I have movement & all until 1-3 days before hatching…

[WestKickinChiksFarm]

What is going on? I had a nice 1st & 2nd hatch…I have a 12 egg impeckables incubator from Tractor Supply…I use distilled water & I only check them 3 times during the incubation process…like the growth chart says; 16/12/3 days of incubation. My temperature stays at 100 & the humidity is between 55 & 58 always. It automatically turns the eggs every 4 hours…I just don’t understand why the last 6 weeks I can not for the life of me get to the hatching stage again…what is going on you think? At 3 days left the turner stops & will not turn anymore…I do not move the incubator nor does the outside temperature vary…we’ve waited 23 days & cracked the eggs & there will be a fully developed little healthy looking chick - not breathing. It’s becoming discouraging for our children because they wait & then boom there’s no movement, help please!

 

[Debbie292d]

Welcome to BYC! But sorry it's on this sad note.

Some considerations are...

For the first 18 days, humidity should be 40-45%, then during lockdown, about 70%.

Temp is best at 99.5F, but 100 is okay too.

Are these eggs from a different place this time from the other times?

 

[WestKickinChiksFarm]

Welcome to BYC! But sorry it's on this sad note.

Some considerations are...

Usually for the first 18 days, humidity should be 40-45%, then during lockdown, about 70%.

Temp is best at 99.5F, but 100 is okay too.

Are these eggs from a different place this time from the other times?

Thanks so much Debbie the “preset” temp is 100 & humidity 66; if it goes above 100 it beeps or above 66% humidity. This was truly just a “experiment” & to say I did it. But; I fell in love with the process & how cool the little chicks are that we hatched. So, I literally have turned it off & washed it let it dry & started the process again the next day. But I am going to set the preset lower & use your advice & see how things go. It’s just crazy to me how the first 2 sets hatched perfectly…here’s from hatching to today…of them. They’re perfect!!!

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks so much Debbie the “preset” temp is 100 & humidity 66; if it goes above 100 it beeps or above 66% humidity. This was truly just a “experiment” & to say I did it. But; I fell in love with the process & how cool the little chicks are that we hatched. So, I literally have turned it off & washed it let it dry & started the process again the next day. But I am going to set the preset lower & use your advice & see how things go. It’s just crazy to me how the first 2 sets hatched perfectly…here’s from hatching to today…of them. They’re perfect!!!

That's so awesome and hard to know why it's a "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't" thing.

The one thing I forgot to mention is, incubators are rarely correct. I have three Brinsea 56EX's, rather pricey incubators, and only one is correct. Consider getting a thermometer/hygrometer and checking it. The ones I have and many others is Govee brand. On Amazon, they've always got one model or another on sale. Some are Bluetooth (cheaper) and some Wifi. I wound up getting several so one for each incubator and one for each of the brooders.

 

[WestKickinChiksFarm]

Okay; s

That's so awesome and hard to know why it's a "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't" thing.

The one thing I forgot to mention is, incubators are rarely correct. I have three Brinsea 56EX's, rather pricey incubators, and only one is correct. Consider getting a thermometer/hygrometer and checking it. The ones I have and many others is Govee brand. On Amazon, they've always got one model or another on sale. Some are Bluetooth (cheaper) and some Wifi. I wound up getting several so one for each incubator and one for each of the brooders.

Okay; so the hygrometer is for sale on Amazon? And your saying get a new incubator - I was thinking, I should probably invest in one because there’s just no way 2 full term sets of eggs - just get all the way to days 1-3 & stop developing without something significant happening. Also; yes I started the whole chicken operation with 7 then chicken math added a few here & 1 or 2 here & there for 6 weeks straight. My daughter & I would go to Tractor Supply to intentionally get horse feed & they would have a different breed so we would get a few here & there. Well I have buff orpingtons, sapphire gems, welsummers, Rhode Island reds, Smokey pearls & barred rocks. I had silver laced Wyandottes but they’re colors & looks just looked evil so I gave them to a friend of mine who has a little farm & they’re living high on the hog there. But my rooster came from that same friend & he’s a Brahma. So; my eggs are all mixed breeds (barnyard mix as I call it).

 

[WestKickinChiksFarm]

 

[Ridgerunner]

Look through these to see what might have gone wrong. What might be different this time instead of those successful times? These are more pointed toward commercial hatcheries so some of the stuff might not apply to you, but maybe you can get some hints.

You were previously successful and they are still reaching a very late stage. One immediate thought is how are you handling ventilation? Are they getting fresh air at the end. Like any living animal they need oxygen. The more they develop the more they need. Are your vents closed so they can't breathe? There have been a few instances on here where that was the cause. But mainly think about if you are doing something different.

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

 

[C Siena]

Look through these to see what might have gone wrong. What might be different this time instead of those successful times? These are more pointed toward commercial hatcheries so some of the stuff might not apply to you, but maybe you can get some hints.

You were previously successful and they are still reaching a very late stage. One immediate thought is how are you handling ventilation? Are they getting fresh air at the end. Like any living animal they need oxygen. The more they develop the more they need. Are your vents closed so they can't breathe? There have been a few instances on here where that was the cause. But mainly think about if you are doing something different.

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

A lot of information on the MS State site. Thank you for sharing. We're on day 19.75. Why did I begin at 11pm on a Sat night? Nuts and not thinking.

 

[Mildyoffensivechook]

I finally insulated the floor of the cabin my chicks are in. More stable temperature. A small incubator like that needs stable room temps, they say 74-80.

My success rate went from 30-40% to 75-100%. I was getting mostly developed chicks that quit a few days before hatching in the necropsies.

I think if you are running 66% humidity it’s too high. There is link to the manual on the TS website to change the setting.

https://media.tractorsupply.com/is/...mpany/tsc/product/2/29/38/25/2293825_Man1.pdf

 

[Susan Skylark]

Late term embryonic death/failure to hatch seems to be associated with egg stress/trauma preincubation or during the first couple days such as shipping, cold or heat stress (fridge temps or above 70F for a couple hours or more), or eggs over 10 days old at the onset of incubation. Incubator heat spikes (104 plus) for a couple hours or more is another possibility. Using external thermometers is always a good idea but except for heat spikes, wonky temp is usually associated with no development, slow development or possibly early embryonic death. Humidity probably isn’t a major cause of embryonic death. Turning issues usually cause early embryonic death. Nutrition and genetics of source flock may be an issue but is less common than egg handling/incubator issues. I just had a 9/20 eggs dead day 3-5 incubation likely due to a faulty turner and the one before that was 10/21 that went into lockdown died in shell, shipped eggs. Winter has also been hard on my hatch rates, 25% dead in shell on eggs collected nov-feb, freezing temps for 6-12 hours before collection. All summer and fall I had 90% plus hatch rates on home raised eggs, fertility and develop rates were steady as well but embryonic death was way up depending on turning issues, cold preincubation and a batch of shipped eggs. Sometimes you can figure out the issue, sometimes you can’t, sometimes you just get a rotten hatch or your incubator goes wonky mid hatch and you don’t catch it or whatever. Don’t give up though!