Have you tried putting a couple other thermometers and hygrometers in the incubator to check? Sometimes the built-in meters don’t work very well and you could be running it too hot or too cold or too dry.
Also, how old are the eggs your’e putting in? Past a week the fertility really drops off. I would probably not let them get more than 3-4 days old before starting them honestly, because the hatch rate is so much worse if the eggs aren’t really fresh.
Final suggestion, have you cracked open the eggs that dont’ hatch? You can tell a lot from those. I’ve used this reference (https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-failure-to-hatch-diagnosing-incubation-problems.67011/) as a guide in the past. If you notice a pattern you may be able to isolate your problem. If I do everything right I can get a 80-90% hatch rate, so you can definitely get it up.
I’ve never heard of taking away oyster shells before collecting eggs for hatching – I’m no expert but I can’t imagine that’s the cause of the problem.
This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Sunstone.
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