gutted day 10 n quit :-(

So sad I had polish n silkies in my bator n all my polish av quit my last one today on day 11 why always day 7 fab all look great day 10 n bam gone im gutted silkies still going but they only on day 8 everything temp wise humidity all spot on this is my 3rd attempt now at Trying to hatch n done everything by the book :-(

duckmad jo said:

So sad I had polish n silkies in my bator n all my polish av quit my last one today on day 11 why always day 7 fab all look great day 10 n bam gone im gutted silkies still going but they only on day 8 everything temp wise humidity all spot on this is my 3rd attempt now at Trying to hatch n done everything by the book :-(

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For us here, we like to put egg's under our broody.. Not one for bator's.. There might be a BYC Fourm just for hatching in incubator's.. Look it up.. & hope you figure it out..

Thought i was in the incubating and hatching forum as there is lots of incubator questions best go check x

ok lets start from the beginning.

where do you get the eggs from, are they shipped, Have all 3 failed batch's been from the same place.

When was the last time the incubator was cleaned, have you used any cleaning agents that may be toxic to chicks, What is the humidity in the incubator during the first 10 days, what is the temperature of the incubator, have you checked the size of the air pocket around day 10 and compared it to a chart to see if its the correct size, is the incubator forced air (has a fan).

ok that's the first few questions im sure we will have more.


to be honest losing a chick at day 10 is not that odd. Loosing a bunch of chicks is real odd. Doing it 3 times in a row means that something is seriously wrong.

No the first 2 times were a little cheap incubator that wasn't holding temp n kept spiking up after so many days so out that went n got a new one janeol 12 had fab reviews with it and my friend has 2 with great results
Have a separate thermometer n hydrometer inside too
the new bator is holding temp brilliant its at 37.5 Humidity is on 35
the first time 2 times were from a friend eggs but I have put that dwn to the incubator .this time yes they are shipped eggs and to be fair arrived quite bad all the air cells were detached so as adviced left them to rest 24 hours before setting in a carton ( with holes cut out of bottom for air flow)2 of them started veining and failed really quick the other 2 polish were doing fab the air cells re attached but wasnt right the silkies also shipped but from a different breeder came perfect 4 out of the 6 fertile and doing well upto now I read so many things and doing everything like instructed n adviced
friend told to stop panicking it happens n shipped eggs r a nightmare

Well my silkies are on day 14 and doing fab all moving and growing love the new bator

glad to hear that. Its always a gamble on shipped eggs.
Not long ago we incubated two sets of shipped eggs together. On one set we got about 80%-85% hatch rate and on the other set we ended up with 1 chick out of 16 eggs. If we get 50% we class that as normal.
If you are only incubating 6 eggs then theres a real risk of a wipe where nothing will hatch. The big difference is I normally run 12 plus so I still loss at least 6 but I end up with something for my effort.

Thats good advice for nxt time. im abit worried as one on the aircells look abit big but the chick is still happily moving , il be happy if one makes it least il know im not a complete failure at it then,

if the air cell looks to big raise the humidity a few points.

How do your other air cells look? If all of the others look good I am not sure that I would raise it for just one egg. I typically try to go with what the majority need. Of course at this point in the incubation raising it to help that one may not affect the others much if they are spot on. Just a thought.