UK 2020 Consistent hatching problems for many people

[chazzerav]

Hello - I've just joined and am a small hobby breeder of pekin bantams, khaki campbells, large fowl buff orpingtons and occasionally geese and guinea fowl in the UK. I've been hatching out all over spring-autumn every year since 2017, and have always had excellent fertility and hatching rates, often 100% fertility and hatch with the ducks.
This year I've put in over 30 duck eggs in different times and incubators, and only had 6 fertile and none hatch so far. I've also put in 4 goose eggs and a load of pekins. -these were all fertile, but almost all died at about day 10 and the rest before hatching.
Incubator conditions exactly the same as normal, and all my birds are healthy, free-range and not related.
I thought this was just my problem, but have since spoken to several other hobby breeders and have heard of large-scale farmers having the same problem - infertility or nearly all embryos dying around day 10, regardless of species, flock and location.
Has anyone experienced this before? I'm incredibly curious as to what could be causing this, as there's no information online and it seems like a lot of people are having the same problem.
Thank you very much

 

[strawberricatt]

Hello - I've just joined and am a small hobby breeder of pekin bantams, khaki campbells, large fowl buff orpingtons and occasionally geese and guinea fowl in the UK. I've been hatching out all over spring-autumn every year since 2017, and have always had excellent fertility and hatching rates, often 100% fertility and hatch with the ducks.
This year I've put in over 30 duck eggs in different times and incubators, and only had 6 fertile and none hatch so far. I've also put in 4 goose eggs and a load of pekins. -these were all fertile, but almost all died at about day 10 and the rest before hatching.
Incubator conditions exactly the same as normal, and all my birds are healthy, free-range and not related.
I thought this was just my problem, but have since spoken to several other hobby breeders and have heard of large-scale farmers having the same problem - infertility or nearly all embryos dying around day 10, regardless of species, flock and location.
Has anyone experienced this before? I'm incredibly curious as to what could be causing this, as there's no information online and it seems like a lot of people are having the same problem.
Thank you very much

Environmental factors can definitely affect the hatchability of eggs, however a widespread issue seems odd. A colder spring can lead to males not mating the females as frequently, which causes older sperm to be laid (one mating can fertilize many eggs, and hens have been known to store sperm for up to a month, however the older the sperm the more issues it can present, early embryonic death being a common one) , and less matings could affect the actual fertility rate.

Just a theory, seems really bizarre to me.

 

[chazzerav]

Th

Environmental factors can definitely affect the hatchability of eggs, however a widespread issue seems odd. A colder spring can lead to males not mating the females as frequently, which causes older sperm to be laid (one mating can fertilize many eggs, and hens have been known to store sperm for up to a month, however the older the sperm the more issues it can present, early embryonic death being a common one) , and less matings could affect the actual fertility rate.

Just a theory, seems really bizarre to me.

Thanks for replying - I've definitely seen all ducks and chickens mating fairly frequently so I doubt it's that. It's such a weird problem that I just really want to know what it is, and it's such a waste of eggs too. I put the first lot of eggs in end of February, as normal, and still haven't had a single chick or duckling

 

[strawberricatt]

Th

Thanks for replying - I've definitely seen all ducks and chickens mating fairly frequently so I doubt it's that. It's such a weird problem that I just really want to know what it is, and it's such a waste of eggs too. I put the first lot of eggs in end of February, as normal, and still haven't had a single chick or duckling

Cooler weather can affect quality as well. Warm weather prepares their bodies to breed.
Very strange though, what have the temps and weather been like?

 

[chazzerav]

Cooler weather can affect quality as well. Warm weather prepares their bodies to breed.
Very strange though, what have the temps and weather been like?

Rather wet over winter, and then lovely and warm for spring for at least the last month, often with very sunny days and temperatures around 15-20 degrees Celcius. I can understand infertility being affected by weather, but the chickens and geese have had near 100% fertility, just all the eggs are dying at around day 10. My friend's ducks have excellent fertility but also dying at around day 10