Fully developed chick didn’t hatch - what could/should I have done differently?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Hi all! I had 7/12 hatch, 4/12 midway quitters, and 1/12 that was fully developed but never hatched. I attached pictures at the end of the post so no one has to see them if they don’t want to.

By lockdown, I expected 11/12 would hatch, although some of the eggs were psrocually difficult to candle so I wasn’t 100% they were all good. Hatch day was Saturday. First external pip Friday night. First chick appeared Saturday morning, followed by 6 more throughout
the day and overnight into Sunday.

By Sunday morning, the remaining 5 eggs (really 4 that I expected to hatch) hadn’t externally pipped. I know sometimes they hatch late, so I waited. By Sunday afternoon I decided to take the eggs out and check for SOL. No movement, no chirping. No internal pips. Candled and found that 3 were quitters (maybe midway through), and 1 appeared fully developed but not moving. Made a safety hole, returned the developed chick egg to the incubator. After a few hours there continued to be no movement or sounds.

I was confident the chick was not living, so decided to practice assisted hatching and removed the shell. It looks fully developed to me, and it hasn’t internally pipped. I’m wondering if anyone can guess on what day this guy quit, and/or why it didn’t hatch.

I’m also curious if I waited too long to intervene. I know everyone has their own routine they follow with their hatching eggs, but would you have done something (candled, made a safety hole, etc…) sooner than halfway through day 22?

Some stats- this is my 3rd hatch so I’m a newbie. I use the NR360 @ 99.5 degrees and incubated at 47-50% humidity. Lockdown was 68-70% humidity. After lockdown I did open the ‘bator briefly on Saturday night to pull the first 3 chicks, and again the next day to grab the next couple chicks. I did this during my last 2 batches and no issues.

What are your thoughts? Stop scrolling if you don’t want to see the pics.

Thanks!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

What are your thoughts?

I didn't make it all the way through the read to try and actually help diagnose anything, sorry.

I do wanna share my favorite *technical* hatching resource.. *possible* causes for embryonic failure according to what day they quit starts around page 51 and also includes some graphic images..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Also see this link to try and help determine quit day..

https://www.poultryhub.org/content/uploads/2012/07/chick_embryo_development1.jpg

Hope this helps.

 

[Mamma of chicken math lol]

I didn't make it all the way through the read to try and actually help diagnose anything, sorry.

I do wanna share my favorite *technical* hatching resource.. *possible* causes for embryonic failure according to what day they quit starts around page 51 and also includes some graphic images..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Also see this link to try and help determine quit day..

https://www.poultryhub.org/content/uploads/2012/07/chick_embryo_development1.jpg

Hope this helps.

I just had 1 chick hatch and two pipped out of 8 .The one chick is healthy and very active. The Mamma would not come off the remaining eggs. I waited 2 extra days. Then an awful odor was on the Mom’s chest. I then removed the remaining eggs. All but one egg had a chick that appeared to be 19 to 20 days. They were fully formed but the membrane around them had not opened. Any idea what went wrong? I move the Mom and chick into a 3*4’ coop and left them in the hen house 12*12’ with the rest of the flock. 5 other hens, two 2 month old chicks and 2 roosters all silkies and every one eating, running around the outside of smaller coop and very healthy.
Do you have any idea why only one chick hatched?

 

[Mamma of chicken math lol]

I just had 1 chick hatch and two pipped out of 8 .The one chick is healthy and very active. The Mamma would not come off the remaining eggs. I waited 2 extra days. Then an awful odor was on the Mom’s chest. I then removed the remaining eggs. All but one egg had a chick that appeared to be 19 to 20 days. They were fully formed but the membrane around them had not opened. Any idea what went wrong? I move the Mom and chick into a 3*4’ coop and left them in the hen house 12*12’ with the rest of the flock. 5 other hens, two 2 month old chicks and 2 roosters all silkies and every one eating, running around the outside of smaller coop and very healthy.
Do you have any idea why only one chick hatched?

