eggs from my flock.
I haven't perfected this hatching thing, but I am learning something with every hatch I do. Clean your incubator really good, disinfect it with a bleach solution (you don't need a lot of bleach), and try again. That is what I do. One day I hope I can have some broody hens do that work for me on some of them.

Good luck.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Really dirty eggs? That can be a problem.
Maybe the breeder stock?
Check this out:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204

 

[Titania]

minnichickmama, that is a very sad story!!! I would cry over that for sure! You know though, I've had 80-100% hatch rates on most of my shipped eggs. and the think about this buckeye hatch rate is that they were set at the same time in the same incubator as my ameraucana eggs and those had an 85% hatch rate. So, I'm thinking it might have been something that can happen to eggs specificially (jostling, positioning, maternal nutrition, etc.) and not general conditions. Does that sound right? Really, what do I know...

and, kathinmo, thanks for the link! Very informative.

 

[just2rosey]

I feel you pain! I have had this happen twice with eggs from different sources. The first time shipped eggs some from two different breeders, in different states. All that made it to lockdown from one breeder hatched and none from the other. I blamed the postal system. The next hatch I picked the eggs up from the breeders, I bought eggs in state, the same thing happened. All from one, one from the other. Then I read here on BYC that someone else whose eggs hatched the same week and were shipped from the same breeder, had the same results I did, only one hatched. I think the breeder has a problem, not that I could prove it. I am not an experienced hatcher, and I have been learning on shipped eggs, but I do my homework! I would have totally blamed myself if the results hadn't been so clearly divided along the breeder lines. Statistically speaking, it is very unlikely that it is anything you did, since the other 2 breeds hatched out fine, if it was your fault it would have been reflected in the hatch rates of all the breeds. I would hesitate to buy eggs from that source again if it was me. Sorry you had such a disappointing hatch.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Hatching shipped eggs is always a crap shoot. You don't know how they were handled in the mail, really. The other thing is that you don't really always know what the conditions were that they came from, if the stock was healthy or cared for that will produce good results, and sometimes people selling will send out eggs that are old to begin with. It is a chance all of us who buy shipped eggs take.
Sometimes it just gets depressing enough that I just get chicks instead.
Billy Braden has some nice Buckeyes and his eggs did well for me last year. He is at http://www.landoftobe.com/index.html . He is a nice man to deal with too.
Good luck if you try again.

 

[Titania]

just2rosey, thanks. I guess that's what I was wondering mostly. I was curious to see if this has happened to anyone else that way & if it was likely to be breeder specific. Of course, it could still be something I did I guess. You never know! Sorry about your story too!!

minniechickmama, thanks for the link & recommendation for billy braden. I will definitely check his eggs out!