So if I'm counting up right you had 26 eggs and you managed to hatch 16 chicks? That's actually a really respectable result for a first hatch so congratulations and don't be too hard on yourself about the ones that didn't make it out.
When you opened the eggs, were the chicks definitely dead, ie. no bleeding when you cracked the shell? If there was any bleeding then the chicks weren't actually dead yet. If they were definitely dead, were they ready to hatch with the yolk sacs totally absorbed, or did they still have some yolk sac left outside their bodies? The way I understand it, if the yolk sac was totally absorbed then the chick was doing okay right up to the last minute, and the problem was most likely to do with humidity levels during lockdown. Did you open the bator and take out the ones that had hatched while the last ten were still in there? That would cause humidity to fall and could reduce the chances of the other eggs hatching out. But if the yolk sacs were not totally absorbed then the chick died before it would have had a chance to pip, which could be due to loads of different causes that were nothing to do with you or the incubation, for example malnutrition in the parent birds causing a vitamin deficiency in the embryo. And were the eggs shipped to you? Shipped eggs always have a lower hatch rate.
Btw, those are just my thoughts from what I've learned from my first two hatches. I'm by no means an expert!
When you opened the eggs, were the chicks definitely dead, ie. no bleeding when you cracked the shell? If there was any bleeding then the chicks weren't actually dead yet. If they were definitely dead, were they ready to hatch with the yolk sacs totally absorbed, or did they still have some yolk sac left outside their bodies? The way I understand it, if the yolk sac was totally absorbed then the chick was doing okay right up to the last minute, and the problem was most likely to do with humidity levels during lockdown. Did you open the bator and take out the ones that had hatched while the last ten were still in there? That would cause humidity to fall and could reduce the chances of the other eggs hatching out. But if the yolk sacs were not totally absorbed then the chick died before it would have had a chance to pip, which could be due to loads of different causes that were nothing to do with you or the incubation, for example malnutrition in the parent birds causing a vitamin deficiency in the embryo. And were the eggs shipped to you? Shipped eggs always have a lower hatch rate.
Btw, those are just my thoughts from what I've learned from my first two hatches. I'm by no means an expert!
