Epic fail! Made it to day 18 then nothing

[chickchickchiky]

Well nothing has happened i put these eggs in on 4-3 and they were alive and rocking till day 18 and now they did not hatch so today i will pull them out and eggtopsy them. I think i drowned them even though i did the dry hatch method. Reason i think that is because the humidity in the room they were in was steady at 60% outside the bator and 28% inside with no water and they were alive till day 18 then on lock down i added all kinds of water to the bator like i read to do and got the humidity in the bator to 68% well i think this with not taking into account the humidity outside drowned them. The air sells were not huge when i candled before i went into lock down so i am pretty sure they drowned. This was my first attempt to hatch. I am going to try again with some silky eggs and this time i am not going to add all that water. I am going to add a spoon at a time and maintain the 30% at lock down and see if this works. temp maintained 100-101 the whole time. Any advice on this?

 

[SierraView]

I think you need higher humidity at lock down on the next try. Shoot for 55% maybe since it will go up around 10% soon as they start hatching. I do think your first hatch at 68% was to high. If you think you drowned them then your humidity from day 1 - 18 is what you need to try and change, though 28% should be low enough. My climate is dry so can't really help, maybe someone in a humid climate will have some advice.

 

[KLRA]

What I find extremely helpful is a small food scale used to weigh the eggs to monitor weight loss. I'm sure you've heard that eggs should lose about 14% of their total weight by the time they hatch. Weighing the eggs to monitor that weight loss makes it much easier to know where your humidity should be. I didn't even measure humidity during my most recent incubation attempt and I've got 7 out 8 chicks hatched so far, the last one still working on getting out as we speak. I weigh the eggs on days 1, 7, 14, and 18. If they're not on track to lose enough weight, I use less water. If they're right on track, I keep doing things the same. If they're losing too much weight, I try to maintain a water level instead of letting it dry out every few days. If you need any help or any of this is confusing, please PM me. I'd be happy to chat with you about it some more or show you pics of what I've done

 

[chickchickchiky]

That sounds good. It did not help that i started with Black Cooper maran and Ameraucana eggs that are too dark to see much of anything in but you live and learn. I would like to try to hatch silkie eggs next so i will try to weigh them like you are saying and go from there. I did notice however when i candeled on days 7, 14 and 18 that the air cell did not grow alot which from what i am seeing in diagrams it is supposed to get deeper as time passes. I did the float test and i know i had live chicks as of the 18 day cause they were rocking but i even with that due to the air cell the humidity may have been too high. I kept them in a bathroom with no window's and the temp in there was at 70 degrees the whole time but like i said humidity was 60-65 variances. My bator is an LG still air with a turner. I had 2 hygrometers one outside one inside and 3 thermometers which all matched except the one that came with the bator which i was told was not a very good one to trust.

Should i move the bator to my room maybe? The humidity in there would not be so high and might be more the norm as far as humidity goes.

 

[KLRA]

You could try your bedroom. I keep mine in my bedroom closet and it's worked perfectly in there. It's all trial and error, unfortunately, until you find the right place and the right settings for your environment. Sorry you had such a rough hatch, and hope you have better results next time.

 

[gnatboy911]

I'm going to try the weighing method next time also. I didn't this time and I only got 12 out of 32 that went into lock down. I candled them before lockdown and they all looked good. I'm kinda bummed.

What is the water test to check for viable eggs? can you explain what to look for and why you do it?

thanks!

Nate.

 

[chickchickchiky]

Egg floating test do a search on here and you will find it. It used to be done to see if eggs were still good to sell but can be used for incubated eggs to check for viable eggs. Basically the air cell helps the egg float and based on how much bobs above water you know how big the air cell is and also if there is a live chick in there they rock in the still water. The water has to be at 100 degrees when you float and dud eggs will not float and sink. There is also a video on a post here on BYC that show's the moving eggs. Mine were rocking when i tested them so i know i had live chicks on day 18 at lock down.

 

[silkiechicken]

You dissected them right? What did you find? Was the air cell pipped at all, where was the yolk sac? Was there any developmental issues with the chicks themselves? Day 18 chicks will have yolk sacs outside their bodies, day 19 chicks will start adsorbing them...you can find pics of different days of incubation and what you expect to see. Google Hamburger and Hamilton.

Personally, if I'm on day 18, just wait three more days vs dipping a porous egg into water. They do breathe through that shell. If I was going to float test, I'd do it after I think all the chicks that are alive are going to hatch.

 

[chickchickchiky]

I did the eggtopsies and they drowned the humidity was too high some quit before day 18 and where not fully formed but had chicks and the 3 that would have been full term did not pip the air cell and still had yolk sac but not huge one for sure was ready to hatch as it had absorbed the whole thing. So confusing

I want to hatch eggs so bad. I ordered a batch of silkies to try again but this time i am going to move the bator to my room and not add all that water and stuff. I did meet a lady here that i bought guineas from that can help me as she hatches all the time so hopefully with her help since she is local i can get them hatched and i am going to add the fan to the bator.

 

[MI chickens]

If you maintain 28% humidity in the incubator your doing good, it doesn't matter what your room humidity is, 28% is what affects the eggs. If your room temp and humidity stay even then that's a good place to put an incubator. If your room temps change drastically then the incubator will have a hard time staying even temps.

With room humidity at 60% at 70degrees relative humidity should equal about 28% at 100degrees, so that sounds right. But it a good idea to check your hygrometer using a salt test. I wish I would have done that before my last hatch, it was reading way off, drowning chicks.

If I did 28% days 1-18, 68% lockdown; I would be expecting a good hatch.So what happened to you doesn't make sense.Did you keep an eye on the temps when you raised the humidity for lockdown? I know when I change the humidity levels in my incubator, the thermostat goes off a little bit, but that might just be a quirk with my incubator.