New to hatching..

[Gavin1985]

Hi folks, I'm new to hatching hens.

I recently incubated 18 eggs (Light sussex) and only had 6 hatch. I deduced that at least 6 were not fertile as a few hens escape every day and lay separately. And our cock is getting on a bit and is perhaps not getting to many of the hens. I worked out perhaps only 3 a day at most.

Anyway, my question... The ones that hatched, only, one or two hatched with ease... the rest struggled with getting out. The membranes were really tough around the piping site and I had to help several out. Is my incubator not humid enough? The shells seem quite hard too.

I'm using an Rcom 20 pro and the humidity never seemed to get above 20%.

Thanks.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Gavin and welcome to the forum. After pipping the humidity needs to go up to 60%, to soften the membrane. Try separating the cock with four hens and feed one third layers pellets and two thirds Growers, also fresh greens. This keeps the shells thinner (as it reduces the calcium intake) and increases the quality of the eggs. Also allows him to cover them all removing the infertility wastage. Allow at least 5 days on that system before collecting the eggs for hatching.

 

[Gavin1985]

Thanks Chris, I will give that a try.

The six that did hatch are doing well. A couple were touch and go but they seem to be doing ok.
My cock is getting on a bit now so may think about replacing him at a later date as well.

 

[Chuck]

I don't agree with the change in feed. I think they all need to be on layers for higher protein and higher calcium or shell quality could suffer.

 

[foxy]

Hello Gavin, did you candle the eggs? I normally candle at around 7 days...(10 may be better for a clearer picture..) That's the first thing to identify. With older cockerels I have found they prefer warm on their backs before fertility rises, and we have had a poor spring so far, this may have had an impact.
Finally your incubator, running @20% towards hatching is too low, so the chicks are going to struggle to hatch. Check your humidity, you might want to add a hydrometer to corroborate the results reading from your machine. Another final point ...try switching to a "breeders pellet" for optimum results, and also what ratio cock to hens do you have? Specially if he is getting on a bit, he could be favouring just one or two hens leaving the others alone.

 

[Gavin1985]

Hey foxy, I never thought to candle them. I will be doing that from now on.

I'm going to try a 50/50 split with their feeds (Growers and Layers) and see how that goes. I've split my run in two now as I do have a lot of hens. Just got a Rhode Island red Cockerel at 11 weeks old so he is going in with the other half and should start working end of august.
I've seen the old cockerel still covering the hens so hopefully a reduction in their numbers will yield higher number of fertile eggs.

Also going to take out the humidity unit and see if I can give it an overhaul. The programming on the incy is supposed to get the humidity up to 45% for the first 18 days then 65%, but it's not achieving anywhere near that. If a service doesn't fix it, may have to replace the humidity unit altogether. 06