25 days, but not long enough

[uberstrassen]

After 25 days, I gave up on 4 eggs in my incubator. I popped open the first, and it looked like quiche. The next 2 had chicken embryos that had not absorbed the yolk. The last spilled blood on my hands, and the chick was alive! I put it in the incubator, but it doesn't look good... What did I do wrong??? I feel terrible.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm really sorry to hear about that.

The first one was probably unfertilized and that's why it was so gross. Perhaps the others had parents with poor genetics (the inability to hatch can be passed on). They may have not had proper humidity (and so got stuck in the eggs) or the temperature may have been low, which leads to chicks taking far longer to hatch.
Chicks that bleed a lot or are opened too early generally don't survive. I've experienced this numerous times when we were checking eggs, thinking they may have died, and found them to be alive.
Chicks may have trouble if bacteria gets into their shell or a chemical. Sometimes chicks suffer from a lethal gene that makes them so they can't hatch (Japanese bantams, for example, can suffer from this).

I hope things turn out better in the future. Best of luck!

 

[uberstrassen]

Thanks for your input. I think it was probably the temperature. I'm embarrassed to say that I thought the chicks would either hatch in 21 +/- days, or they would never hatch. I think, in retrospect, that 3 would likely have hatched. I don't have high hopes for the chick in the incubator, but I will know more the next time. Again, thank you.

 

[WalnutHill]

Thanks for your input. I think it was probably the temperature. I'm embarrassed to say that I thought the chicks would either hatch in 21 +/- days, or they would never hatch. I think, in retrospect, that 3 would likely have hatched. I don't have high hopes for the chick in the incubator, but I will know more the next time. Again, thank you.

Chicks should hatch in 21 days, but especially in the world of artificial incubation we don't provide optimal conditions for proper growth and hatching.

Chicks that don't hatch by the end of the 23rd day have VERY little chance of hatching without having serious health issues. If yours had survived another several days until they were prepared to hatch, they may still have not lived or been healthy.

Please check that your temperature is 100F before incubating again.

 

[uberstrassen]

Thanks. I definitely need a better thermometer. I appreciate the additional info.