Uggghhh, what's wrong?

[Stacyoung13]

This is like my 5th or 6th try. I'm on day 10 and by the chart my eggs are at like day 3-4. My temp. is steady at 99-100. The humidity is between 35-45 ambient. No water in the incubator.
Egg 1

Egg 6

Egg 5

Egg 4

Egg 3


Egg 2

I also did the weight loss thing in grams.
Egg 1 - 34.2 to 29.8
2 - 31.5 to 27.6
3 - 33.2 to 28.7
4 - 35.6 to 31.7
5 - 32.8 to 29.6
6 - 36.1 to 32.4
These are silkie eggs, I know they're fertilized, my roo keeps busy. Are these eggs ok? They don't look like the pics on the chart I have. But I'm doing everything right, aren't I?????

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I'm sorry but none of those eggs look fertile to me. At day 4-5 you can already see a hint of spidering veins and at Day 7 it will prominently show. From what I see in those pics, there is nothing going on.

 

[ChickNanny13]

The temp & humidity's right on, did you calibrate your incubator temp & humidity? If this is your 5 - 6th attempt, your Roo may be busy but shooting blanks How old is he?

2x Shamo Hybrid The eggs aren't fertile

 

[Pyxis]

I don't see any development in those. From the sounds of things, you're doing it right. Have you calibrated your thermometer to make sure it's reading accurately, just in case? Also, with these being silkies, I would crack a fresh egg and check fertility. Silkies can have problems with actually fertilizing eggs because they are so fluffy. The fluff gets in the way, proper contact is not made, and then of course the eggs aren't fertile. Usually that can be solved be trimming the feathers around the vents of the birds.

Your eggs are also losing weight too fast, according to your measurements. Take egg 1 for example. You want it to lose about 12% of its weight by lockdown. So, 12% of 34.2 is 4.1. Divide that by eighteen to get how much weight it should lose each day until lockdown and you get .22 grams. So by day ten, it should have lost 2.2 grams. Instead it's lost 4.4, more than it should have lost for the entire incubation. I can't see the air cells in this picture to see if they're too large. You may want to increase humidity.

Also, is this a forced air incubator?

 

[Stacyoung13]

I don't see any development in those. From the sounds of things, you're doing it right. Have you calibrated your thermometer to make sure it's reading accurately, just in case? Also, with these being silkies, I would crack a fresh egg and check fertility. Silkies can have problems with actually fertilizing eggs because they are so fluffy. The fluff gets in the way, proper contact is not made, and then of course the eggs aren't fertile. Usually that can be solved be trimming the feathers around the vents of the birds.

Your eggs are also losing weight too fast, according to your measurements. Take egg 1 for example. You want it to lose about 12% of its weight by lockdown. So, 12% of 34.2 is 4.1. Divide that by eighteen to get how much weight it should lose each day until lockdown and you get .22 grams. So by day ten, it should have lost 2.2 grams. Instead it's lost 4.4, more than it should have lost for the entire incubation. I can't see the air cells in this picture to see if they're too large. You may want to increase humidity.

Also, is this a forced air incubator?

Yes it is forced air, and yes everything is calibrated.

 

[Stacyoung13]

Here is an egg from yesterday.

 

[mandelyn]

If equipment and incubator environment can be ruled out, then it falls back to the eggs and/or the birds. You're not even getting to day 7 on development. To see if they even started you'll need to break them open and take a look inside. If you're on day 10 you should be seeing a spidering of veins up towards the air cell and a tiny dot floating around when you roll the egg around. From your pictures I couldn't see any sign of strong veining.

I was cruising this article earlier, has a lot of good info... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-failure-to-hatch-diagnosing-incubation-problems.67011/

I had a terrible time hatching for all of 2018, traced it back to a faulty egg turner and humidity woes, along with nutritional issues from one breed in particular. Getting ready to fire up the new cabinet incubator after getting frustrating hatches from cheap ones that had replaced a better but older one. My diagnostics over the season led to a lot of insight and a big equipment upgrade. I was able to rule out a lot by taking good notes and ensuring flock care was top notch towards hatching. Not all layer feed is equal, 16% protein isn't enough in the absence of quality free range. Not all birds are breeding quality or capable. Once I ruled out the birds and eggs I went back to the equipment and dug in deeper there. I studied the room it was in to see if there were issues in the environment (too much room temp fluctuation +/- 15 degrees, too low room humidity, compounding cheaply made incubator inconsistencies)

With poor hatches or lack of development, it's either the birds, the eggs or the equipment. Only a thorough review of all that it could be will answer your specific situation.

Are these all of the eggs you set, or just ones from a larger batch that aren't showing much? Were these shipped eggs or from your own flock? Are your birds on a breeder ration or free range? Have you had success before with eggs from the same source?

 

[Stacyoung13]

If equipment and incubator environment can be ruled out, then it falls back to the eggs and/or the birds. You're not even getting to day 7 on development. To see if they even started you'll need to break them open and take a look inside. If you're on day 10 you should be seeing a spidering of veins up towards the air cell and a tiny dot floating around when you roll the egg around. From your pictures I couldn't see any sign of strong veining.

I was cruising this article earlier, has a lot of good info... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-failure-to-hatch-diagnosing-incubation-problems.67011/

I had a terrible time hatching for all of 2018, traced it back to a faulty egg turner and humidity woes, along with nutritional issues from one breed in particular. Getting ready to fire up the new cabinet incubator after getting frustrating hatches from cheap ones that had replaced a better but older one. My diagnostics over the season led to a lot of insight and a big equipment upgrade. I was able to rule out a lot by taking good notes and ensuring flock care was top notch towards hatching. Not all layer feed is equal, 16% protein isn't enough in the absence of quality free range. Not all birds are breeding quality or capable. Once I ruled out the birds and eggs I went back to the equipment and dug in deeper there. I studied the room it was in to see if there were issues in the environment (too much room temp fluctuation +/- 15 degrees, too low room humidity, compounding cheaply made incubator inconsistencies)

With poor hatches or lack of development, it's either the birds, the eggs or the equipment. Only a thorough review of all that it could be will answer your specific situation.

Are these all of the eggs you set, or just ones from a larger batch that aren't showing much? Were these shipped eggs or from your own flock? Are your birds on a breeder ration or free range? Have you had success before with eggs from the same source?

Everything is working good. I have a separate temp/humidty gage. I think my roo is not getting the job done properly. I broke a fresh egg and didn't see the bullseye. I guess I'll be doing some trimming and trying again.

 

[Pyxis]

Everything is working good. I have a separate temp/humidty gage. I think my roo is not getting the job done properly. I broke a fresh egg and didn't see the bullseye. I guess I'll be doing some trimming and trying again.

Yeah, looking at that egg, it doesn't fertile. Give him a trim and then check the eggs again in a few days

 

[Chickassan]

Trim your rooster so his bottom looks like he's monk, basically a tonsure cut and see if things improve. He's not going to be the most fashionable thing but you should get chicks.