Very Discouraged

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

I purchased a dozen eggs online. They were supposed to be half Aracauna and half Swedish Isbar. I received 4 blue and 8 green eggs. That was fine. It is my first hatching. Day 20, one hatched. Day 21, four hatched. Day 22, one hatched, one pipped and started to make it’s way out of the shell. Everything says to let them get out themself. I did. The next morning it was dead. If hadn’t completely absorbed the egg yolk. I candled today, Day 23...three had nothing, two had chicks. I opened the shells. Both were almost completely formed but were bloody. What did I do wrong? The hatchlings are beautiful and perfect. The early one had curled toes. I put a “boot” on it and it’s walking almost normal today.
I’m so upset. What did I do wrong? My question is, if I had some eggs hatch normally, were conditions correct?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Not every egg hatches.

 

[SunriseChickers]

I'm NOT a pro with the hatching business, but I can try to offer some points.

First of all, you shouldn't have opened the ones that had those chicks inside, unless they were dead. If they were alive when you opened them, then, I'm sorry to say, you've killed them. Though the blood is normal.

As for the others that died, there might have been something wrong with the humidity in your incubator, or a similar problem. Hatching chicks can be finicky.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Sorry Barb, I know what I am going to say won't bring them back, but verify your Humidity and temperature readings using the methods these folks have outlined in the hatching forums. When I get eggs online I try to make sure they are less than 200 miles away so they won't do a lot of travelling to get to me. I am sorry they didn't make it but don't give up....

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

I'm NOT a pro with the hatching business, but I can try to offer some points.

First of all, you shouldn't have opened the ones that had those chicks inside, unless they were dead. If they were alive when you opened them, then, I'm sorry to say, you've killed them. Though the blood is normal.

As for the others that died, there might have been something wrong with the humidity in your incubator, or a similar problem. Hatching chicks can be finicky.

They were obviously dead. Day 23 I left it for over a day.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

Sorry Barb, I know what I am going to say won't bring them back, but verify your Humidity and temperature readings using the methods these folks have outlined in the hatching forums. When I get eggs online I try to make sure they are less than 200 miles away so they won't do a lot of travelling to get to me. I am sorry they didn't make it but don't give up....

Thank you. Half hatched normally. Wouldn't that mean conditions were correct? I bought a 12 egg incubator and don’t I will use it again. It’s too ambiguous.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Shipped eggs are always risky. The aircells are often damaged on arrival and and even if they start to develop will sometimes fail to hatch even after lockdown. 50% hatch rate is actually quite good for shipped eggs.I have had anywhere from 0% to 85% hatch rate with shipped eggs.

 

[Halfpasthen]

I agree with this. 50% hatch rate is normal for shipped eggs. Even for fresh eggs from your house you aren't guaranteed 100%. That's where the old adage about not counting your chickens before they hatch comes from. All you can do in the future is make sure your temps and humidity are correct. I think you did just fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are some things you have control over, some things you don't. You had no control what happened to those eggs before they were in your hands. You don't know how old they were or what conditions they were stored in. If they were mailed you don't know what conditions they saw while in the mail. You'll sometimes read on here to expect a 50% hatch with mailed eggs. I've hatched mailed eggs twice. One time I got a 20% hatch, the other a 100% hatch. That's close to a 50% hatch rate for an average but each one was way different. Those were both from the same seller. There is no telling what conditions your eggs saw before you got them. You may have done an excellent job to get half of them to hatch and live.

I've had hatches both under a broody hen and in an incubator over within les than 24 hours of the first egg hatching. I've had hatched under a broody hen and in my incubator stretch out like yours, into the third day. No two hatches are exactly the same. I don't think I'm doing anything different when I get those different results. That's probably just due to the differences in the eggs.

Even if that chick had pipped, it had not absorbed the yolk. Helping it would probably not have saved it. About half the chicks I help die anyway. There is a reason they can't hatch on their own, there is something just not right with them.

Part of getting ready to hatch involves drying up blood vessels in the membrane that surrounds the chick. If those chicks were bloody they had not reached that stage so could not survive. Nothing you could do to help them.

What does that 12 egg incubator look like? Can you link to that make an model so we can look at it. My incubator is a lot bigger than that so I know I'm not familiar with yours. Is it a still air or forced air. Automatic turner or did you hand turn them?

Some incubators, especially still air, can have warm or cool spots. That can affect when the different eggs hatch. That's something I'd be looking for. Did you calibrate your thermometer and hygrometer? I don't trust the pre-sets from the factory.

I don't know what happened. Part of it could easily be something that happened before you got hold of the eggs. It could be the incubator or something you did or did not do during incubation. Even if I were there looking at it I'd probably have trouble being able to tell. Congratulations on those six chicks you got and better luck next time.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

I agree with this. 50% hatch rate is normal for shipped eggs. Even for fresh eggs from your house you aren't guaranteed 100%. That's where the old adage about not counting your chickens before they hatch comes from. All you can do in the future is make sure your temps and humidity are correct. I think you did just fine.

Thank you!