Day 18.....Lockdown

[montain_dweller]

They all died. 4 of my 5 had a dark colored nasty to them, one had a nearly fully formed bird.
Any ideas on what would cause all my eggs to quit after day 18? As I candled them prior to entering my lockdown. Temps were good, humidity stayed at 55-70%.
Please help me, I really do not like loosing eggs. What is causing my poor hatches?

 

[gimmie birdies]

I dry hatch and the drier I went the better the hatches got for me. My incubator is small and holds in moisture.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I dry hatch and the drier I went the better the hatches got for me. My incubator is small and holds in moisture.

agreed, dry hatching has given me excellent results... there is a link in my signature about the Dry Incubation Method

 

[montain_dweller]

I'm using an older model of hovabator for the incubation, and a diy coolerbator for hatching. There were a few eggs I was unsure about going into lockdown, but to have a 0 hatch.. I'm disappointed. I will give the dry method a go on my next batch, but I really feel like the damage was done in the cooler..
Any thoughts on this.. I should have snapped some pictures, but wanted to get the bad eggs gone sooner

 

[Farmer Viola]

here is a link for troubleshooting: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html
it is just sooo hard to say...

off the top of my head, I would say humidity was too high throughout incubation at 55%.... I keep mine around 30% for the first 18 days. the idea behind dry incubation is that you allow the eggs' natural evaporation to create the humidity, you don't add any water unless it falls below 25%. up to 45% is ok but 30% is where I like it.

then for lockdown I increase it to 55-65%



another thing... make sure you have multiple thermometers and hygrometers. test the against each other so you are sure you have an accurate reading, then go down to 1 device.
make sure that you place the thermometer at the same level as the top of the eggs - so on top of the egg carton if that's what they are in. the temp at the top of the eggs is different from the temp at the bottom of the eggs

 

[1 Critter Camp]

agreed, dry hatching has given me excellent results... there is a link in my signature about the Dry Incubation Method

I too am lowering my humidity a lot! I may not be true dry hatching but I have read the information provided here and have been keeping the humidity between 40-50%.
I have had several bad hatches due to too high humidity! I had living chicks at day 18 and after that, they died. So I agree due to my experience that too high humidity may have been the problem.
I am sorry you lost your chicks. I have been there and it is very disappointing.
I have eggs in the incubator now, on day 5! Can't wait until Sunday when I can candle them and see how things are going.

 

[LDeBona]

They all died. 4 of my 5 had a dark colored nasty to them, one had a nearly fully formed bird.
Any ideas on what would cause all my eggs to quit after day 18? As I candled them prior to entering my lockdown. Temps were good, humidity stayed at 55-70%.
Please help me, I really do not like loosing eggs. What is causing my poor hatches?

I think I would start by lowering the humidity during incubation. I have run mine between 35 and 45 % and have had excellent hatch rates both times. From what I read, if the humidity it too high, the egg does not evaporate like it should.....the air cell doesn't get big enough.....and the chick grows too large and stays too wet. The "dry hatch" method is becoming more and more popular. After the first pip I raise my humidity to 55-65%.

Good luck next time.

Leslie

 

[AmericanMom]

When I put my eggs in yesterday I decided to wait and see what the humidity would be... 7 hours after placing them in the incubator it was a whopping 18% lol... I decided to go ahead and treat it like my first hatch, Humidity is running steady at 46% and I am comfortable with that for now... I'll check air cells on the 7th day and see where I am at and adjust down if I feel they aren't evaporating like they should.

After this hatch I am going to test the dry hatch... not allowing it to go below 25% and see what my hatch rate is

 

[montain_dweller]

Thanks for the advice, I have a batch that is less then a week in, I will start dry incubation right away. I have a batch of 5 questionable eggs in the hatcher now, not expecting much come day 21.
But my ladies are laying again, and I can start working with non shipped eggs

 

[1 Critter Camp]

Now I am worried that 50% humidity is not low enough! This can drive you crazy. I just read the dry hatch method AGAIN and printed out the picture of the air cells at 7, 14, and 18th day.
I think I am going to let the humidity drop a little, may be around 40% until day 14.
I am only on day 5!