05/05/2025
Stop cracking open half developed eggs from the incubator to âsee what happened!â
Itâs okay trust that Nature knows best - and honestly, youâre probably not gonna be able to tell too much from cracking it open anyways.
Itâs likely that your egg, or eggs did not make it to hatch because of either a fertilization issue or an incubation issue.
If the issue is a fertilization issue, then you can simplyïżŒ go crack open a few eggs from your breeding pen and check for bullseyes. Once an egg has been incubating at 99.5° you can no longer crack that egg open to look for bullseyes anyway - the heat and turning distort the genetic material inside the egg. Youâll need to be checking fresh eggs out of the pen for fertilization this way.
Low quality incubators, incubators that arenât kept clean enough prior to hatch , or inconsistent heat and humidity during the incubation process account for most other habitability issues.
Low temps can cause chicks to form at a slower rate, and can cause issues like inability to absorb all of the yolk and nutrients towards the end of incubation if they hatch at all.
High temps will cause chicks to hatch early - if youâve set all your eggs into the incubator at the same time and you have chicks who are hatching days apart, some before day 20 and some after day 22 then itâs likely that you have inconsistent temperatures throughout your incubator and your eggs are developing at different rates as a result (those farm innovator incubators are notorious for this!)
Low humidity seems to be much less of a problem than higher humidity but in some cases, especially with lighter colored eggs, it can potentially cause air cells that are too big and chicks without enough room to grow into the shell, creating smaller weaker chicks.
Too high of a humidity can cause all kinds of issues like sticky chicks, drowning chicks, and suffocation just before hatching.
Inconsistent and in proper temp and humidity throughout incubation can also contribute to factors like wry neck and splayed leg after hatch.
I some, rarer cases chicks wont hatch if theyâre incorrectly positioned in the shell at the time of hatch - when this happens they are unable to pip internally into that air cell before hatch and they suffocate. I am not sure of the cause or remedy for this, itâs just something that canât happen on occasion.
I know that you hear a lot about everybodyâs amazing hatch rates, especially with their own eggs - but the reality is that it is very common for not every single egg to hatch each time - especially depending on the breed. Different flocks and breeds have different patterns and needs for their incubation process - ask Marans or Ayem Cemani breeders đ
If you start to notice that youâre having repeated problems from the same flock, I would first begin with assessing the quality of the incubator being used and temperature and humidity practices while incubating. If all is well there, and incubators have been upgraded, and amendments have been made - then it is possible to consider the history and diet of the flock to see if maybe thereâs a reason for hatch ability issues there.
In any case ïżŒthough, a simple candle of the egg will give you an idea of about which point an egg stopped developing. That information should be enough to put in your notes as documentation to help you to keep track of any potential issues you might need to navigate moving forward. Iâll post an incubation chart in the comments. đ«¶đ»đ
