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[Valikdu]

On embark, I took a couple of jabberers [modded them to layer 1 for availability]. Had two eggs hatched, but then they just stopped hatching. After a couple of years I tried to deconstruct the box and dump the eggs; the female claimed another one with the same result (couple of years passed again, nothing hatched).

Then I bought some more jabberers from the caravan, and now there's several females sitting on the nest boxes with eggs, but already a lot of time passed and nothing hatched.

What am I doing wrong?

[MrWillsauce]

Maybe Mr. Rooster is impotent?

[ZawB]

The problem may be that their egg size is 5100, which is enormous. Someone else will no doubt tell you the exact numbers, but it's probably going to take years for that egg to hatch, and any single interruption during that time renders the egg useless. Bring the number down a bit and they should hatch faster?

[Bigheaded]

are your hens sitting on the eggs?

noticed a stupid problem for why i wasn't hatching eggs.... my kitchens were taking them for cooking! make sure they're disallowed in the kitchen and in stockpiles, as i suspect you have a food stockpile somewhere which has eggs enabled and some "helpful" dwarf is taking all the eggs away. (to disallow from kitchen, press z, go to kitchen, find eggs on the list, press c)

[Thecard]

Similar thing happened to another guy on the forums, with dragons.  Do you have a lot of animals?  Because there's a cap that can stop eggs from hatching and kids from birthing.  Of course, check the hens.  As previously mentioned, egg size affects how quickly they hatch, but it should be the same amount of time to hatch as the first batch.

[Replica]

And you are absolutely sure that the eggs are undisturbed and incubated?

What did you do differently after the first two eggs hatched?
Are the male and female jabberers in the same area/pasture/room at all times?
How often do they lay eggs?
How long did it take for the first two eggs to hatch?
Have you tried placing multiple nest boxes in the same room?

[Sabreur]

Similar thing happened to another guy on the forums, with dragons.  Do you have a lot of animals?  Because there's a cap that can stop eggs from hatching and kids from birthing.  Of course, check the hens.  As previously mentioned, egg size affects how quickly they hatch, but it should be the same amount of time to hatch as the first batch.

That would be me!  Things I learned the hard way:

1.  Egg size doesn't matter.  I played around with modding the egg size, it does nothing to the hatch time.
2.  Animal cap matters.  If you've got a lot of animals (more than 100 or so, I don't know the exact cap), try butchering the useless ones.
3.  Make sure your food stockpiles don't allow eggs!  You want pets, not omelettes.  Your dwarves will steal the eggs if you aren't careful.
4.  Make sure you aren't training the mother.  The trainer will move her off the nest box, inadvertently killing the eggs.

If it's been a long time since the eggs have been laid and they still haven't hatched, do the following:

1.  Deconstruct the nest box.
2.  Dump the eggs.
3.  Re-build the nest box.
4.  Wait for the mother to claim the box again.
5.  Immediately seal off the room with the box and don't open it again until the eggs hatch.

As a side note, if you are trying to hatch exotic animals, make sure they have all the right tags (like the [CHILD:1] tag).  Compare to chickens or alligators to get a good idea.

Hope that helps!

[Sabreur]

Are the male and female jabberers in the same area/pasture/room at all times?

This isn't necessary.  They can be sealed away on opposite ends of the map.

Have you tried placing multiple nest boxes in the same room?

If you have multiple egg-laying animals, sometimes an animal will 'claim' a nest box it can't possibly reach.  Try deconstructing and reconstructing your nest boxes.

[Valikdu]

The first two hatched in less than a year. Current jabber eggs in nest boxes seem non-viable also. :/

All nest boxes are in different locked rooms.

Meanwhile, another egg-laying animal (modded beak dogs) hatched successfully.

[Sabreur]

The first two hatched in less than a year. Current jabber eggs in nest boxes seem non-viable also. :/

All nest boxes are in different locked rooms.

Meanwhile, another egg-laying animal (modded beak dogs) hatched successfully.

Try deconstructing the nest boxes and dumping the jabberer eggs, then rebuilding the nest boxes.

[oneguy]

hmm i never thought of disabling eggs as a food source, to prevent my eggs form getting taken, what i do seems simpler.

i build a nest box, then watch. as soon as (insert egg layer here) sits on the box i forbid that clutch of eggs ("t" over the nest box "f" to forbid)
that way i can choose which birds to breed (getting rid of eggs that belong to birds with the physiacl description involving the words "small" or "skinny")

after the first year i usually get a lot of birds then after the original mother lays eggs again (i collect those and use them to cook...mmm *peafowl egg roast*) i deconstruct the nest box, re-constructing it as well as several more once the young ones mature to egg laying age, then i mass forbid that airea as soon as they sit there, unforbiding all but the largest females, and the rest get scrambled babies.

i then deconstruct all the nest boxes (except the still occupied ones) so even if i forget to watch for "(insert animals) have hatched" i still get eggs as (inset egg layer) is replaced on the nest box by a new one (giving my cooks more yokes).

its not perfect, but i dont get massive amounts of birds so that's fine with me, as i can butcher them as needed without having to worry about lots of animals to clog up ques (pen/pasturing animal) and eggs come in large stacks so cooking provides larger meals