What To Do If Poultry Eggs Don’t Hatch On Due Date
If poultry eggs don’t hatch on their due date then I will leave them in the incubator or under the broody hen for up to a week after the hatching date.
hi ive got three eggs in my incubator(rcom) and they were due for monday but one came early then no more have came and its now wednesday should I crack the egg open to see if its alive or should I wait(are fertile)Aaron
Hi Aaron,
I always leave eggs in the incubator for at least a week after the hatching date to see if anymore pip their shells and hatch out, as the eggs can sometimes be late in hatching. So if I was you I wouldn’t crack the egg open just yet. Once an extra week has gone by then I turn off the incubator and crack the eggs to see if they were fertile.
Hope that helps. Let me know how you got on.
Sara @ farmingfriends
What do you do if poultry eggs don’t hatch on the due date?
eggs Hatching Hatching Eggs Poultry
I have two female ducks (Rouens) that have laid nests of eggs twice this year and both times they don’t hatch. They are mating with what essentially are their sons from last year. Is this why they won’t hatch?
Comment by Jenny — August 21, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Hi Jenny,
There are many reasons why eggs don’t hatch. Sometimes when there is inter-breeding this can cause deformaties in the poultry/waterfowl/game birds and weaknesses in their health when the chicks hatch out but it is certainly not the only reason for eggs not hatching. I was under the impression that hatching can be affected if there has been alot of inbreeding over a number of generations, but this is not necessarily the reason if the inbreeding is only one generation.
When eggs are hatched in an incubator there are many variables that can affect the hatch and inbreeding is only one of them:
Reasons for a poor hatch rate or no hatching eggs in an incubator are listed below;
Old eggs.
Infertile Eggs.
Damaged eggs.
Thin shelled eggs.
Rough handling of eggs.
Dirty and soiled eggs.
Dirty incubator.
Poor flock health.
Poor nutrition in flock.
Disease in the flock.
Infection.
Eggs not turned or not turned properly.
Incubation temperature too high.
Incubation temperature too low.
Humidity too high during incubation.
Humidity too low during incubation.
Electric failure of incubator.
Eggs stored for too long.
Eggs not stored properly.
Old hens or males.
Inbreeding.
As you can see there are many factors that affect hatching.
I have heard that ducks don’t make good sitters so this could also be the case. The eggs may have got too cold.
If you are concerned with inbreeding then you could get an unrelated drake for your ducks and get some ducks for your drakes and then have them in penned areas where they can still see each other but don’t mix or mate with each other. I know that this may not be possible so it is just an idea.
You could try getting a broody hen to sit on the eggs.
I hope this information helps.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — August 21, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
We have a goose that has been sitting on about a dozen eggs now for over a month. Arer the eggs still likely to hatch? IF not, should we remove her from the nest? Thanks. Tim
Comment by Tim — October 17, 2008 @ 8:28 pm
Hi Tim,
Thanks for visiting the farmingfriends website and leaving this comment. I am sorry it’s taken me a couple of days to get back to you. I hope that this comment find that your eggs have hatched.
Goose eggs take 30 days to hatch and it is not unusual for eggs to hatch late. If you are able to get to the eggs you could try candling the eggs. Candling is a way of checking the fertility of an egg and the development of the embryo, with the use of a light source in a darkened room. In a darkened room, carefully hold the egg up to the light to observe the contents of the egg. http://www.farmingfriends.com/candling-eggs/
This will tell you if the eggs have goslings in and you may even see movement, but obviously geese don’t always want to get off their nests.
I have heard that geese generally will only continue to sit on the eggs if they feel movement, but I am not sure if this is true.
I would tend to leave the the goose sitting for at least a week to 10 days after the hatch date as long as the goose is still feeding and drinking and getting off the eggs a couple of times a day which may help you to get to the eggs and candle them then I would let her continue to sit. Afterabout 40 days I would consider moving thew goose off the egg and you could always candle the eggs then to check that they are not fertile and that they are not going to hatch.
Good luck and let me know how you get on.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — October 21, 2008 @ 6:30 pm