Should all eggs incubated together hatch together?

[Zok]

Hi,

I have been reading posts here for the last 3 weeks, but first time poster myself, as this time I can't find the answer to my questions.

I am incubating chicken eggs. 3 have hatched but the rest have not. I'm wondering if I should leave in the incubator or candle them?

My journey:

(12 eggs) Bought 12 eggs on ebay and started to incubate them on 13 March 9am.

(10 eggs) Day 7 I candled them and 2 had cracks in them so I removed them

(10 eggs) Day 10-11 the incubator became unplugged overnight (estimate 15 to 20 hours) Dropped to 23 degrees celcius and eggs were cold to the touch.

(9 eggs) Day 15 I candled, 1 had a blood ring so removed it

(8 eggs) Day 18 Entered lockdown. One egg had cracked and the shell stuck to the turner so I removed it due to the hole in the shell.

(3 Chicks) Day 21 3 chicks hatched. Happy in the brooder now and the kids love them.

(Still 3 Chicks) Day 23 (Today) 5 eggs still unhatched.


So, should I candle the eggs and if I see no movement remove them, of just wait to day 25?

Do all eggs normally hatch together... Is this unusual?

And I have seen here other peolpes incubators going off and chicks being fine, but not for the length of time mine did. Do you think this was a significant factor? I also didn't mark air sacks... I'm now thinking they could have been to small and the bird may have suffocated. IDK.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[cherrynberry]

Hi,

I have been reading posts here for the last 3 weeks, but first time poster myself, as this time I can't find the answer to my questions.

I am incubating chicken eggs. 3 have hatched but the rest have not. I'm wondering if I should leave in the incubator or candle them?

My journey:

(12 eggs) Bought 12 eggs on ebay and started to incubate them on 13 March 9am.

(10 eggs) Day 7 I candled them and 2 had cracks in them so I removed them

(10 eggs) Day 10-11 the incubator became unplugged overnight (estimate 15 to 20 hours) Dropped to 23 degrees celcius and eggs were cold to the touch.

(9 eggs) Day 15 I candled 1 had a blood ring so removed it

(8 eggs) Day 18 Entered lockdown. One egg had cracked and the shell stuck to the turner so I removed it due to the hole in the shell.

(3 Chicks) Day 21 3 chicks hatched. Happy in the brooder now and the kids love them.

(Still 3 Chicks) Day 23 (Today) 5 eggs still unhatched.


So, should I candle the eggs and if I see no movement remove them, of just wait to day 25?

Do all eggs normally hatch together... Is this unusual?

And I have seen here other peolpes incubators going off and chicks being fine, but not for the length of time mine did. Do you think this was a significant factor? I also didn't mark air sacks... I'm now thinking they could have been to small and the bird may have suffocated. IDK.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yes, they do usually hatch together. Shipped eggs have the tendency to have very poor hatch rates or other issues (as you have experienced). I never leave eggs for more than 4 days.

The “power outage” definitely killed most of your eggs, unfortunately.

 

[Coops Dad]

I had 22 eggs in the incubator for about a week when Texas had that horrible winter storm and power outages in February 2021. The house got as cold as 57*F and the incubator wasn't much warmer in spite of the towels we wrapped it with. For almost a week, the power came on for an hour, went off for 5 hours; came on for 15 minutes, went off for three hours. Five days of that crap.

I was ready to toss the eggs and start a new batch but my wife convinced me to let them ride and see if anything hatched. IIRC, 15 of 22 hatched on day 22; one died of an infected umbilical hernia. Of those 14 which lived, 6 were roosters- the dog got one and I ate the rest. The 8 remaining pullets are part of our main flock now.

Candle them, see if anything moves. First, though, examine them closely to see if any have something resembling tiny amber droplets on the surface- that usually means the egg is rotten. Don't candle those. If you have one of those, handle it as if it's an IED. Pick it up in a Ziploc bag, zip it and drop it in your neighbors trashcan.

