Hatching Modern Game bantams question?

[mcrooke45]

I have hatched out 4 hatches of eggs out of my Genesis incubator with a 90 to 95% hatch rate with it. I have some Modern Game Bantams that started laying and I set the first 5 eggs I got from them. Out of the five eggs, one was infertile, one pipped at small end of egg and died, 2 pipped and died, and one just died in shell without pipping. Only one hatched and lived. Are Modern Game bantam eggs just hard to hatch in an incubator? I have 4 more set to hatch on the 29th this month. I will be trying to hatch all the eggs they lay. Has anyone else had trouble hatching them? If so what have you done to make them hatch better?
Help Please!
Mark

 

[sumi]

I think the problem might be that it was pullet eggs. I've been advised to only hatch the eggs a hen lays after she laid her pullet eggs, i.e. her first few. My hens usually start with laying small eggs, then sometimes a few double yolkers and then finally normal eggs.

 

[mcrooke45]

OK, my second attempt to hatch some modern game bantam eggs also failed. I put some of my Dark Cornish x Showgirl eggs in with them
to see if it was just the modern eggs. All of the Cornish x Showgirl eggs hatched. Not one of the modern eggs hatched. The chicks were dead in the shell without pipping. Can anyone who has hatched out moderns in incubators give me some pointers as what your settings was that you used to hatch yours. These are the only eggs I am having trouble with hatching.
Please Help!
Mark

 

[seramachick8]

I think your birds are young, so they are having trouble hatching... I don't know much about game bantams, but usually eggs won't hatch until the hens have been laying for about a month...hope you get it all figured out!

 

[mcrooke45]

Well, my third attempt finally succeeded. I lowered the humidity this time and I got 5 out of 6 eggs to hatch. I have not gotten any more eggs out of my moderns so I prob won't get to try again till spring. I am happy though!

Mark

 

[4beatgaits]

Mark, what did you lower the humidity to?
Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[mcrooke45]

I had the incubator set at 38% humidity and got them to hatch. They would not hatch at 50% like the rest of my chicken eggs. I have some eggs in the incubator that are suppose to hatch on the 18th this month. With the weather changing so much here lately it has been hard to regulate the humidity in my incubator. I will have to wait and see if they hatch.
Mark

 

[PeppermintHen]

I would like to revive this old thread because moderns seem to be hard to get just right. Has anyone figured out an appropriate humidity and temp combination to hatch this breed effectively.

 

[southernfiction]

Since it looks like my Modern pullet isn't interested in setting her clutch, I found someone interested in incubating them for me. Now I read in the above stories that (a) pullet eggs don't hatch well and/or (b) they possibly need a lower humidity. I think I won't tell him and see if they all hatch. I wouldn't want to curse the eggs. Also, I don't know what other eggs he will put in his incubator.

Has anyone had further experiences with this?

 

[southernfiction]

It is entirely possible to hatch a pullet's first eggs. Testimonial: sent my brown red pullet's first 10 eggs to the incubator young man. He did a fine job and so did the Moderns. 100% hatch; one had shell stuck to it and it died later that day.