Silkie eggs the only duds?

[LongRanch]

I recently bought eggs from 3 different breeders to put in my incubator. I candled them lastnight (day 8), and every single silkie egg looked non viable to me. Small air cells, no veins.... just a visible yolk... I put them back in. Should I give them more time? These are my first silkie eggs and I'm not sure if perhaps the breed develops a little later/differently.The other eggs look great! Out of 27 eggs, I only removed two. And then there are these 6 silkie eggs I'm not sure I should wait on. The eggs weren't quite packaged to what I expected, so I thought perhaps handling wrecked them, but 12 of the other eggs were not packed properly either and only the one orpington egg was a dud. All of the silkie eggs are dated in pencil and they came from a good experienced breeder. I picked them up locally, they were not shipped. How long should I wait before candling again, or should I remove them now? So disappointing!

 

[kajira]

I recently bought eggs from 3 different breeders to put in my incubator. I candled them lastnight (day 8), and every single silkie egg looked non viable to me. Small air cells, no veins.... just a visible yolk... I put them back in. Should I give them more time? These are my first silkie eggs and I'm not sure if perhaps the breed develops a little later/differently.The other eggs look great! Out of 27 eggs, I only removed two. And then there are these 6 silkie eggs I'm not sure I should wait on. The eggs weren't quite packaged to what I expected, so I thought perhaps handling wrecked them, but 12 of the other eggs were not packed properly either and only the one orpington egg was a dud. All of the silkie eggs are dated in pencil and they came from a good experienced breeder. I picked them up locally, they were not shipped. How long should I wait before candling again, or should I remove them now? So disappointing!

If you picked them up locally, can you call the breeder to ask what her experiences with the eggs have been? If they *are* duds, it's possible she could replace them for you too.

 

[LongRanch]

I was told by a friend that her hatch rates are great. My friend has chicks from her (I have one as well, great chick). I understand there is no guarantee with hatching eggs, and I'd hate to ask to have them replaced because though she breeds several other breeds, the silkies are more of her daughter's project for 4-h and she only gets about one silkie egg a day right now.

 

[kajira]

I was told by a friend that her hatch rates are great. My friend has chicks from her (I have one as well, great chick). I understand there is no guarantee with hatching eggs, and I'd hate to ask to have them replaced because though she breeds several other breeds, the silkies are more of her daughter's project for 4-h and she only gets about one silkie egg a day right now.

If the eggs didn't get fertilized, then the eggs are duds. I would call and ask her about it, and I personally, would probably break one open and look for signs of fertilization in a couple more days, to see if they'd even been properly fertilized.

http://horseshoe.two61.com/files/2013/04/fertile-eggs21.jpg

If they aren't fertile- she should probably know, too.

 

[LongRanch]

Oh I'll definitely let her know... it would be odd if they aren't fertilized though. I believe they're only from two hens and one rooster, and their last hatches worked out. Is there a way to tell if they're fertile without cracking them open? And how long should I wait to start seeing veins?

 

[kajira]

Oh I'll definitely let her know... it would be odd if they aren't fertilized though. I believe they're only from two hens and one rooster, and their last hatches worked out. Is there a way to tell if they're fertile without cracking them open? And how long should I wait to start seeing veins?

https://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/candling-eggs/ Check out this - this shows a detailed picture explanation of what it should look like when you candle them, around 7-10 days.

 

[LongRanch]

I guess they look mostly like the infertile one, but with a visible yolk, close to the top of the egg. Hmm I guess I'll give it a couple more days. :-/

 

[RubyNala97]

I breed silkies and by day 8 if you are not seeing a little baby swimming around in there then it's not going to happen. I was thinking they were shipped but since you said they are local my guess is that they are not fertile. Can you ask the breeder if she checks her fertility? Just tell her that not one single egg developed and you were wondering if she's having fertility issues. In my experience I have not been able to check fertility on eggs once they have been incubated for more then a couple days. When I crack them open the yolk is no longer a solid ball and it's impossible to check for the bullseye.

 

[LongRanch]

I messaged her, but haven't heard back yet. It's just so odd, I know that her previous hatches from these chickens worked out. I have an 8 week old from her and she had a bunch of younger chicks for sale. I'm going to candle them again tonight and see if anything has changed. Right now hey look no different than the quail egg I gave up on.. it stayed a yolk until the end...

 

[LongRanch]

Well, I broke them open tonight... All had little blastodiscs, so not fertilized. Super disappointing. My daughter was so looking forward to silkie chicks and she is crushed.

At least we have some olive eggers and barnyard mixes that are developing beautifully but it was the silkies the kids were really looking forward to. Aw man.