Yolk Sac Outside Of Chicks???

Hi,

I have had 6 Salmon faverolle eggs in my incubator. 4 out of the 6 looked full but they had nt hatched out at 23 days so I opened them to see what was going on. To my shock I found the 3 out of the 4 eggs had live chicks in them (well barely alive). The egg with the dead chick was fully formed but the yolk sac was still outside. 2 of the eggs had live chicks with yolk sacs outside and the 4th egg is still in the incubator with the chick alive. I don't hold out much hope of it surviving but it's still breathing so we'll see what happens.

I have had other chicks hatch out in this incubator although the hatch rate has nt been good.

What would cause this to happen? Is it a temperature or humidity problem? Or just something wrong with the chicks / eggs?

I'm fairly new to this chicken thing so any help would be great.

Thanks Emma

What kind of incubator is it and what do you keep you temp and humidity at?

Hi,

The incubator is a novotal covatutto 12. I try to keep the temperature between 37 & 38 degrees. I find though that there is about 1 degree differance between the centre of the incubator and the outside so I tend to put the eggs in a ring at the outer edge of the incubator because the middle seems to be a bit hot. Humidity is 40% but I have the water chamber full and the vents closed and it never gets any higher than this.

I bought the incubator 2nd hand just to try the chicken thing out. I did buy a new thermometer and a humidity gauge to see if it was working correctly. I do have chicks hatching out but it tends to be 1 out of 6 the best I've had is 3 out of 6 eggs and none of the 3 survived past 2 weeks old. I'm thinking that the best way forward may be to buy a brand new automatic incubator because I think that maybe the problem.

Emma.

Does your incubator have a fan to circulate air?

What does that C temp translate into Farenheit?

What you are describing is in general usually attributed to consistently off temperatures, since they are late rather than early - probably too cool.

Have you calibrated your thermometers to be certain of their readings? That you need to do first. A consistent difference of a degree farenheit, or more seriously affects a hatch.

If it has a fan the temp needs to stay between 99.5 and 100 preferably. With safe limits from 99 -101/102 What that is on Celsius is not something I know but I'd bet good money a full degree swing on the celsius scale is WAY too big a swing for good incubation.

You're probably needing to shoot for fractions in a specific range between those numbers.

With a fan temps should be 99-101 at egg level.

Without a fan, you want temps consistently at 102 on top of the eggs.

You need to figure out what that is precisely in Celsius and work at that.

I'd bet you're running cool with those results.

okay looked it up...

With a fan, your temps should stay between 37.5 and 38.3.

Without a fan, you're looking for 38.8 read at the top of the eggs.

37 would be consistently unsafely low in both cases and quite low in the second case.

First check your thermometer for accuracy... then check your temps.

Your swing is too broad - try adding jars filled with warm (38 degrees if there are eggs in the bator) water then tightly shut, inside the incubator to stabilize your swing.

Once you're sure of your temps and eliminate some of that swing you should get better hatches.

I think you answered your own question...you opened them to see what was going on! I recenlty killed 2 chix cause I was too impatient; hadn't hatched yet with the others. HAD to see what was going on! Yolk sack was still outside. Probably wasn't ready. Now I keep my hands off!

weak, yolk not absorbed at 23 days- signs of low temps. If just slightly low, chick may still hatch, possibly as late as day 25. these chicks usually are not as healthy as 21 day chicks but some will survive.

Hi,

Thanks for the replys I have increased the temperature and also placed a bowl of water in the incubator to increase the humidity a bit. Fingers crossed for the next batch.

From what I have been told if a chick has nt hatched by 21 days then there is something wrong. It may survive if it's helped but it won't ever be as strong as a chick thats made it on it's own. The weaker chicks would also be more prone to disease and that would then endanger the rest of the chicks. The same person also said that after 23days open the eggs to see what has happened eg slow development or no development. I have opened all previous eggs that have nt hatched by 21days and have never found live chicks before.

How long do you leave your eggs in the incubator if they don't hatch at 21days? At what point do you give up? Do you open the eggs to check the development? If you have had a late hatching chick do they actually survive as a normal chick would? Or do they have problems?

Sorry loads of questions, just curious to know how other people do things.

Emma.

Chicks only hatch at 21 days IF the temps were correct through the incubation. I run slightly warm and all mine hatch at 19-20 days depending on breed.

Chicks can hatch at 22-25 days if temps were consistently low - as yours were, and still do well but people often kill them opening them or throw them out, thinking there is something wrong. And there isn't anything wrong with the chick but the incubation ran long due to improper temperatures.

In that case the chick is not defective - the person and the incubator are.

Until you consistently get 80-90% or better hatched out at 21 then you're temps are low and you're prolonging the hatch and if you don't get them the time they need then, of course, they can't hatch properly on time.

Few chicks can hatch at 21 days if your temps are off.

A bowl of water will raise humidity but WILL NOT help stabilize temps. A sealed jar of water will act as a "heat sink" and help prevent temperature swings that are affecting the timing of your hatches.

An exterior yolksac and delayed low hatch is a product of low temps AND a broad swing. You have to eliminate the swing as well. A humidity problem does not create late hatches/external sac problems.

Hi i had eggs under a broody hen was due tomorow was chirpinbg early went to ck wgg was cracked basby out but yolk sac isoutside bsaby still alive what csn i do please herlp asap