Your Worst Hatches?

[ChickyPants]

Checked my incubator this morning to find that the temperature was at 121F! All my eggs would have died. I did move the eggs that are due to hatch into the hatcher but I am not hopeful. Tonight I have to go home and crack open some to check for fertility and throw them all out

This comes right after I lost a bunch of eggs due to a long power outage!

What was your worst hatch and what caused it?

I am feeling badly and maybe commiserating with others will make me feel better!

 

[Mosey2003]

Had 4 hatch out of 24 that I paid dearly for. Couldn't figure out what the problem was for a long time. Didn't actually figure it out until I started collecting for a hatch from my home flock. I use the egg turner on the counter while I collect. After about day five, I though it seemed weird that no matter what time I walked by, they were always facing the same way. Yep, motor was burned out, the eggs didn't turn once in 21 days. The turner was less than a year old and had only been used twice, to boot. Now I'm obsessive about checking it twice a day and knowing which way it should face each time.

 

[Gray Farms]

0%, shipped eggs though.

 

[BantyChooks]

I'm sorry.

I've had two 0% hatches. One was on shipped eggs that I tried to hatch in winter. That wasn't a very good idea. The other was my first hatch, when I misplaced a thermometer and ran at 105*F instead of 101. (It was a still air) I've had lots of 20--30% hatches because for about a year and a half I hatched only shipped eggs. I'm switching back to my own now, at least mostly.

 

[ChickyPants]

Had 4 hatch out of 24 that I paid dearly for. Couldn't figure out what the problem was for a long time. Didn't actually figure it out until I started collecting for a hatch from my home flock. I use the egg turner on the counter while I collect. After about day five, I though it seemed weird that no matter what time I walked by, they were always facing the same way. Yep, motor was burned out, the eggs didn't turn once in 21 days. The turner was less than a year old and had only been used twice, to boot. Now I'm obsessive about checking it twice a day and knowing which way it should face each time.

Oh no! I have had something similar happen but it only was broken for maybe a week before I noticed. Still- not a fun thing to discover. I am also obsessive about it now! I check it quite frequently.

 

[HuffleClaw]

My worst hatch was last year... 0%...
Long story short...
I always wondered why my eggs would be cold EVERYDAY and come to find out my thermometer was messed up... it read “99.5” when the temperature was actually “87.0”. I was so upset!!

 

[Gray Farms]

I've always kept 2 thermometers in my incubator for just that reason.