Why Am I Having Trouble Hatching Iowa Blues?

by Pam Hurlbut
(Wilton Ia )

I am raising Iowa blues. I am trying to incubate eggs and I'm not having a very good success rate. I was wondering if there's anything special that I am missing when incubating? I have incubated over a thousand ducks. So I kind of know how the incubation works but I'm just not having a good luck with the Iowa Blues. Was wondering if there something special I need to do? Thank you for your time I appreciate it

Comments for Why Am I Having Trouble Hatching Iowa Blues?

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		HATCHING EGGS
by: Sharon

Hi Pam,

With so much experience with your incubators and hatching eggs, you probably just need to back up to each step along the way.

You didn't say what the hatching problem is. Are the eggs fertile? Are the chicks developing and having trouble getting out of the shells when the time comes?

At whatever stage things are going wrong, that's where your problem is. If you have fully developed chicks in the shells that don't come out on their own or in time to survive, you could have a humidity problem or your shells are extra thick and hard for the chicks to break out and hatch into the world.

I'm just guessing here as I don't know exactly what problem you are having. If too few eggs are fertile, then you may have too few roosters for the number of hens you have. The average recommended ratio is 12 hens per rooster. If fertility is the problem, you may have a rooster not doing his job, maybe not able, or just too many hens for each rooster.

In general, it takes good and healthy hens and roosters to produce viable fertile eggs. If the shells are too thick, chicks are unable to break through and end up dying in the shell due to lack of oxygen.

Wish I knew what your hatching problem is exactly. Hopefully I've touched on a few things that might help.

I seriously doubt there is any special trick with Iowa Blues, though this time of year isn't a normal breeding season. If you're providing artificial Full-Spectrum lighting to compensate for the short daylight hours, fertility should be good.

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Chicken Egg Questions.
Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
Custom Search