Update. The Great Debate: Is it the incubator or the egg? - Page 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by yinepu 

 

 

overall for chickens the total lost would be 13% through the incubation... (some places say 12%)  13% over 21 days would be 0.62% per day .. by day 18 it would be 0.62 X 18 = 11.16%

 

so when you collect the eggs you would weigh them.. then make a note of the weight before you put them into the bator.. you can average the weights or weigh each egg  and do the math for individual eggs...every time you go to monitor them.. that part is up to you

 

so as an example lets say you have 5 eggs..

egg 1 weighs 63 grams

egg 2 weighs 61 grams

egg 3 weighs 64 grams

egg 4 weighs 62 grams

egg 5 weighs 65 grams

 

if you weigh each egg once a week (on the same day of the week and roughly the same time of day)

egg 1 weighs 63 grams and needs to lose a total of 8.19 grams throughout the entire incubation.. or (8.19 / 21 days = 0.39 grams per day X 7 days = 2.73 grams per week

egg 2 weighs 61 grams and needs to lose a total of 7.93 grams throughout the entire incubation.. or (7.93 / 21 days = 0.38 grams per day X 7 days = 2.66 grams per week

egg 3 weighs 64 grams and needs to lose a total of 8.32 grams throughout the entire incubation.. or (8.32 / 21 days = 0.40 grams per day X 7 days = 2.80 grams per week

egg 4 weighs 62 grams and needs to lose a total of 8.06 grams throughout the entire incubation.. or (8.06 / 21 days = 0.38 grams per day X 7 days = 2.66 grams per week

egg 5 weighs 65 grams and needs to lose a total of 8.45 grams throughout the entire incubation.. or (8.45 / 21 days = 0.40 grams per day X 7 days = 2.80 grams per week

 

if you are averaging all the weights together it would look like

63 +61+ 64 + 62 + 65 = 315 grams total weight of all eggs.. divided by the number of eggs to get the average ( /5 = 63 grams average weight)  after a week weigh the eggs again and average out the new weights.. for these eggs the expected average weight loss per week would be 2.73 grams

 

so looking at just egg 1:

day 0 (initial weight) 63 grams

day 7 weight:  60.27 grams

day 14 weight:  57.54 grams

day 21 weight: 54.81 grams

 

 

you can weigh eggs more often just do the math for however many days it will be

 

 

Thanks for that very detailed chart.  I just noticed today that a few of my chicks I have hatched over the last three months have bent or curved toes, I guess you can say deformed.  What do you think caused this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by yinepu 

 

 

curved or bent toes can be from a number of problems.. hereditary issues, riboflavin deficiency (vitamin B2), incubation temp too high (early hatches), also found in chicks which have been stuck in the shell for too long (very late hatches).. the usual cause though is the riboflavin deficiency in the parent stock

 

you can splint the toes if you catch it really early (like on day 1 after hatch).. people have reported good success using tape or making a little band-aid shoes for the chicks

I just noticed that the three chicks with the bent toes were shipped eggs that came from two different seller.  None of the chicks from my flocks eggs have bent toes.  But, another sad thing happened which only reinforces the reason I am hatching all these Gamefowls.  Yesterday it got to 104 degrees (new record) and today I found two of my healthiest RRs dead in their coops.  My RRs have clean fresh water, shade, lots of food and everything else I can give them and they still just die.  The can be perfectly healthy one day and die that night.  WHY!  Out of 45 RRs chicks I bought from the store and raised, I now only have 11 left after two years.

I have had six gamefowl hens for five year and I still have six gamefowl hens. This is the reason I am moving to gamefowl.  I just can't stand to walk out to my coop and find my hens dead.  

Update:  Just thought I would come back and let you all know the result of my last three hatches.  After the incident with the sticky chicks, I have been running my incubator totally dry.  I have not been adding a drop of water to it over the last three hatches (three weeks).  I have seen some decent hatches as a result with no sticky chicks and no bent toes.  I had not really taken notice before, but about 1 out of 4 chicks that I incubated using the recommended humidity had bent toes.  None of the chicks that I have hatched running my incubator dry have a bent toes.  My incubator has averaged about 22% humidity without adding a single drop of water.  On day 18 I moved the eggs to the hatcher that I have at 75% humidity.  I have had at least one chick hatch on day 19 and almost all the rest on day 20.  I have only had one or two chicks hatch on day 21.  My hatch rate has been about 90% on eggs going into the hatcher.  This does not mean I am getting  a 90% hatch rate over all, because I candle the eggs on days 7, 14 and 18, and remove the bad eggs.  Each batch started with 14 eggs, but my last three hatches have been 7, 11 and 8 live chicks.  On average, I lose 2 to 4 eggs out of each batch do to in-fertility or some other cause that killed the egg before it went into the incubator.  I have had about one or two early quiters in each batch and at least one developed chick that simply did not hatch for reasons I cannot determine.

I know these are not the best results, but it sure beats the heck out of having to constantly keep an eye on the humidity levels for 18 days and then having to stand by my hatcher for three days involved in a life and death struggle trying to save sticky chicks.  This way I only look at my incubator twice a week; once on Tuesday to move the eggs to the hatcher and once on Friday to candle the eggs and put the next batch of 14 eggs in the incubator.  It sure is a lot easier and less stressful this way.