The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching

Infertile eggs, what's going on?

(1/2) > >>

mustangsaguaro:
About 3-3 1/2 weeks ago I sold a dozen of my Ameraucana eggs to someone that lives about 5 minutes from me. Well, he incubated the eggs and Day 21 came and went and nothing hatched. He opened up all the eggs and all that was in there was the yolks. No chicks formed, nothing. I think one he said did have an eyeball form but died early on.  What could have gone wrong? I did give him another 12 eggs the other day since this first batch didn't hatch.

I know my eggs are fertile because I see my 2 roosters mating w/ the hens. Also, the eggs we do eat when I crack them open I can see that they are fertilized.

Secondly about a week and a half ago as some of you know I did hatch some chicks. Albeit most of them died, only 3 survived (but I think I know why on this one).

 I also have a broody sitting on eggs which I have candled and saw movement in some of  them.  I candled again this morning and the 13 out of 20 she started w/ that are left under her I did see movement in at least 2 of them. Two of them that I knew were not fertile I removed and opened them and nothing just the yolks. It looks like one started to form but died w/in the first 7-10 days. She now has 11 left under her. I am now questionable about 9 of them not being fertile or nothing in them as I didn't see any veins or movement in them. I did leave the 11 under her, even the questionable ones. What could be wrong? If I did my math right they should hatch this week or by this weekend at the latest. Could it be possible that I\'m just not seeing the veins? The eggs seem kind of dark so sometimes it is hard to tell.

 So, why didn\'t anything form w/ the eggs this guy bought? I can understand something like this happening on shipped eggs. But the fact that he only lives 5 minutes from me. This is just really weird. Anyone have any ideas why this might have happened?
Eggs I gave him were fresh. Laid w/in 3-4 days before he received them. They were not washed by either him or myself.

I have not made any feed changes recently so what could be going on? Have others had this problem?

At one point and time I had 5 roosters. I got rid of 3 of them so there are only 2 left. The one thing as of late that I have seen is I guess the more alpha rooster chasing the other one? Chasing by if he\'s close by and the other one is mating a hen he will chase him off. And the other day I also saw him chase him away from the food bowl. I have multiple food bowls for this reason. Could this cause an issue w/ fertility?

 
Thanks
Kim

OldChurchEggery:
Did he set any other eggs in there as \"control\" eggs? If nothing at all from that setting hatched, I would think there was an incubation problem, like the temperature spiked right at the beginning.

Is the broody hen in question a reliable broody? With 20 eggs under her, I can\'t see how she\'d be able to keep all of them continuously warm. That just sounds like too many eggs to me. That would also explain low development; there are so many eggs they\'re getting chilled as she tries to move them under her.

Are your chickens getting into something that they shouldn\'t, like treated grass seed or sidewalk salt? It\'s the time of year when people are treating their lawns and farmers are spraying crops, so if your birds are able to access something during their ranging, that could prevent good hatch results.

mustangsaguaro:

--- Quote from: OldChurchEggery ---Did he set any other eggs in there as \"control\" eggs? If nothing at all from that setting hatched, I would think there was an incubation problem, like the temperature spiked right at the beginning.

Is the broody hen in question a reliable broody? With 20 eggs under her, I can\'t see how she\'d be able to keep all of them continuously warm. That just sounds like too many eggs to me. That would also explain low development; there are so many eggs they\'re getting chilled as she tries to move them under her.

Are your chickens getting into something that they shouldn\'t, like treated grass seed or sidewalk salt? It\'s the time of year when people are treating their lawns and farmers are spraying crops, so if your birds are able to access something during their ranging, that could prevent good hatch results.
--- End quote ---


There were no control eggs set. I will have to check that.

This broody is still a pullet, but she has proved to be very diligent at sitting. It makes sense of not being able to keep all the eggs warm. I removed a bunch of them the other day. Now she is sitting only on 11 eggs which is probably more doable. But it might be to late in the game. As i stated I did see movement in at least 2 of the 11 she was on.

We live out in the country and we don\'t use any sprays or anything. And no sidewalks around where we live. So not really possible for them to get into anything.

ChicksandKeets:
Your hens may need the feathers around their vents trimmed.

Also have you recently used a de wormer or any other chemical on the birds?

mustangsaguaro:

--- Quote from: ChicksandKeets ---Your hens may need the feathers around their vents trimmed.

Also have you recently used a de wormer or any other chemical on the birds?
--- End quote ---


No I don\'t use any types of chemicals on my birds. And when I deworm I  use human grade DE mixed in w/ there food. I never use chemical wormers.

Guess tonight or tomorrow morning when they get put to bed/let out in the am everyone will be getting feathers trimmed to

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page