Eggtopsy: What happened to my egg? {Graphic Pictures}

[PD-Riverman]

I agree----you seem to have done your home---work. I read you are getting the Brinsea and hope that helps a lot. For your incubator now---keep your eye open for containers that you can stick in the bottom for more water surface or little single trays like you put spoons/forks in or similar that you can set on top of the wire after you take the turner out----maybe around the edge. That will help a lot with the humidity.

I agree some incubator brands seem to hatch better than others and "I" try so hard to help anyway I can with info---hoping a person can have a better hatch next time around----Being Honest I wish EVERYONE could hatch like I do----I started out with bad hatches in the Styrofoam, figured out somethings I was doing wrong and now I have good hatches with them. I built my own cabinet incubator and hatcher and use them mainly---I been having 95 to 100% hatches using them in the last 2 years---my last hatch was 99%---233 chicks out of 236 eggs. I hope if you put 20 eggs in your new Brinsea---I hope all are fertile and you get 100% hatch on your first set. Good Luck!!

 

[harrellkd]

I agree----you seem to have done your home---work. I read you are getting the Brinsea and hope that helps a lot. For your incubator now---keep your eye open for containers that you can stick in the bottom for more water surface or little single trays like you put spoons/forks in or similar that you can set on top of the wire after you take the turner out----maybe around the edge. That will help a lot with the humidity.

I agree some incubator brands seem to hatch better than others and "I" try so hard to help anyway I can with info---hoping a person can have a better hatch next time around----Being Honest I wish EVERYONE could hatch like I do----I started out with bad hatches in the Styrofoam, figured out somethings I was doing wrong and now I have good hatches with them. I built my own cabinet incubator and hatcher and use them mainly---I been having 95 to 100% hatches using them in the last 2 years---my last hatch was 99%---233 chicks out of 236 eggs. I hope if you put 20 eggs in your new Brinsea---I hope all are fertile and you get 100% hatch on your first set. Good Luck!!

Thank you so so much for your help! I'm happy with the three chicks I have, but I think I'm going to stick with the new Brinsea for now and put the styrofoam bator up for a while. It's too sad to have so many die so late in the process! If you have a chance, PM me what your hatching process looks like. Maybe the next time I try I can make some more adjustments. Do you think adding a humidifier in the room would help at all? It's just really dry right now where I am. It could also be the strange cold and hot weather that we've been having. Maybe that somehow affected the viability of the eggs from the beginning? I don't know.... Thanks again!!!

 

[WVduckchick]

Thank you so so much for your help! I'm happy with the three chicks I have, but I think I'm going to stick with the new Brinsea for now and put the styrofoam bator up for a while. It's too sad to have so many die so late in the process! If you have a chance, PM me what your hatching process looks like. Maybe the next time I try I can make some more adjustments. Do you think adding a humidifier in the room would help at all? It's just really dry right now where I am. It could also be the strange cold and hot weather that we've been having. Maybe that somehow affected the viability of the eggs from the beginning? I don't know.... Thanks again!!!

You will love the Brinsea. Its basically set-it-and-forget-it! I didn't like the metal rails at first, they took a little getting used to. I suggest using the foam between them. Don't try to squeeze the eggs too tight between the rails, let the foam hold them.

I run the first 18 days with no water in the wells, I start with the humidity set on 27%. I check the air cells at day 7-10ish and adjust up to 30% or down to 25% if necessary. Mid-day 18, I add water to both wells, (food-coloring in the water helps to see the levels!) and change the unit to 68% humidity setting. Of course, your area may require different settings, but those are the numbers I use. My area's humidity fluctuates from wring-your-shirt-out wet, to very dry days also. There are days that we run the furnace at night and the air conditioner during the day, all in the same day. But the humidity pump keeps it all in check without me worrying about it. The only indication I have is whether the level in the humidity pump reservoir goes down quickly or slowly, but it holds enough that I rarely add any to it through a full hatch cycle. I remove the eggs, remove the rails, and lay the eggs down on rubber shelf liner inside the basket.

Oh, also -- I have the temp set on 100.3-100.5 to maintain 99.5-100 according to the Spot Check at egg level. I think others raise the setting to compensate in this manner also, so I would suggest checking that out on your unit.

 

[harrellkd]

You will love the Brinsea. Its basically set-it-and-forget-it! I didn't like the metal rails at first, they took a little getting used to. I suggest using the foam between them. Don't try to squeeze the eggs too tight between the rails, let the foam hold them.

I run the first 18 days with no water in the wells, I start with the humidity set on 27%. I check the air cells at day 7-10ish and adjust up to 30% or down to 25% if necessary. Mid-day 18, I add water to both wells, (food-coloring in the water helps to see the levels!) and change the unit to 68% humidity setting. Of course, your area may require different settings, but those are the numbers I use. My area's humidity fluctuates from wring-your-shirt-out wet, to very dry days also. There are days that we run the furnace at night and the air conditioner during the day, all in the same day. But the humidity pump keeps it all in check without me worrying about it. The only indication I have is whether the level in the humidity pump reservoir goes down quickly or slowly, but it holds enough that I rarely add any to it through a full hatch cycle. I remove the eggs, remove the rails, and lay the eggs down on rubber shelf liner inside the basket.

