Tips on how to Diagnose and Resolve Hatching Problems

by Susan Carter | Last Updated: March 23, 2017 When you buy something using the links on our posts, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

The dream of every farmer is to get as many healthy and successful hatches from their incubator as possible. However, this ideal expectation is not a guaranteed or default result that every farmer experiences at the end or in the process of incubation. From time to time, farmers experience failure in the hatching of eggs.

However, this failure is not ultimate because all hatching problems can be diagnosed and remedied. It is therefore the purpose of this article to list for you some of the most disheartening hatching problems, how to diagnose them, and also how to resolve them. Keep on reading this article till the last period in order to discover more.

Egg Incubation Problems

– All the eggs are not hatching

The issue of eggs failing to develop is an ancient and recurring hatching challenge. This happens despite that fact that all the incubator conditions and variables are correct. When this happens, the case of such failure is the infertility of the eggs. The problem can be traced to the rooster who was charged with the responsibility of fertilizing the hens. Make sure that you change the rooster that is serving your hens in order to deal with infertility.

– Some eggs are not hatching

This is another hatching challenge that is similar to the first one with the exception that in this case, some eggs do hatch while others fail to do so. This case can be blamed on your rooster serving too many hens and hence he does not have enough time to do serve his “wives” satisfactorily. To deal with such a case, make sure that you introduce another rooster to assist in the job. Additionally, you need to ensure that as you introduce the new rooster, start collecting hatching eggs  after at least 2 weeks.

– Too many embryos dying

Another hatching challenge is eggs beginning to develop well in the initial week and then suddenly, most of them begin to die. The cause of this problem is germs inhabiting the incubator and they gain entry into the eggs through their pores. Sterilize the incubator in order to resolve this problem.

– Chicks are dying when they are nearing hatching

This is another problem that faces poultry farmers. When you find that most of the chicks are dying 2-3 days to hatching, the cause is a change in humidity. When the humidity is too little for the embryos, they die because the membrane that envelops them becomes hard and thick. If the humidity rises too high, the chicks end up drawing in the shell. It is advisable for you to ensure that the last days of the incubating process is marked by perfect humidity in order to avoid such losses.

– Eggs are hatching before time

This problem can be traced to two main causes namely: the humidity in the incubator being lower than expected and; the temperatures in the incubator being higher than needed. To fix this problem, make sure that you regulate and maintain the right levels of humidity and temperatures in the incubator throughout the incubation process.

– Embryos dying within the first week

This problem can be traced to several causes. First, the eggs may have been stored for too long or were stored under incorrect temperatures. Another reason behind it is incorrect incubation temperatures. Make sure that you maintain the correct temperature during incubation and storage and also use freshly hatched eggs for incubation.

Conclusion

Now you are up to date with some of the most hectic hatching challenges. You are now better placed to diagnose and use the tips outlined in this article to remedy them for a more successful incubation process.