serama hatching issues/fatalities

[The_Rooster_84]

My hen has laid probably 50 eggs I've set and nearly all have been fertile and candle well. But they never peep or pip they just die in shell. I've had two, then one last week hatch successfully. Last night I had two peepers and one hatched. The other died half way out of shell (couldn't helped I was in the woods hunting).. now the survivor can't walk properly his right leg he holds up near his belly... lethal gene? Merak's?

 

[justbugged]

Are you raising the humidity for the last three days? Are you also locking the bator down for those three days?

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

a couple things come to mind when I read this...

1. humidity might not be high enough and baby cant pip internally
2. very well could be lethal gene..
3. I totally had a 3rd but now im in a writers block and cant remember... OH! thats it.. Serama eggs are frigile to being with so it could be literally anything!!

Anyways.. what type of incubator do you use? If you use hovabator or something similar, a friend and I have noticed better hatch rates when we took the plastic tray out of the bottom and just filled the bottom of the bator with water up to the wire grid just before the water touches the eggs! also we dont mark our eggs "X" or "O" we just place them and then roll our hand over them 3x a day! It has been said on the SCNA forum that maybe by marking "x" and "o" we are turning the eggs in too much of a ratio where as a hen turns the eggs a little over 100x a day little bits at a time.. not half the egg morning, half the egg noon, half the egg night.. Also if you use an egg turner... their bad for Serama eggs!

 

[The_Rooster_84]

I use a lg 9200 without a auto.. I turn 3x a day using the x o system .. I used a digital thermometer and raise humidity to 70% +/-.... just seems the serama breed is a very delicate sensitive breed. The mother of these got into a fight two weeks ago and just lost her leg function and died (stroke?) .

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

take the plastic tray out and dont mark the eggs. take a few test eggs and try it that way.

 

[The_Rooster_84]

I've got 3 in there due the 22. Same rooster different hen curious if this changes the game. However here are some pics of the survivor and his 10 day old sibling

Check the left leg in pic (actually right )

 

[The_Rooster_84]

Bump