Need help , dead chick

[DalilaIv]

Hi everyone, first of all I’m sorry for any mistakes in the text, English is not my first language.
I have an incubator, and yesterday was the 21nd day of incubation, nothing happened. (There were just 2 eggs in)
Today, day 22 the chick broke the egg, and only its beak was out. I googled a bit and saw that hatching can take up to 24 hours, so I didn’t touch it. It stayed like that for about 2-3 hours, it peept a few times. After that I went to check it and it wasn’t moving,it was dead. I opened the egg, and the yolk was still attached to the chick.
Could someone help me, why did this happen?
Thank you all
Dalila

 

[ChickenCanoe]

No worries, Dalila. Whether for your language skills or your foray into incubation.
The short answer is that it could be at least a dozen different things. Let's analyze the most common ones. First and foremost was likely temperature. Since it was only one egg, it is more difficult to be sure. The fact the the lone chick broke through on day 22, I would assume the temperature has been a tad low throughout incubation. Perhaps as much as a full degree. What are you using to determine temperature?
We will look at other factors and we will make you an expert in no time.

 

[DalilaIv]

Thanks for the reply.
The temperature was 37.8 degrees Celsius.
There were two eggs, the second one didn’t hatch, and is still in the incubator.
Do you know why would the yolk sack still hang on the chick after 22 days, that did confuse me.

 

[User690263]

What is the humidity in the incubator?

 

[DalilaIv]

What is the humidity in the incubator?

I don’t know, I can just adjust the temperature, but not the humidity.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My question about the temperature is how are you determining the temperature. Are you using the setting on the incubator or verifying it with other thermometers. If so what brand/type of thermometer and did you calibrate it.
Don't trust the setting or display on the incubator.
The unabsorbed yolk can be from low temperature throughout as well as high humidity.
Does your incubator have a working automatic turner? Proper and frequent turning can affect how the yolk is absorbed also.
We now have two reasons to suspect the temperature was wrong.
If the eggs are fresh and not overly large and the temperature is exactly 99.5/37.5 They will hatch at exactly 21 days. When they are delayed, or early, temperature is the most likely culprit.
You don't necessarily need to know the humidity per se. What you need to know is the percentage of weight loss. (that is controlled by humidity but can be more accurately determined with a gram scale)

 

[DalilaIv]

My question about the temperature is how are you determining the temperature. Are you using the setting on the incubator or verifying it with other thermometers. If so what brand/type of thermometer and did you calibrate it.
Don't trust the setting or display on the incubator.
The unabsorbed yolk can be from low temperature throughout as well as high humidity.
Does your incubator have a working automatic turner? Proper and frequent turning can affect how the yolk is absorbed also.
We now have two reasons to suspect the temperature was wrong.
If the eggs are fresh and not overly large and the temperature is exactly 99.5/37.5 They will hatch at exactly 21 days. When they are delayed, or early, temperature is the most likely culprit.
You don't necessarily need to know the humidity per se. What you need to know is the percentage of weight loss. (that is controlled by humidity but can be more accurately determined with a gram scale)

Thank you for the explanation. I just set the temperature on the incubator, I taught that was enough… It doesn’t have an automatic turner, i turned the eggs by hand every 3 hours or so..Maybe I should post a picture of the chick for you to see? I’m sorry, if I’m boring haha, I just want to make sure that when I try again I do everything right.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not boring. Don't be concerned. This is a learning experience for everyone. A picture isn't necessary in this case. Turning every 3 hours is good.
Electronics are notorious for not being spot on out of the box.
You are talking about an incubator that is perhaps a few hundred dollars. I was an industrial electrician. I sometimes would pull a $5,000 piece of electronic equipment out of a box, install it and it immediately fail.
An incubator's settings should not be trusted till verified. I would make sure you use at least one calibrated or guaranteed accurate thermometer to verify the setting of the incubator. What country are you in and maybe I can recommend one available there.
In the interim, if you are going to try again, I would begin by setting the incubator about 0.5C higher than last time and I bet they will hatch on day 21.

 

[DalilaIv]

Not boring. Don't be concerned. This is a learning experience for everyone. A picture isn't necessary in this case. Turning every 3 hours is good.
Electronics are notorious for not being spot on out of the box.
You are talking about an incubator that is perhaps a few hundred dollars. I was an industrial electrician. I sometimes would pull a $5,000 piece of electronic equipment out of a box, install it and it immediately fail.
An incubator's settings should not be trusted till verified. I would make sure you use at least one calibrated or guaranteed accurate thermometer to verify the setting of the incubator. What country are you in and maybe I can recommend one available there.
In the interim, if you are going to try again, I would begin by setting the incubator about 0.5C higher than last time and I bet they will hatch on day 21.

Yeah, it isn’t an expensive incubator at all. I’m from Bosnia and Herzegovina, if there is one that you could recommend, that would be great. I’m not sure if I’m going to try again with this one, it was very stressful..

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yeah, it isn’t an expensive incubator at all. I’m from Bosnia and Herzegovina, if there is one that you could recommend, that would be great. I’m not sure if I’m going to try again with this one, it was very stressful..

Please do not be discouraged and do not quit trying! You only lost two chicks in your first attempt. My DH and I set 22 eggs our first time. Only 9 hatched and 7 were cockerels! We put them in the freezer but we still have the two hens. Keep trying, you will succeed, you have good helpers here!