Why won't my eggs hatch

oscarjstarr

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This is my second time incubating chickens and still none hatched. I always make shure that the temperature and humidity is right and they develop properly at day 18 but for some reason they never hatch. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong.
 
Hi Oscar,

Sorry about your hatches and there are a lot of people here on BYC to give you advice. One thing that will help is if we have a little more information on what you have tried:

What kind of incubator are you using? Is it still-air or does it have an internal fan?

What temperature are you running the incubator at? What humidity? and are you checking those measurements with a second, calibrated instrument?

Are you checking air cells periodically?

Are they shipped eggs or local?

Sorry about all the questions, but they all factor in to what may be affecting your hatch. @AmyLynn2374 wrote a great article on Humidity. You might want to check it out: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Good luck!
 
Hi Oscar,

Sorry about your hatches and there are a lot of people here on BYC to give you advice. One thing that will help is if we have a little more information on what you have tried:

What kind of incubator are you using? Is it still-air or does it have an internal fan?

What temperature are you running the incubator at? What humidity? and are you checking those measurements with a second, calibrated instrument?

Are you checking air cells periodically?

Are they shipped eggs or local?

Sorry about all the questions, but they all factor in to what may be affecting your hatch. @AmyLynn2374 wrote a great article on Humidity. You might want to check it out: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Good luck!
thumbsup.gif

Give us a little more insight and we might be able to help you.
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As long as you keep the temp within 5 degrees of 99 degrees, 95 percent of the time, I suspect you'll get about a 50% hatch rate, regardless of what else you do--or don't do. Digital thermometers are frequently miscalibrated, so use two or more, and put them in different locations.

Of course, infertile eggs won't hatch no matter what. But poor egg quality can be a major problem too.
 
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As long as you keep the temp within 5 degrees of 99 degrees, 95 percent of the time, I suspect you'll get about a 50% hatch rate, regardless of what else you do--or don't do. Digital thermometers are frequently miscalibrated, so use two or more, and put them in different locations.

Of course, infertile eggs won't hatch no matter what.
Totally disagree. You can have perfect temps the whole incubation and compromise your hatch with too high or too low humidity. Too low temps by that much are going to cause significant delay to development with a high probability of defects. Temps too high by that much run a risk of "cooking " the embryos excellerated development which again cause cause extreme defects/deformities in chicks. My first hatch was compromised by too low temps because I trusted one new thermometer w/o checking it first.

Thermometers should be checked against each other in the same spot of the incubator in case of "hot/cold spots" but, it is a good idea to have a couple different thermometers and it's a good idea to move them around to learn where these spots are in your bator as most have them, even with forced air.
 
I've only hatched one batch myself, but it was far from perfect temp/humidity in my makeshift tupperware tub. I even used four week old eggs (that were refrigerated and never turned), and they still hatched on time and healthy. All I'm saying is that the eggs are fairly forgiving, but you must have the right temps the majority of the time.
 
I've only hatched one batch myself, but it was far from perfect temp/humidity in my makeshift tupperware tub. I even used four week old eggs (that were refrigerated and never turned), and they still hatched on time and healthy. All I'm saying is that the eggs are fairly forgiving, but you must have the right temps the majority of the time.
Eggs are a lot stronger than we give credit for. I used a couple fridge eggs in one of mine to see if they'd develop too. (And I have my doubts about wether eggs need to be turned before development is present.) I've heard that using refrigerated eggs allows a higher hatch rate for older eggs as a means of suspension-so to say.
I don't have perfect temps either, I use an older LG and well, nothing perfect with LG's if it stays above 99 and under 102 I am happy With the exception of that rotten 1st batch and bad thermometer (upon which after I have never used less than 2 that check out,) I have had great hatches ever since, including a 100% hatch.
But- temps during hatch have great importance, and humidity can make it or break it as well when you are looking at the average and how much moisture the egg looses over the length of incubation.
This was shared on a different thread earlier and is quite interesting: http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx
 
Hi Oscar,

Sorry about your hatches and there are a lot of people here on BYC to give you advice.  One thing that will help is if we have a little more information on what you have tried:

What kind of incubator are you using?  Is it still-air or does it have an internal fan?

What temperature are you running the incubator at?  What humidity? and are you checking those measurements with a second, calibrated instrument?

Are you checking air cells periodically?

Are they shipped eggs or local?

Sorry about all the questions, but they all factor in to what may be affecting your hatch.   @AmyLynn2374
 wrote a great article on Humidity.  You might want to check it out: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Good luck!


I use a forced air incubator running at 38 degrees Celsius with a 50% humidity. I only use one device to check the temperature and humidity (and incubator thermometer) i don't check air cells but I do candle to get ride of bad eggs. My eggs are mails but only from a place that's a 2 hour drive away.
Thanks, Oscar
 
Try getting your eggs from somewhere else, or maybe just a different breed from that seller. I'd report to them your results and see if they recommend better eggs, or at least so they know the eggs aren't hatching. That hen may be too old to lay viable eggs, for example. Also, consider driving and getting the eggs yourself.
 
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I use a forced air incubator running at 38 degrees Celsius with a 50% humidity. I only use one device to check the temperature and humidity (and incubator thermometer) i don't check air cells but I do candle to get ride of bad eggs. My eggs are mails but only from a place that's a 2 hour drive away.
Thanks, Oscar
Honestly, this is what I would do. First thing, calibrate thermometers. At least check them to see how accurate they are and use 2. Never rely on a thermometer that hasn't been checked. 50% in my opinion is too high and often leads to many DIS because of drowning or growing too big too hatch. Consider doing a low humidity incubation and checking the air cells on days 7/14/18. That will allow you to know when and how to adjust the humidity so that the majority of your eggs are getting what they need. 2 hours away isn't bad, but the handling at the post office and in transfer can still affect the hatchability. I would consider getting local or making the drive if you really want eggs from that source.
 

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