What's wrong with my eggs?

[koakritters]

I know it's not the incubator, i had 14/15 eggs hatch that i bought from someone... i've only had 4 of my eggs hatch out of about 20, the last batch of 6 only 2 hatched and the other 4 were fully formed in their eggs but died before hatching, and looking at my eggs today at day 18 is looks like most quit maybe halfway through, they eggs are not filled up at all and have weird looking black places inside them... is it the rooster? hen? combination between them? how am i suppose to know??? I've only got 5 out of 12 eggs in there right now that look promising and 4 of them are from a different hen... very frustrating, especially since i really hate this rooster, he's so mean!!! I've just been keeping him so i'd get chicks, but if he' not producing...

i'm keeping his son since he's nice, but he's only 5 weeks old, so no babies form him for a while.

 

[debilorrah]

It sounds like a fertility issue. How old are your hens?

 

[koakritters]

they are 2 and 3 years old. the one who's eggs have been dying or not hatching is the 2 year old. and the rooster is also about 2 or 3. we guessed he was about 6 months old when we got him and i've had him about 2 years.

 

[jenlynn4]

Its not fertility if they are starting to grow and then quitting! Are you sure you are not having a temp spike or drop in your bator? If that is not the case it may be a issue with the flock being week either geneticlly or not getting the proper nourishment from the feed.

 

[koakritters]

yah i'm sure. the ones i bought from someone else hatched just fine. My hens are on laying mash from our local feed store, can't remember what's in it but it's one they make themselves and all their other grains/feeds are really good so i'm assuming their chicken ones are as well...

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
I SOMEWHAT agree...but have to say that while age doesn't affect initial fertility (typically), it DOES affect the hardiness of the developing embryos. I had a 100% hatch on some eggs from a young flock recently, but when I put some eggs in from some older hens and rooster, the 4 eggs all developed well until about days 7-12 (they quit on different stages) and in the end I only had 1 hatch and it too died after about a week. It failed to thrive. The other eggs in with these at the same time ALL hatched well and are still doing great! I had no temp spikes or significant drops, and humidity was optimal as evidenced by the other eggs from another flock that all hatched healthy. Older birds just don't have the best production of eggs OR chicks in my experience.