Why so many quitters?

[BawGock]

I'm incubating 24 eggs in a 1588 with a turner.
This is my second hatch ever.
First hatch went quite well (11out of 12) and all the 11 chicks (except for one) hatched on day 21.
So, I made no adjustments to the bator regarding the thermostat.

On this set the Temp is steady at 99.5F, humidity has been 40-50%.

Candled on day 7 and recandled a few of the "questionables" today (9) just to be sure.
Out of the 12 from my own chickens I had 1 blood ring (no baby visible) and also 2 infertiles which I culled.
9 have babies floating in them.

Now on the 12 shipped eggs I have 3 blood rings that I opened and had 1/2" long babies, one egg is still a "?", going to recheck it tomorrow.
The remaining 8 had babies floating in them and moving.

Here's my question for you all:
Does that seem like a lot of quitters from the shipped eggs?
I know shipped eggs are not going to always do as well and maybe this is normal.
When I see ones that stopped developing I wonder if I did something wrong.
Thanks for any insight on this,
Carolyn

 

[ghulst]

No That is nomal for shipped eggs. If you get a 50% hatch that is good.

 

[katrinag]

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/trouble.htm#SE

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Personally I would STOP candling until day 18. I see so many doing this and rotating the eggs in every direction and rotating a lot.

Mama hens take their beak and move the egg just enough to keep them going. They spend a lot of time doing this, but they do it in a gradual motion not all at once and not all at one time.

The turner in the bator does this job quite well and there is a reason why it takes a LONG time to go back and forth.

I do think that is why so many are experiencing a horrid hatch rate.

When I candle I take the eggs out one by one keeping them in the same position at all times. I put the light underneath them and take a quick look. Then the eggs are either discarded or put back in the bator until hatch time . ONE candling is really all that is needed.

 

[BawGock]

I'm not a huge candling junkie.

Day 7 and day 18 only.
But I have say candling marans eggs is a bit of a challenge this time around.
Them things are dark and have made me question what I'm seeing this time around.
Thus candling an extra day. Trying to avoid stink bombs.
Carolyn

 

[BawGock]

Quote:
I forgot Katrinag, Thanks for the great link!
Carolyn

 

[katrinag]

Not a problem. I hope it helded.

 

[pegasuschick]

I have hatched only shipped eggs and I find that if you candle at one week or nine days, you will find that most just never started developing at all, rather than quitters. I just think that the shipping itself causes about 50% just not to be viable. I don't usually have starters and then have them quit somewhere along the line. Once in a while, but not often.
Most often I have "floating" air cells.
Gina

 

[Chickapooh23]

Quote:
Ditto. I have gotten 33% 2x. PO is a rough way to come into the world.

 

[BawGock]

So, maybe I should be happy with what I seem to be getting from these shipped eggs.
Don't want to count them before they hatch!
Gina,
It's the ones that started and stopped that had me wondering. It's like they made it through shipping, grew a bit and gave up.
That's what made me post my experience.
Thanks!
Carolyn