Was this bad or luck or something to do with the breeder?

[Hestia]

I just hatched my second batch of eggs.
The first batch I bought from private sellers and had them shipped, the hatch rate was 20/25. The ones that didn't hatch were either unfertile or early quitters.
This second lot I decided to get from a business that breeds heritage chickens and sells fertile eggs, they were more expensive but I thought it was worth it buying from a professional breeder.
Anyway, the hatch rate was terrible. 11/25. A few didn't start but the others just started quitting through the whole 21 day incubation, i candled every few days after seeing so many gone at day 14.
Of the 11 that did hatch, some have got pasty butt, which didn't happen with my others.

Was this bad luck or is it possible there was something not right with the breeder flock?

 

[TeresaW]

As I understand, a 50% hatch rate is normal for shipped eggs (after removing the unfertilized ones).

A lot can depend on what the eggs went through during shipping.

I don’t know anything about pasty butt.

 

[sdm111]

I just hatched my second batch of eggs.
The first batch I bought from private sellers and had them shipped, the hatch rate was 20/25. The ones that didn't hatch were either unfertile or early quitters.
This second lot I decided to get from a business that breeds heritage chickens and sells fertile eggs, they were more expensive but I thought it was worth it buying from a professional breeder.
Anyway, the hatch rate was terrible. 11/25. A few didn't start but the others just started quitting through the whole 21 day incubation, i candled every few days after seeing so many gone at day 14.
Of the 11 that did hatch, some have got pasty butt, which didn't happen with my others.

Was this bad luck or is it possible there was something not right with the breeder flock?

Your first hatch was good for shipped eggs. What was your humidity through day 18 on the hatch where the ones died at full term?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Hatching eggs, especially shipped eggs is a gamble, you didn’t do anything to screw up your eggs, rather life happens when you are dealing with life! And that includes death. I’m guessing pasty butt is diarrhea-soft poop that sticks to the chicks rear end? I’d guess the culprit is dirt from your egg shells combined with leaving the chicks in the incubator for 72 hours: warm moist environment, organic material, and newborns is a bad combo. Make sure you sanitize your incubator well between broods, sanitize (not clean or wash) egg shells preincubation with an approved product (ovaban?), and remove batches of chicks quickly after hatch. I know everybody is paranoid over shrink wrapping but neonatal disease is probably a bigger threat than sudden humidity drop. Spike your humidity right before going in (add warm water), grab the mobile chicks, toss them in a basket and shut the lid quickly. Make sure your brooder is toasty warm (not scorching!) and you can even put wet chicks in there. I have quail (24 hours in incubator after hatch) and an incubator that stays at 80 percent humidity, they never dry! My first two hatches (shipped eggs) I left them in 12-24 hours per tradition and had 20 percent mortality on day 3, they just died. My guess was something like a clostridium from the egg shells. Subsequent hatches I treated with tetracycline for a couple days after hatch, gradually I got bold enough not to treat at all but was removing chicks within hours of hatch. No brooder mortality in any other hatches. I think shipping also stresses the eggs, even if they hatch they probably have some level of immunocompromise and are more susceptible to disease. Could have been cleaning, less exposure time, less stress from home raised eggs, who knows, just glad it’s gone. Nothing you did, just chance and biology! Keep things clean, minimize exposure to pathogen rich environments, and decrease stress is all you can do.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

For shipped eggs your first batch hatch rate was the exception not the rule and your second batch hatch rate was average if not still pretty good for shipped eggs. The biggest factor with shipped eggs is how they were handled during shipping.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had a 100% hatch rate with shipped eggs. I've had a 20% hatch rate with shipped eggs. I've never had a 50% hatch rate with shipped eggs but my overall average is pretty close to 50% if you consider them all together. You've had two hatches with shipped eggs. That is not many data points. You do not have enough hatches for averages to mean a lot but so far you have done well.

One of the potential causes of a poor hatch rate is how the eggs were handled during shipping. The seller has no control over that. Depending on the routes, the Post Office may have shipped the eggs by ground transportation only. Or they may have been placed on an airplane for part of that journey. Some of the potential causes of poor hatch rates are that the eggs got too hot, too cold, or were shaken up.

How the seller packages them can have a big effect on how much shipping can cause a problem, especially from shaking. How and how long the eggs were stored before shipping can have an effect. Nutrition, fertility, and health of the parent flock can have an effect even if shipping is perfect. Many people only think of the shaking during shipment as the problem (that can be a big one) but there are other things that can go wrong.

Your eggs were shipped, not your chicks, so shipping stresses had nothing to do with pasty butt. So that eliminates some things. Typical causes of pasty butt other than shipping stresses are the brooder is too hot or too cold. Either one can upset their digestion. Diet might play a part so maybe stick mainly to chick feed as opposed to special treats. Clean water is always important. This one will upset some people but too many electrodes and enzymes have been mentioned as a cause of pasty butt. I'm a proponent of giving them some electrodes if they are suffering from stress or acting weak but after about 12 hours switch to clean water. Don't overload their system with electrodes.

@Hestia your better-than-expected hatch rates were a result of good luck during shipping and your incubation. You obviously did incubation correctly. The pasty butt was probably caused by something in the brooder since you hatched them. I don't know what was different in the two batches. You may not either.

 

[Hestia]

Thanks for all the answers, I guess I thought if it was the eggs being shipped they would have all quit early on rather than progressively through the incubation.
I have only been giving the new chicks proper chick feed so far, I have a brinsea brooder heater which doesn't have a temperature adjustment so can't change that.

I guess the good hatch rate on my first round spoiled me and I was expecting a similar hatch rate! It's good to know it probably wasn't the breeders fault.
Thanks again