100 percent failure

[TNBarnQueen]

Quote:
I do agree with you Buck!
AirPlaneGuy....please, please do not give up. A friend and I lost 90% of our chicks...felt bad for my friend cause she had around 100.00 in her eggs. I did a trial on some of my own. Anyways...we fell victim to incorrect info too and the majority of our chicks drowned. It was frustrating and you feel guilty as crap BUT..some things are a learning process. Trying it again will be good for you. Maybe only do several eggs so that if something bad happens your loss is not so big. My friend and I are starting seperate incubations. She bought a new Hovabator and I am using a friends Still Air LG. I have kept my H between 30-35 with temp at 102 (for still air you need a higher temp). I will be locking down tomorrow and will raise the H only to around 45 but no more than 50. I will only use plugs to help regulate things. So far this past Friday I candled the eggs and you could even see the chicks moving around..really cool. So I will know this Friday how things go. But I do encourage you to not give up. I assure you that you will learn something new every time you incubate a clutch of eggs. =-)

 

[jgravilusmc]

my first hatch just hatched last week only 6 made it to the stretch out of 14. only 4 made it past that. prob to hi of humidity

 

[cartersmith]

some times i believe its luck of the draw...i have just hatched my first lot of eggs...i brought 12 threw 2 away after aweek as they were infertile the other 10were doing really well until my incubator malfunctioned and temp went sky high...i brought a new incubator transfered the eggs only to find a few days later that broke and temp dropped to around 70.....was not having much luck at all, but i held out hope......i fiddled with the old incubator a little and finally got it working but the temp was not steady up and down all the while but i thought they made it this far lets see what happens, anyway ive had 7 out the 10 hatch yesterday and the day before the other 3 were fully formed chicks but dead in the shell for some reason....one had a thick gooey liquid all round it so think may have drowned the other 2 were wrapped tightly in the sack so think they suffercated...
but for my first hatch and all the problems i had i think 7 out of 12 is dam well good lol

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
your humidity was to high at the end, for some reason its getting to be fashionable to raise the humidity very high at the end, you are not the only one with this trouble, when you raise it that high you drown your chicks, 50% all the way through works fine and you didn't say what your temp was, and still air or forced (fan) that also makes a difference

Thank you!!!! I read about so many people using humidity up to 75% for lockdown and I just KNOW they are going to drown! People need to start realizing it is better to have a live shrink wrapped chick than a dead drown one.

To the OP: You didn't know any better and followed instructions from a trusted source. Don't knock yourself. What humidity you keep your bator at has a lot to do with your climate. Not everyone incubates the same way either.

Please don't give up either. I had many failed hatches when I first started, and eventually found the right humidity level for my climate and have had success since.

I'm going to completely disagree here. If I incubated at 50% the whole way through I would get very soggy chicks and a few drowned ones. But if I didn't raise my humidity way high at the end, my chicks would have trouble getting out their shells. I know this from trial and error, and I now know that I get my best results when I incubate at 30-40% and lockdown at 80-85%. I have never drowned a chick doing it this way, never had a soggy one, and never had to intervene. I'm not recommending that anyone else follow my method though, as what works for me in my climate, with my house's heating system, in my bator and with my eggs may not work for other people. Humidity is something (like debiraymond says) that people really need to work out for themselves.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

you are an exception to the rule, if it works for your climate great, but as you said you have a low humidty till day 18, then raise it high at the end, most who are having problems are at 50% or higher till day 18, then raise it higher 70% or more, that is why they are drowning there chicks

hatching chicks is a natural thing, the eggs, ambanit temp, humidty in the outside air, where your, bator is, even still air or forced all make a difference and its different for everyone, i alway recomed keeping a log, write down everthing what you did, eggs shipped or not, even room temp, trial and error. It is one reason most of us who have hatched for awaile tell those who are new, don't use expencive eggs for your first few times and never expect any to hatch, if you get 50% your doing great, anything higher is cream, if shipped eggs one to hatch is great any more is cream, never count on any to hatch I don't, and I've been hatching for over 6 years

example, 13 shipped Lavender Orph eggs, $134, 3 where clear, but only 5 hatched, and I'm very happy,

 

[SarahIrl]

I see you converted a fridge and you are taking advice that your humidity was too high. My idea may be that you don't have adequate fresh air washing over your eggs. Common mistake and very easily rectified. In my experience the humidity levels you used would do just fine, I do exactly the same myself, 45%-50% then 70% to finish. I have consistently good rates. One was 98%.

Sarah

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
In that scenario, I'd say the 50% humidity on days 1-18 was the culprit, not the 70% humidity on days 18-21.

If an egg has lost the correct amount of liquid by day 18, it is not going to regain that liquid in lockdown even at humidities of 80%+. And if an egg has lost the correct amount of liquid, the chick will not drown. It isn't high lockdown humidity that causes chicks to drown, it is an overall too-high humidity right from day 1. The chick cannot drown until it internally pips and starts breathing inside the air sac, but it's the early humidity that causes the drowning.

 

[terrilhb]

Airplane don't feel bad. I put 24 in and they are hatching just fine except for one. It looked like it was coming out and had a pretty good hole but it looks like it drowned. The ones that have hatched are doing great. I don't know what happened. I am so sorry please don't give up. It is a learning experience. Sending lots of

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
In that scenario, I'd say the 50% humidity on days 1-18 was the culprit, not the 70% humidity on days 18-21.

If an egg has lost the correct amount of liquid by day 18, it is not going to regain that liquid in lockdown even at humidities of 80%+. And if an egg has lost the correct amount of liquid, the chick will not drown. It isn't high lockdown humidity that causes chicks to drown, it is an overall too-high humidity right from day 1. The chick cannot drown until it internally pips and starts breathing inside the air sac, but it's the early humidity that causes the drowning.

no I use 50% all the way through, i have never had drowned chicks, but as I've responded before, my incubator in in a shed that is heated to 50 degrees, by a kerosene bullet heater, so 50% works, its a dry place, there are to many variables to say its the 50% humidity that caused the problem, or even the 70%

 

[Gypsy07]

Airplane - You can tell for sure if they drowned by looking in the eggs. Break a small hole in the shell where the air sac is, and carefully peel back enough shell so you can see in. If the chick had broken through the membrane into the air sac and there is fluid in there, then it probably did drown. If the membrane is intact and the chick hadn't broken through to the air sac, then it didn't drown and the cause of death was something else. That's not to say it wouldn't have drowned if it had broken through to the air sac, just that it died before it had a chance to drown.

I think I'd maybe agree with SarahIrl that your oxygen levels could well have been too low.

I'd also agree with Buck Creek Chickens that keeping a log for each incubation is a very good idea.

Better luck with your next hatch!