[bantam novice]

Hello there,

I have not had a great deal of luck with hatching out this year.  I had one broody sitting on seven eggs.  She hatched out three chicks.  I had one broody sitting on nine and and none of hers hatched out.  When we cracked the eggs open only three had partly developed and one had a nearly fully develped chick in it that must have died in the egg.   

I have been unlucky with my incubator too. However I am not convinced that it is keeping a stable enough temperature.  Again a few of the eggs developed partially and then stopped. 

All these eggs are from three different sets of cockerels and I don't think all of them can be "firing blanks".  Some eggs developed from each of the cockerels. I have had a look at the hatchability paper and it is very interesting but I find it hard to understand why the broody hens are having such a low rate - unless it was the cold wet spell that we have been having.  I would be grateful for any suggestions. 

[splash101]

If some of the eggs are partially developed then thats promising, at least you know now that they are fertile.

I'm not really experienced in the broody hen department, i only it for the 1st time this year. She was sitting on nine to start with that slowly dwindled down to 5. 3 of them hatched and 1 chick died so she has 2 chicks out of 9 eggs.

What incubator do you have and have you got a thermometer in your incubator so you can moniter the tempreture and is the humidity ok. I didnt have a meter for the humidity, i followed the instructions and filled the water chamber to where is said and kelpt it topped up. (I dont really do "technical" but once the temp was set and the water and air vent was set correctly i left it at that and just kept an eye on it)

 I had 24 eggs in mine. All of the marans hatched (12) and only 1 out of 12 of the welsummers hatched. I candled the eggs the week before and i knew some of the welsummers were a definate no, but there were quite a few that were looking really promising. I couldnt bring myself to open them after i knew they wernt going to hatch incase they were a bit whiffy.

I always work on the basis that not all will hatch, im sure someone will along with statistics.

I would try again when its convenient