Big Momma the rhode island red sat & sat for about 2 months on a collection of eggs that grew daily, what with her grabbing eggs that her sisters laid. Every now and then recently she has rolled a few out from under herself, figuring they were bad, and yes they were! For the last 2 or 3 days she has been staying off the nest longer and longer, and finally this morning I went in and picked up all he eggs and threw them on the compost pile, and they were all bad. Really bad.
My question is, what happened? Why didnt' any of the eggs hatch at all? Our rooster Brewster was on the job, but although some of the eggs seemed to have embryos in them they definitely had quit developing and gone south. Anybody know?
Big Momma, Big Phony
How old are the hens and the roo? Sometimes young hens and roos just don't have the fertility that those a year or more have. Is it just too hot where you are? Maybe that factored in.
I agree with Smedge..
Also..
Damerow's book says an egg there are several factors involved..
The flock is too closely confined.
The weather is too warm.
They are getting less than 14 hours of sunlight per day.
The cock has an injured foot or leg.
They could be infested with parasites.
Diseased.
Too young, or too old.
Stressed... (like showing)
Undernourished..
Cock to hen ratio is too high or too low.
It also said.. that if a freshly laid egg comes in contact with poo.. it can absorb bacteria and stop development or die at hatch..
So it seems there could be a LOT of different things.. I would think that nourishment is a huge factor.. it's even hard to know if we, as humans have good nutrition.. sounds crazy, but there could be unknown deficiencies... with the best of feed..
I'm sorry that happened to you Grammie.. it has to be frustrating I'm sure.
Frustrating, yes. It has been rather cool here (I'm in the mountains, not Hot-Phoenix area) but the eggs were definitely dirty by the time I threw them away. I think any of the other possibilities you suggest could be factors. I think they are fed well with laying feed and scratch plus lots of greens from my garden. Thanks for all your answers.
Hopefully better luck with the next batch..