Oh, also -- I have the temp set on 100.3-100.5 to maintain 99.5-100 according to the Spot Check at egg level. I think others raise the setting to compensate in this manner also, so I would suggest checking that out on your unit.

The Brinsea did great!!!!! 18 out of 21 even with a power outage of 45 minutes! Whoo hoo! Yay for good incubators

 

[harrellkd]

I agree----you seem to have done your home---work. I read you are getting the Brinsea and hope that helps a lot. For your incubator now---keep your eye open for containers that you can stick in the bottom for more water surface or little single trays like you put spoons/forks in or similar that you can set on top of the wire after you take the turner out----maybe around the edge. That will help a lot with the humidity.

I agree some incubator brands seem to hatch better than others and "I" try so hard to help anyway I can with info---hoping a person can have a better hatch next time around----Being Honest I wish EVERYONE could hatch like I do----I started out with bad hatches in the Styrofoam, figured out somethings I was doing wrong and now I have good hatches with them. I built my own cabinet incubator and hatcher and use them mainly---I been having 95 to 100% hatches using them in the last 2 years---my last hatch was 99%---233 chicks out of 236 eggs. I hope if you put 20 eggs in your new Brinsea---I hope all are fertile and you get 100% hatch on your first set. Good Luck!!

Brinsea was great!!!!! 18/21 babies hatched!!!!!! I had a power outage for about 45 minutes and still got 18 chicks! Hooray!!! I feel a lot less discouraged about incubating now. Its nice to finally have a batch of happy chirping babies!

Maybe I'll be brave enough to pull out the styro and try to continue to figure it out later on down the road. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Deepfriedbeauty]

This egg was under my broody for 25 days before I gave up. It was the first time I had tried to hatch any and we started with only 3. Two were discarded by the hen early on. I had such high hopes for this little one. It was moving around like crazy on day 19. Days 20 and 21 I could still feel little movements through the shell. Should I have not been touching it? It looks like it almost made it. Any ideas on what happened?

 

[PD-Riverman]

This egg was under my broody for 25 days before I gave up. It was the first time I had tried to hatch any and we started with only 3. Two were discarded by the hen early on. I had such high hopes for this little one. It was moving around like crazy on day 19. Days 20 and 21 I could still feel little movements through the shell. Should I have not been touching it? It looks like it almost made it. Any ideas on what happened?

It looks like it made it till close hatching time. Things happen----who has he exact right answer why???

Let me give you something to think about. """I""" am a firm believer that a boody hens should NOT be bother during their hatch----the last 3 or 4 days. I do not even tilt her to see the eggs during this time, because I believe it causes the moisture to escape that's needed for the hatch----I for sure do not remove a eggs to look at it. I am a TOTALLY hands off during this time-and I have set probably 150 hens in the last 3 years-----ALL 150 of them hatched, on time, with rarely a slight problem and rarely a fertile egg that did not hatch.

Some will say it does matter, all I am posting is my personal results------something for you to think about. Good Luck in your future hatches.

 

[WVduckchick]

This egg was under my broody for 25 days before I gave up. It was the first time I had tried to hatch any and we started with only 3. Two were discarded by the hen early on. I had such high hopes for this little one. It was moving around like crazy on day 19. Days 20 and 21 I could still feel little movements through the shell. Should I have not been touching it? It looks like it almost made it. Any ideas on what happened?

I don't see much of an air cell? And the 3rd pic looks like it never broke into the air cell. Appears to me that maybe like it just didn't get into correct positioning to hatch. The beak should be up under the wing by that point, I believe. I'm not an expert though.

Is it really humid there? Was the hen's area damp/humid?

Sorry for your loss, but this is how we learn, so thank you for sharing.

 

[sprucie]

Is it possible to have too high of humidity if you are using dry incubation? I had a bunch fail to hatch, and they all had yolk sacs that were not absorbed. I never added water at the beginning, and the humidity readings were in the low 30's to high 20's during the first 18 days. I added water, and it got to between 65-75% humidity during lockdown. Only 3 chicks hatched. I have a hovabator 2362 with the fan, and candled at days 7, 14, and 18 just before lockdown. What did i do wrong?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Is it possible to have too high of humidity if you are using dry incubation? I had a bunch fail to hatch, and they all had yolk sacs that were not absorbed. I never added water at the beginning, and the humidity readings were in the low 30's to high 20's during the first 18 days. I added water, and it got to between 65-75% humidity during lockdown. Only 3 chicks hatched. I have a hovabator 2362 with the fan, and candled at days 7, 14, and 18 just before lockdown. What did i do wrong?

Mercy, that's a big question. And that question will be answered many ways. The Humidity sounds about right for most. Let me ask you a few questions that could have caused this---""IN My area".
1. When you added the water on day 18----did you open the incubator ANY for the next 3 days?
2. Did you open the incubator to remove the hatched chicks--as they were hatching?
3. Were these 3 that hatched the only 3 that pipped?