Why won't my eggs develop?

[Handywork Farm]

We are trying to incubate eggs, but none of them develop. We have a rooster, who is doing his job. We collected eggs several times a day, and stored them as we were told. But not a single one developed into anything. Are there any management tips to improve fertility, or suggestions as to what we might be doing wrong? Will cold hamper fertility? Would a heat lamp help?

 

[Poison Ivy]

What kind of incubator are you using? What is the temps and humidity holding at? Are you using a broody hen instead of a incubator?

 

[SoccerMomof7]

I think I am running into the same problem. Maybe you should try somebody elses egg to see if it's the eggs or the incubator.

Good Luck!

 

[erin0415]

Have you cracked any of your eggs to see if they are fertile? I would think that would be the first and easiest step. How old is your rooster?? If is young or old his semen may not be fertile. If your hens have really fluffy butts they may not be getting inseminated. If you have fertile eggs, then look at your incubating methods.

 

[Wifezilla]

Do you have a friend with an incubator? GIve them a few eggs and see if they can get them to develop. If they can, you know it is your incubator.

 

[Handywork Farm]

It's not the incubator -- we also put in 11 eggs that my sister collected, and 7 of those are developing fine. Last year we tried our own eggs, got nothing, and blamed it on a lame rooster. We then bought eggs, and had good success until the very end, when low humidity ruined the hatch, but we have a hygrometer in there this year.
Our rooster now is almost a year old, the only survivor of last year's hatch.
We have a still-air hova bator with electric egg turner, and the temp is holding steady between 99 and 100 at egg height, humidity around 60%.
How do we identify fertile eggs when cracking them?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

Hope this helps to show you what to be looking for.

 

[sara]

What kind of chickens do you have?

 

[Mrs MIA]

I have two breeds with realllllly fluffy butts... once I trimmed the feathers around their vents, fertility increased tremendously. It's rather hit-or-miss... if they can't make contact, there aren't going to be babies!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember hearing that fertility is down in the winter, too... I know in quail the males are stimulated by more daylight... could this be the same for the chickens?

(I also have one male that seems to get it backwards all the time and humps the girl's head...

I KNOW what the problem is there, and it's ok that he's not making babies!!)

 

[sara]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain ~ You just hit on what I was thinking. I wondered if maybe whatever breed this person has is fluffy, not allowing contact.