Why Do All My Copper Marans Abort?

[ForrestGump]

Marans eggs lose moisture more slowly than regular white, brown or blue eggs. I usually have better luck incubating older eggs that have already lost some moisture, or keep the humidity lower during the first week of incubation. Eggs should lose 5% of their weight each week until lock down. If you weigh your eggs weekly you'll know if they are losing enough weight.

Typically when I've had problems with a hatch it was because there were problems with the parent stock or their nutrition.

 

[JennyPatty84]

That's fantastic! So 5 total, or did any more hatch today? How many did you set? I'm thinking your supplier was better this time around.

I set 12 and 4 weren’t fertile, so I hatched 5 of 8. To me they seemed to be dry when hatching which gave them some trouble. The last three were stuck to their shells and I had to help remove the shell from being stuck to them.

Everyone is thriving but there is one baby that is smaller. She’s having a little trouble with one leg, but my biggest concern is that she isn’t eating. She will drink though. And tips?

 

[Morrigan]

I've not had to do it myself, but I've heard that nutri-drench can help sickly chicks. Not sure about the dosing.

 

[Simkie]

Eggs should lose 5% of their weight each week until lock down. If you weigh your eggs weekly you'll know if they are losing enough weight.

I'll second this. If you're not sure about your humidity, weigh your eggs at day 0, day 7, day 14 and day 18. Eggs should lose 12-13% between day 0 and day 18. If you're weighing, you can make adjustments to your humidity as you go to get the proper amount of weight loss.

 

[Black Chicken Chick]

I need some advice! I have a 95% hatch rate on everything I put into the incubator except Copper Marans. All my Marans will seem to do great up until they are supposed to hatch, and they all die. It’s so sad to see the eggs hopping around and hear them chirping and then eveything goes silent and nothing. Last year I hatched only 3 out of 12 eggs (and they were roosters of course) and it was the same thing. All the other chicks were developed, ready to hatch and just didn’t pip and died. I got eggs from a different person this year (I drove 4 hours each way for them) and I’m really concerned the same thing is happeneing. Yesterday (Day 20) there were a bunch bopping around and chirping and this morning, complete silence and no one pipped overnight. It doesn’t make sense because I don’t do anything different with the Marans eggs, so should still have the same success. I just had a 100% successful hatch right before this one with my dark brahmas. Help! Maybe I’m just not meant to have the Marans!