Temp variation limits

[MightyMama]

TBH, I don't know, lol. Those were bonus eggs from the breeder. I only got two. I candled more today to show the kids and it looks like ALL of my English Gold Laced Orpingtons were not fertilized (I had like 8) :'( I'm super bummed about that (my husband is really broken hearted, he loved those giants). But everything else looks okay. A couple blue EE were duds, and maybe 1-2 RIR. Of what I could see, I think we have almost 30 eggs doing okay.

I also have 4 Olive Eggers, I can't see anything through those shells, do they just get incubated until the end with fingers crossed?

Should I pull the duds now? Or leave them in the incubator to help with temperature distribution?

 

[JaeG]

What day are you on now? I'd leave them until at least day 10 before discarding any. And just leave the Olive Eggers and keep your fingers crossed. Eggs are only a danger if they start to develop then die as bacteria builds up and they can weep or explode, infecting other eggs. Infertile eggs will just lose moisture but won't go bad.

 

[MightyMama]

Day 8. It's pretty obvious which ones are empty or not. However I would have no idea on how to tell if one has died, it's hard for me to tell from the pictures online, let alone doing it on my own for the first time.

 

[WVduckchick]

Your nose will tell you if one needs removed!
If you need the room, take the clears out after day 10-14, but there's no harm in leaving them. If any are dirty, I'd remove those just to be safe. Bacteria possibility. Otherwise, use your nose.

Oh, and the really dark eggs... Try a brighter flashlight, with fresh batteries! Over 250 lumens. Might give you a chance of seeing. Usually you can make out darkness if growing, lighter if not, with a really bright light.

 

[Deryk]

Hey MM, I second what WVduckchick posted. I thought I had some duds in my hatch that actually hatched in the end. I also had one EE and those shells are just very difficult to see in. All I could do on mine was trace the air sac throughout incubation but it hatched in the end. Got a nice little pullet named Sam...get it? Green eggs and Ham.

 

[cavemanrich]

Hey MM, I second what WVduckchick posted. I thought I had some duds in my hatch that actually hatched in the end. I also had one EE and those shells are just very difficult to see in. All I could do on mine was trace the air sac throughout incubation but it hatched in the end. Got a nice little pullet named Sam...get it? Green eggs and Ham.

Just goes to prove.... "HASTE MAKES WASTE"

 

[MightyMama]

Final counts. 41 started, 16 yolks, 6 died mid incubation/didn't develop fully, 3 developed completely and didn't hatch (including two F4 Olive Eggers :'() and 17 live hatches starting day 20, one with very slightly curled toes that was fixed with less than 12 hours of a splint.

 

[Deryk]

Congrats! I don't remember where these shipped eggs or local? Regardless, you have 17 chicks to raise!

Do you have any theories on the hatch rates? 16 yolks seems crazy...over 30% of your set eggs so maybe fertility or damage during shipping?

 

[MightyMama]

I picked up, it was a 2 hour drive...but the weather was so cold in the week leading up to it, and she gave me a lot of old eggs (she claimed she never had trouble incubating cold or old eggs...even though I knew better). I had specifically timed my visit to get eggs on the warmest weekend, but the majority of the eggs weren't from those days. She did give me an extra dozen for free, so I can't complain too much. It just really stinks because 8 of them were big gold laced English orpingtons and none of them took. I lost a barnevelder and blue Orpington too.

 

[cavemanrich]

I picked up, it was a 2 hour drive...but the weather was so cold in the week leading up to it, and she gave me a lot of old eggs (she claimed she never had trouble incubating cold or old eggs...even though I knew better). I had specifically timed my visit to get eggs on the warmest weekend, but the majority of the eggs weren't from those days. She did give me an extra dozen for free, so I can't complain too much. It just really stinks because 8 of them were big gold laced English orpingtons and none of them took. I lost a barnevelder and blue Orpington too.

I do have a THEORY (to low fertility) since you do mention you went during cold. Maybe the rooster was also cold.