 

[RedBrush Farm]

I had 22 eggs in the incubator for about a week when Texas had that horrible winter storm and power outages in February 2021. The house got as cold as 57*F and the incubator wasn't much warmer in spite of the towels we wrapped it with. For almost a week, the power came on for an hour, went off for 5 hours; came on for 15 minutes, went off for three hours. Five days of that crap.

I was ready to toss the eggs and start a new batch but my wife convinced me to let them ride and see if anything hatched. IIRC, 15 of 22 hatched on day 22; one died of an infected umbilical hernia. Of those 14 which lived, 6 were roosters- the dog got one and I ate the rest. The 8 remaining pullets are part of our main flock now.

Candle them, see if anything moves. First, though, examine them closely to see if any have something resembling tiny amber droplets on the surface- that usually means the egg is rotten. Don't candle those. If you have one of those, handle it as if it's an IED. Pick it up in a Ziploc bag, zip it and drop it in your neighbors trashcan.

If you have been lucky enough to have never had a rotten egg “pop” you do not understand the irony of “dropping it into your neighbors“ trash can

 

[Coops Dad]

I did have one pop in the incubator; it made me merciless on tossing duds when candling. If there's no development by day 8, it's gone. If it stops moving after day 14, it's gone. If it "sweats", it's gone.

I still retch at the memory of the smell.

 

[Chickengnome91]

I had 22 eggs in the incubator for about a week when Texas had that horrible winter storm and power outages in February 2021. The house got as cold as 57*F and the incubator wasn't much warmer in spite of the towels we wrapped it with. For almost a week, the power came on for an hour, went off for 5 hours; came on for 15 minutes, went off for three hours. Five days of that crap.

I was ready to toss the eggs and start a new batch but my wife convinced me to let them ride and see if anything hatched. IIRC, 15 of 22 hatched on day 22; one died of an infected umbilical hernia. Of those 14 which lived, 6 were roosters- the dog got one and I ate the rest. The 8 remaining pullets are part of our main flock now.

Candle them, see if anything moves. First, though, examine them closely to see if any have something resembling tiny amber droplets on the surface- that usually means the egg is rotten. Don't candle those. If you have one of those, handle it as if it's an IED. Pick it up in a Ziploc bag, zip it and drop it in your neighbors trashcan.

If my neighbors had a trash can, I'd prob drop it in there car instead.

 

[Sweeethearts_2002]

Ok so recently my bloody were on egg clutches and we had a bad storm come through our area in texas with lots of rain and Temps went from 103 to like 60s so I decided that after candling thr eggs I'd bring the ones that were about ready to hatch in and finish in incubator because they were chilly to touch. We hatched 3 this was about 3 days ago and 3 had yolk sac in tact and not absorbed bit an otherwise healthy looking chick they looked like they were trying to pip and couldn't idk what's wrong here other than temp change. Is there any way to reverse shrink wrapping if it starts. How to tell on later days the chick in the egg is alive when they don't move once in position. Oh me every time I lose babies I get so ticked at my self. We can't afford a real incubator so we made wine out of what we have and I mean it worked for the 3 but I just don't know...

 

[Shezadandy]

Ok so recently my bloody were on egg clutches and we had a bad storm come through our area in texas with lots of rain and Temps went from 103 to like 60s so I decided that after candling thr eggs I'd bring the ones that were about ready to hatch in and finish in incubator because they were chilly to touch. We hatched 3 this was about 3 days ago and 3 had yolk sac in tact and not absorbed bit an otherwise healthy looking chick they looked like they were trying to pip and couldn't idk what's wrong here other than temp change. Is there any way to reverse shrink wrapping if it starts. How to tell on later days the chick in the egg is alive when they don't move once in position. Oh me every time I lose babies I get so ticked at my self. We can't afford a real incubator so we made wine out of what we have and I mean it worked for the 3 but I just don't know...

Just let the broody do her job. I bring mine inside in a crate (moving them at night) during the hatch process to make sure other hens can't disturb the hatching process and to make sure no chick accidentally gets out of the nest. Not every broody is great but most will do a better job than we can.