This is sooooo frustrating

[amarilloteacher]

I have a brand new gqf 1502 and have spent over $1000 on ebay eggs. I have a few chicks but for most part they go in trash. The quail eggs seam to do way better than pheasant! 3/4 of eggs develop but die in shell. If guidelines are correct they are usually late and very weak. The incubator reads 100.1 and gqf says not to adjust. I have an expensive lab grade certified thermometer and a incubator warehouse thermometer that read within half degree. Humidity around 45-50. I move them to gqf genisis with humidikit that keeps it at 65 percent. I have raised birds in past and hatched my own years ago so not entirely inept or newby. What in the hell is going on? I am really sure I am within more than except able parameters.I have the urge to raise 1/2 degee and try to hatch in bottom of 1502. Seems like lockdown is problem. I have raised golden and amherst years ago and they have been almost impossible this year with shipped eggs. I have hatched some bobwhites and even mountain quail but bigger eggs not doing well. I have like 30 mountain quail eggs in bator now! Am I just expecting too much from ebay eggs since I dont know health, genetics, age of breeders and how old eggs are before shipping? You would think if you had 80 percent developing I would have chicks everywhere? Couple thousand poorer and very disgusted. I should have just bought pair in fall. I did that in past when gbwf forum was going and raised lots of babys.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I haven't had much luck with shipped eggs. If I get 50% hatch rate I'm ecstatic. Have you tried hatching any that you have? Or are they all shipped. I use my broody hens to hatch due to how complicated running an incubator can be.

 

[Kiki]

Am I reading your humidity level right?
You have it at 65%?

I have not hatched pheasant eggs but I have hatched quail and chickens and 65% would be way too high for me.

Did you salt test your humidity gauge?

If I were you I would lower the humidity down to 30-35%.

 

[amarilloteacher]

Am I reading your humidity level right?
You have it at 65%?

I have not hatched pheasant eggs but I have hatched quail and chickens and 65% would be way too high for me.

Did you salt test your humidity gauge?

If I were you I would lower the humidity down to 30-35%.

65 percent during last 3 days otherwise around 45 percent

 

[Mosey2003]

Are you verifying that humidity? Sounds like my hatches where I was too humid. Do eggtopsies?

 

[ocap]

local fertile eggs on craigs list would be my first choice to test your set-up
i like 20% humidity

 

[Punkybrewster]

If their shipped eggs, that could be a majority of your problem.

 

[007Sean]

I've hatched several hatches this season from eBay eggs. With eBay eggs, really depends on how well they were packaged. Just because none arrive cracked or broken doesn't mean they are not scrambled. You really have to do your research when purchasing eBay eggs. If a seller has bad feedback I don't buy from them. Pheasant eggs in general, do not ship well.

I incubate my eggs at 100°F and 43% RH for 21 days, then increase to 60 - 65% RH for the final 3 to 4 days for my True pheasants. Goldens and Amherst are the same, except for 19 days. If you have early quitters, I would attribute that to poor nutrition of the parent stock, genetics, or shipping trauma. Usually late quitters can be attributed to lack of or too low levels of certain minerals in the parent stocks diet. Also, spikes in temperature can cause death of the embryos if at 104°F for a couple of hours.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

This pertains to the pheasant eggs... We were custom raising ringneck pheasants for a hunting preserve, they were getting run of the mill feed. We could have any eggs, the babies rarely would hatch or would hatch and die. We only got a couple chicks. So we asked the supplier to have a pheasant specialist come out and he suggested a much higher protein and vitamin meal. Almost 90% hatched that year! As 007Sean said the nutrition of the breeding parents is the vital first step in hatching.