Bantam Hens

[Thomaspaul]

I had 2 hens sitting on 20 eggs about 7 days apart The first ones started to hatch

ok but now they have stopped hatching.

Babies are fully formed in the egg but are dead.

Possible explanations I can think are

1 Wet weather upsetting incubation balance

2 After feeding the 2 hens not returning to the same

box and one is taking longer to return than the other

causing the egg temperature to drop.

They are now in one box side by side sitting on 12 eggs

but I doubt if any will hatch

Any thoughts appreciated

[MrWiggle]

Could be different time frame between some eggs and the ones hatching, to big a gap.

My chook did this, all hatched except 2 and she stayed with the chicks in the box for couple of days, then left to feed them out and about. So while taking care of the now walking and feeding chicks outside, she neglected the last couple.

We took one and raised it till it was strong, then released it with the hen.

[davyboy]

All the bantams I have ever kept both here and in the UK have usually laid 6/7 eggs but never had more than four hatched!!

[bina]

u should collect the eggs and then place them with one brooder at the same time so they all hatch together; anyway, damp can affect the eggs, and some just have 'instant chick death' for mysterious reasons. for 100% u need to use a hatchery. also, bantams often brood together in the same box, and most hens dont get off eggs for eating much unless they are bad brooders.

mark the eggs with dates so that u can keep track; sometime bantam chicks cant get out either so u have to help them (gy i worked with would sleep with the hatchery in his room and he would hear the chicks start up and he would wake up and help them. he also know exact hour of hatching... he must have been a hen in a former life.)

bina

israel

[Hadrian1]

Are they fully covering the eggs? Two hens brooding next to each other....I don't know the exact circumstances might not be ideal. Do they have completely separate nests or might some eggs between them if you know what I mean. If I had to make a guess.....it's something to do with losing heat during incubation and the chicks are weakened. Do the fully formed chicks which have died in the eggs actually start to hatch or not?