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to put this in as a reply.

 

[Debbie292d]

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to put this in as a reply.

This thread is over a year old but both members are still active so they may see a notification and reply, but in the meantime, is this her first batch? Sometimes new hens get off the nest a lot more often or may not know to turn the eggs, etc. Usually, their subsequent hatches go fine.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I just had 1 chick hatch and two pipped out of 8 .The one chick is healthy and very active. The Mamma would not come off the remaining eggs. I waited 2 extra days. Then an awful odor was on the Mom’s chest. I then removed the remaining eggs. All but one egg had a chick that appeared to be 19 to 20 days. They were fully formed but the membrane around them had not opened. Any idea what went wrong? I move the Mom and chick into a 3*4’ coop and left them in the hen house 12*12’ with the rest of the flock. 5 other hens, two 2 month old chicks and 2 roosters all silkies and every one eating, running around the outside of smaller coop and very healthy.
Do you have any idea why only one chick hatched?

I have only done 1 broody batch, so I have less experience with that. I’m sorry the others didn’t hatch. I don’t know what might cause that. You may want to start a new post and see if you get responses from folks with more experience.

 

[Mamma of chicken math lol]

I have only done 1 broody batch, so I have less experience with that. I’m sorry the others didn’t hatch. I don’t know what might cause that. You may want to start a new post and see if you get responses from folks with more experience.

Thanks, the one remaining silky is very healthy but small. The mom is in a 2*3 1/2’ coop with her (?). The 2 silkies born about 6 weeks earlier are about half the size of the moms. They look huge next to their younger sibling.
We have incubated a few silkies before and several other breeds. These three were born in the 10*10 ft coop with all the other silkies. I have 9 silkies with two cockerels, 4 hens (all laying) the two 2 month olds (looking at the combs I think one male and one female) and the littlest one.
The first three silkies were rescues(1 cock and an all black and the other all white hen) the rest are their kids.
The other 20 chickens we have are in a 28*28’ “aviary with two hen houses. Two cockerels and the rest hens. One leghorn, 2 copper marans, 2 welsummers, 2 buff Orpingtons, one Australope cross, two New Hampshire reds and the rest are Easter eggers( 2 olive eggers , 3 with blue eggs, 2 pinkish, 1 light green). Some of those are also rescues. I’m definitely a chicken math mom. I started with just six.
The last hatch was really heart breaking. The silkie mom wouldn’t leave the dead fully formed pipped chicks and I had to fight with her to remove them. The one survivor is a handful. A master escape artist and would take off from their mom and turn up all over the silkie yard crying. Much happier now in a smaller hen house and yard in the center of the big silkie coop. This chicken math momma spends way to much time playing in the coops.

 

[Perris]

I then removed the remaining eggs. All but one egg had a chick that appeared to be 19 to 20 days. They were fully formed but the membrane around them had not opened.

The chicks died before they started the hatching process. The last few days is a critical time; it's when the chick has to get into position to hatch, with its head near the air cell to start breathing. It's called lockdown in artificial incubation, when the eggs are no longer turned, because moving them can disrupt that process and the chick can then either drown before the last fluid is resorbed or suffocate because their head is not in the air cell. Inexperienced broodies or other hens pushing into the nest and rolling the eggs around, failure of the chick to get into the right position, or impatient people who handle the eggs at this time without realizing they may be killing them by so doing, are all possible causes of death at this late stage of incubation. It's very sad, but not uncommon. The chick is described as DIS (dead in shell).

You may find this day-by-day guide useful
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/embryonic-development-day-by-day

 

[Mamma of chicken math lol]

Thanks I appreciate the information. This was the mom’s second hatch. The first one was two healthy chicks. She and another hen co-incubated the first eggs. One would lie on them facing one way and the other mom right next to her faced the other way. They took care of those chicks together the same way. It was so cute to watch. Hopefully next time her hatch will go better.