Help with my low hatch rate! 😭

[Annabell1234]

So I have been going by the text book. I used to be so good at it once upon a time. My old incubator bit the dust (little giant still air) so I upgraded to the new digital little giant. I also got a Hoovabator still air now. Trying to hatch silkie eggs and paid a lot of money for 30 eggs and only 14 made it.
-I hand turn my eggs with clean hands 3 times a day.
-I try to keep my incubator at 45-60% 99-101degrees
before day 18. Candling them on day 7 and 14.
-lock down at day 18 60-70% 99-101degrees (maybe I should locked them down sooner some started pipping at day 19 silkie eggs)
* I just ordered more eggs they aren’t cheap imma try it again but before I get them I need advice and help.. they aren’t shipped local pickup.
I’ve been reading about a dry hatch vs a wet hatch any advice please help.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I've heard that silkies tend to have more abnormalities than other chicks which leads to a lower hatch rate, i've never hatched that kind myself though.

I so dry hatch myself. I live in a very humid environment though and the aircells don't shrink if there's water added. For the last 3 days, less if i really have to push it to lose more humidity i add water to get to 50% once they start hatching it easily goes up to 70%

I would recommend going up to turning 5x a day. Ages ago when i was turning everything by hand turning more often upped my hatch rate.

Only mess with your humidity if the aircell isnt growing like it's supposed to.

 

[Annabell1234]

I've heard that silkies tend to have more abnormalities than other chicks which leads to a lower hatch rate, i've never hatched that kind myself though.

I so dry hatch myself. I live in a very humid environment though and the aircells don't shrink if there's water added. For the last 3 days, less if i really have to push it to lose more humidity i add water to get to 50% once they start hatching it easily goes up to 70%

I would recommend going up to turning 5x a day. Ages ago when i was turning everything by hand turning more often upped my hatch rate.

Only mess with your humidity if the aircell isnt growing like it's supposed to.

Did you end up switching to an automatic turner?
The humidity I’m afraid is where I’m messing up I hate to try out a new method with another set of expensive eggs but what I’m doing isn’t working so I may try the dry hatch method. I guess?

 

[Rose Quartz]

Yes i do use an auto turner now. I was building my own incubators when i first started, turning 40 eggs by hand 5x a day. It was a lot of work. I bought the auto turner and then realized it wouldnt fit my home made incu. So i finally bought a hovabator with forced air and have been using that since.

When you candle your eggs are you just looking for movement, or are you checking your aircell size?

 

[killmak]

When did they quit. Was it early or late. Did you open the shells to see why they didn't make it. I am hatching my first batch of silkies in my homemade incubator. I keep humidity low until lockdown. Roughly 20%. I started with 12 silkies and 24 mixed. 3 of the silkies were not fertilized and 3 or the mixed were not fertilized. Out of the remaining 30 4 of the mixed quit early. We are on day 17 now and I am starting lockdown now. All the rest look good and have good sized air cells. I have my temperature set to hover between 37 and 38C with two fans to move the air around, although I still have a hot spot in the center where I don't set eggs. I manually turn 3 times per day.

TLDR: need more information on when the eggs stopped developing and why they died if they died late.

 

[mcdze]

tips i can offer - 45 on humidity is a bit low, especially if you allow temps to 101 .. not humidity for humiditys sake, but say youve got temps over 100 at 60+ humidity and 'then' it dips below 50 humidity .. now temps can widely fluctuate a few degrees higher in spots and kill some embryos .. its safer to stabilize humidity at 60+% and target temp 'below' 100 .. 98.5-99 .. and pay particular attention to the level/amount of water you need to maintain and how often you need to replenish ..if it gets 'dry' it can as said, spike temps ... also its a good idea to quickly rock the lid up and down to ensure oxygen levels stay up and other gases dont build up, do this 2-3 times a day ... of course if you hand turn, thats covered, but id say an auto turner is more ideal, hand turning itl be open too long and tend to keep it too destabilized ..

 

[Annabell1234]

When did they quit. Was it early or late. Did you open the shells to see why they didn't make it. I am hatching my first batch of silkies in my homemade incubator. I keep humidity low until lockdown. Roughly 20%. I started with 12 silkies and 24 mixed. 3 of the silkies were not fertilized and 3 or the mixed were not fertilized. Out of the remaining 30 4 of the mixed quit early. We are on day 17 now and I am starting lockdown now. All the rest look good and have good sized air cells. I have my temperature set to hover between 37 and 38C with two fans to move the air around, although I still have a hot spot in the center where I don't set eggs. I manually turn 3 times per day.

TLDR: need more information on when the eggs stopped developing and why they died if they died late.

They all made it to lock down except 4 out of 30 eggs. (They died early stages but was fertile) 26 at lockdown and 14 made it. I opened one and the yolk wasn’t dissolved. The other ones I did not open because I didn’t see a internal pip inside the egg when I candled them. I was afraid of a smell since I waited 2-3 days after day 21 before giving up on them and throwing them away.