Help me...why are they not pipping? (Eggtopsy pics)

[Norcal527]

Please help...I'm having some horrible hatching luck. And the worst part is that my fully formed chicks are dying in lockdown which to me is so much more disappointing than early quitters!

I'm using both a Brinsea Octagon and a cheap 56 egg bator from amazon. I noticed more early deaths in the amazon and I had a hard time keeping humidity low enough. I just had a horrible hatch of local eggs with 4 out of 15 eggs hatching. At least 6 died in lockdown.

Today's hatch I had 11 local eggs make it to lockdown...8 hatch...1 had unabsorbed yolk and died quickly (I did not assist this chick it hatched all on it's own on day 21). 3 dead in shell no internal pip. I'm attaching pics.

What is causing this? I used the cheap bator to hatch since its large and has no problem keeping humidity over 60% (I have 2 hygrometer). Use a brinsea spot check thermometer and it's been pretty steady at 99+ (I kept it a bit lower temp this time due to a lot of early quitters on recent hatches)

I have 12 shipped eggs I just set in my brinsea (trying dry hatch this time). I have 20 more local eggs to add tomorrow and I dont want this to happen again! These are expensive breeds.. an investment in my breeding lineup. I will add that all the chicks that hatched have been healthy and beautiful but I think I'm running about it 15% hatch rate and I can't continue with that! Using the same brinsea incubator a few years ago I had a hundred percent Hatches even on shipped eggs! I'm not putting any in the Amazon bator now but I'd like to use it as a hatcher if I can figure this out!

 

[Doublete]

I’m going to follow this because I am having the same issues... but chalked it up to shipped eggs... mine are dying in lockdown and not pipping which is just so frustrating

 

[Norcal527]

I’m going to follow this because I am having the same issues... but chalked it up to shipped eggs... mine are dying in lockdown and not pipping which is just so frustrating

My experience is the shipped eggs you usually will have fewer develop but there has to be a reason these babies aren't hatching...they look perfect...I cant tell if this is "shrinkwrapping"? The membrane doesnt seem tough on most of them except the one pic I posted where its dry. Sigh. Hope someone can help us!

 

[2 many chickens]

If your humidity is too high it can cause this. That's what I'm thinking.

35%- 40% is what I use days 1-18
Then 60%-65% at lock down and hatch

 

[americanchicks]

If your humidity is too high it can cause this. That's what I'm thinking.

35%- 40% is what I use days 1-18
Then 60%-65% at lock down and hatch

I agree I had the same problem. I figured directions on incubator said between 55%-60% but when hatch day came, even though there was cheeping in the egg, all of them died in the shell. I now keep it between 40%-45% and its been great.

 

[Norcal527]

If your humidity is too high it can cause this. That's what I'm thinking.

35%- 40% is what I use days 1-18
Then 60%-65% at lock down and hatch

Thanks...that's what I was thinking was the problem. The new incubator has huge wells so it is hard to keep it low enough. I've never seen this happen in previous hatches. I'm gonna try placing a cup of water in the corner instead of the wells and see if that helps.

 

[ocap]

@mlm Mike @Sally Sunshine

 

[Doublete]

My experience is the shipped eggs you usually will have fewer develop but there has to be a reason these babies aren't hatching...they look perfect...I cant tell if this is "shrinkwrapping"? The membrane doesnt seem tough on most of them except the one pic I posted where its dry. Sigh. Hope someone can help us!

I’m keeping my humidity lower this time around...
Almost dry hatching levels (low 30s)... will just pick it up to 60-70
For lock down
We will see
I just had 4 not hatch two days ago... fully developed- but not dry hatched
So maybe they were too high humidity during incubation?

 

[Norcal527]

I’m keeping my humidity lower this time around...
Almost dry hatching levels (low 30s)... will just pick it up to 60-70
For lock down
We will see
I just had 4 not hatch two days ago... fully developed- but not dry hatched
So maybe they were too high humidity during incubation?

I'm also doing a dry hatch this time around. Fingers crossed