It's been almost a year since I got my egg incubator. At the time, I was pretty hopeful. It felt like the solution to my low hatch rate problem with my chickens. I figured if I couldn't rely on the hens, at least the incubator would give me better results.
But now, looking back it's kind of funny. The results I'm getting from the incubator aren't that different from what the hens were doing all along. Most of the time, nothing hatches. And on the rare occasion something does, and it's usually just one chick out of a batch of six or more eggs.
I even tried switching their feed to breeder or layer, thinking that better nutrition might help. Honestly, I can't say it made any noticeable difference.
Lately, I've been thinking about what could be causing this, and the only reason that I can conclude is that my hens are probably just getting old. I never kept proper records (probably should have), but if I have to guess, most of my hens I have been collecting eggs from are at least five years old or older by now. And yeah, fertility dropping with age makes sense.
The weather hasn't been doing me any favours either. Day time temperature are way too hot at times, while some nights can suddenly feel much cooler than it use to, like some 20 years ago.
Still, not all bad news. I recently got two young hens - one around eight months old, and the other just about 10 weeks. The younger one's mother is probably around two or three years old, so I'm hoping this line still has some good fertility in it.
For now, I guess I'll just wait and see, and keep trying. Maybe the next few batches will finally turn things around.
Buy chicken brooder from Amazon.com
(Note: An Amazon.com affiliate link)
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