So many early quitters in one breeding pen

[PeepingK]

I’m feeling a little frustrated right now.
I have 2 breeding pens set up, one with a whiting true blue roo and the other with a BCM roo.
I put 42 eggs in the incubator 1 week ago, roughly 50/50 from each breeding pen. I candled today and found 9 early quitters all from my WTB roo pen. I put 7 of my Silkie mix (from WTB pen) girl’s eggs in and 3 were quitters. The last hatch I did I had the same problem with her eggs, 50% were quitters.
I put in 8 of my Easter egger hen’s eggs, who is also from the WTB pen and 4 of her eggs were quitters too!
Finally I had put 6 eggs from one other girl in there and only 2 ended up being fertile and they were both quitters as well! What gives??
So far the 21 eggs from my BCM pen are all thriving, not a single quitter yet.
This is my second test hatch and the first one had very similar results.
Why am I getting so many quitters from my WTB pen?
Is there something wrong with my hens? Or does my rooster have weak genetics or something?
Anyway, any input is appreciated!

 

[cavemanrich]

Two things come to mind after reading your post.
Are you using early quitters and infertile eggs interchangeably??
Is your incubator working properly?? Are there hot spots, and cooler spots inside interior?? Is the air circulated,, or a still air incubation?
Early live quitters usually are not a result of humidity at that stage.
Late term quitters may be affected by humidity amounts.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[PeepingK]

Two things come to mind after reading your post.
Are you using early quitters and infertile eggs interchangeably??
Is your incubator working properly?? Are there hot spots, and cooler spots inside interior?? Is the air circulated,, or a still air incubation?
Early live quitters usually are not a result of humidity at that stage.
Late term quitters may be affected by humidity amounts.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

No I’m not using the terms interchangeably. Sadly all nine eggs had a life in there at some point I only had 4 infertile eggs out of the entire 42 and all 4 were from the same hen.
I use a forced air incubator and seems to be working very well. I even put a second thermometer in there to make sure that it’s running at the correct temp. Although now that you mention hot/cold spots, I’m going to move the thermometer to the opposite side of the incubator to see what happens. All the eggs that were quitters were at the top half of the incubator.
But just out of curiosity, is it possible that my rooster is carrying weak genetics? Because if it turns out that the incubator is running fine then what other explanation could there be? All the embryos fertilized by him just seem weak to me.

Thanks for your help!!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Why am I getting so many quitters from my WTB pen?
Is there something wrong with my hens? Or does my rooster have weak genetics or something?

Cause of embryonic failure according to what day theu quit starts around page 51 of my favorite technical hatching resource in the following link..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

My top suspects without further information.. possibly insuffcient ventilation.. make sure all vents are open. Also possibly breeder nutrition.

All the eggs that were quitters were at the top half of the incubator.

Which bator are we talking about? Hot spots do happen, even in forced air bators.

Now I see this is a semi old thread with a new reply.. Did you ever get any good hatches?! Hope this helps, if you are still looking for answers.

I’m currently worrying about that with some eggs I got.

Maybe the link above will help answer some questions and alleviate some of your concern.

Happy hatching!

 

[Dlcna30]

I have had early quitters in the incubator so I had 2 broody Bantams placed 7 EE mix eggs and they all hatched even though it has been cold here. So I have been looking at adjusting my incubator settings and maybe try a dry hatch

 

[Kiki]

I have had early quitters in the incubator so I had 2 broody Bantams placed 7 EE mix eggs and they all hatched even though it has been cold here. So I have been looking at adjusting my incubator settings and maybe try a dry hatch

Triple check your Bator for hot spots.
Put multiple calibrated thermometers in do you can tell, at one glance, What the temperature is in multiple spots.

These are worth the money:
https://us.govee.com/products/govee...ecMKTnqi3u_kIMsT-KT-VjOVVZUCCHvhoCaLcQAvD_BwE

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I had the issues with my celladon quail. Something was terminal in the batch i got a any egg that had one or both parents from that batch died before day 5

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Maybe the link above will help answer some questions and alleviate some of your concern.

Happy hatching!

Thank you! The info is very helpful! My incubator is a nurture rite and I only see one vent that opens halfway. I had it around 3/4 of the way to max open in order to keep the humidity between 45 and 50%. Won’t the humidity drop a bit lower with it opened further?

It’s painful to think that I did something to cause the death of my egg. In my case it’s only 1. 5 of the 6 I got were infertile and the one died around day 11. We had moved the incubator downstairs but maintained the room temp between 70 and 75. Temp and humidity in the incubator stayed the same. There is a coal stove that heats the downstairs and I wonder if that caused a problem? The other thing that could have made it my fault is the incubator being in the laundry room and the washing machine going off balance. I hate thinking I killed something from my ignorance.

We have 6 new eggs from the same breeder, now at day 10 doing well so far, right near the time the other one died which is causing me to worry so much! I will be wearing dirty clothes for 3 weeks!

 

[PeepingK]

I’m surprised no one ever had an answer for you! I have read that early quitters can be a genetic problem, but I personally have no idea. I’m currently worrying about that with some eggs I got. Did you come up with an answer as to whether it was your incubator or your rooster?

Honestly I’m thinking it is genetic because I’ve done about 4 more hatches since I first created this post and we’re still having the same issue. Although I did make note of something really interesting. There was one hen from his pen who had the least amount of quitters out of all the other girls (about 30% quitters instead of 50%-60%). But this last hatch that I did 100% of her eggs quit, and a different girl whose eggs previously had a 50% quitter rate now only had about a 20% quitter rate. So weird..
Another thing, this last hatch I incubated a bunch of eggs from 2 “new” layers (they’d been laying for about 2-3 months) and their eggs only had about a 5%-10% quitter rate.
I don’t know what to make of it lol but I’m almost 100% sure that it’s my rooster. I ended up ordering a few replacements for him that I’m currently growing out, so hopefully that fixes the problem. I will post an update once I do a hatch with the new Roos eggs.

 

[PeepingK]

Cause of embryonic failure according to what day theu quit starts around page 51 of my favorite technical hatching resource in the following link..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

My top suspects without further information.. possibly insuffcient ventilation.. make sure all vents are open. Also possibly breeder nutrition.


Which bator are we talking about? Hot spots do happen, even in forced air bators.

Now I see this is a semi old thread with a new reply.. Did you ever get any good hatches?! Hope this helps, if you are still looking for answers.


Maybe the link above will help answer some questions and alleviate some of your concern.

Happy hatching!

Thanks for your reply! I don’t think it’s the incubator that’s the issue as all the other eggs from my other breeding pen do just fine. It’s only eggs from my WTB roo breeding pen that are quitting like crazy.
My incubator is a forced air so I doubt there would be any hotspots, and I usually keep the vent on top open