Everything she said,First off
Hatching is so much fun but it also takes a bit of trial and error to get you a successful hatch. As for what made some of your eggs not hatch last time, without more information that would be nearly impossible to tell for sure and simply a guess. If they were all fully formed, that kind of tells me that your temp was probably right where it needed to be. What day did they hatch on? Were they early or late at all? It has been my experience that when my chicks were fully formed but did not hatch it was typically a humidity issue. Humidity is not nearly are tricky as temperature but if it is WAY incorrect one way or the other then it can cause hatch failure. Do you remember if your chicks that hatched were really wet or sticky and dry? I assume that you opened the unhatched eggs if you knew they were fully formed... was there a lot of excess moisture? Did you candle your eggs at all? How did their air cells look?
So here are a few basic questions that would help for us to get you on the right track... What kind of incubator are you using? Does it have a fan or is it still air? A forced air bator (one with a fan) should be around 99.5 while a still air (no fan) should be at about 102 at the top of the eggs. How many thermometers/hygrometers are you using? (You will probably want at least 2 not counting the one that is built in the incubator if it has one). Humidity is one of those things that can vary depending on your area. I typically run "dry" and only add water when my humidity is less than 27% and I try to keep it below 35% during days 1-17; at lock down I raise it to 75%. Where are you getting your eggs from? Shipped eggs usually do not do as well as local eggs because they are sometimes handled roughly during transit. That is not to say that you cannot have a successful hatch with shipped eggs. It is just a little more unpredictable than local eggs. Are you hand turning or do you have an auto turner? If you are hand turning, make sure that you are turning an odd number of times a day (3 or 5 is usually enough). This will make sure that no one side is spending the longest amount of time on that side every night.
Here is a picture of where your air cells should be on days 7, 14, and 18. Regardless of where you decide to run your humidity, if your air cells look like these you should be okay.
As for whether or not you should help during hatching, I really think it is a case by case basis. You have to realize that sometimes they are not hatching for a reason. Either they are just not ready - there is a lot that is going on at the end, absorbing yolk and blood, or there is something wrong with them and they are not meant to hatch. If you do assist you run the risk of killing the chick. If you don't help, the chick will also sometimes die. If you help a chick that was not meant to hatch because there were birth defects, then you could end up with a special needs bird. You have to ask yourself if you are willing/able to care for a special needs bird. If the answer is no, then you should not help and/or be ready to have to cull the bird.
I hope this gives you some of the information that you are looking for. You are in the right place to get help! Good luck!!!!
Awe!
No. I have an old LG so I pop out one of the plastic viewing areas and grab one at a time out of there and cover it back up so I don't loose a lot of heat...lol Sometimes I lift the top and just grab them out one at a time.When you guys candle the eggs, do you turn off the incubator? Or keep it running? I have 13 eggs to check and this my first time
