Quote:
Originally Posted by
annabananaandfamily 
Well, believe it or not we had another chick hatch from our hatch-a-long eggs early this morning. Yesterday I was getting ready to clean out the incubator and toss the remaining eggs and found one had pipped. I tapped it and the little fella chirped! So i left them in over night and right after I got up, there he was! He's a cross between my barred rock hens and my red cochin...wonder what he will look like? So that brings my total hatched to 9. Hey! That also means I had a 50% hatch rate...not bad for a first time hatch :)
However, I have had several hatch with leg issues and I am pretty sure that it must have been caused by something during incubation. I have found lots of things saying it COULD be caused by conditions during incubation, but I cant find anything saying WHAT those conditions may be. I have another batch of eggs to set, and want to try and figure it out before I set them so today is research research research I guess! I also have read up on "dry" hatching and have decided thats what I am going to do for the next round.
Problems associated with incubation problems also include the health of the parents. If yours took more than 21 days the temperature was too low. Most sources say humidity is not as important as temperature. I suspect that ventilation is also very important. Keep the plugs out.
Problems include: Sticky chicks, late quitter, internal pip but dies in shell, egg yolk not absorbed, deformed chicks(yes that means leg, hip, bowel, feet and etc.)
Here is some information on causes:
University of Florida research came up with this list describing possible
causes for poor hatches:
18-21 day failure can be, in order of likelihood, the following:
1. Improper incubator temperature, humidity, turning, ventilation.
2. Improper hatcher temperature, humidity, ventilation.
3. Contamination, especially from molds (aspergillis, etc.).
4. Fumigation too severe or too prolonged.
5. Eggs chilled in transfer, or transferred too late.
6. Broken shell -- pre-set, during incubation, or at transfer.
7. Nutritional deficiencies -- vitamin D, vitamin A, folic acid, or
pantothenic acid, riboflavin, vitamin E, selenium, vitamin K, biotin, thiamin,
vitamin B12, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, or linoleic acid.
8. Embryonic malposition; embryo fails to move into proper hatching
position.
9. Embryological development accident. Failure to change to lung
respiration and all intra-embryonic circulation, and/or to retract the
intestinal loops and yolk sac. These and other changes are critical at this time.
10. Heredity -- lethal genes, chromosome abnormalities.
11. Twinning.
12. Hatcher opened too much during pipping and hatching.
13. Poor shell quality.
14. Breeder diseases.
Pipped. Full-term embryo, dead in shell.
Causes:
1. Low humidity or temperature for a prolonged period.
2. Low humidity during hatching.
3. High temperature during hatching.
4. Nutritional deficiencies.
5. Breeder diseases.
6. Poor ventilation.
7. Inadequate turning during first 12 days.
8. Injury during transfer.
9. Prolonged egg storage.
Shell partially pipped, embryo alive or dead.
Causes:
1. Excessive fumigation during hatching.
2. Eggs set small end up.
DH is looking at me sideways right now as he reads over my shoulder. He knows my cravings well enough to be nervous that I might actually do this! 
