My 2nd hatch hasn't gone nearly as well as the first. I have a Hovabator Genesis incubator and I set 23 eggs in my 2nd batch. On day 18, I was down to 18 eggs that had a "dark blob" on one end and a good air sac on the other. Several eggs pipped on day 20, hatched on day 21. In all I have 13 "babies" right now on day 23. I have one that completely zipped the shell and then appears to have died (??), no movement in 2 days. Another was zipping last nite and this morning is doing nothing. Temp is 99.9 to 100.2 and humidity is a constant 72%. I also have 3 eggs left that have done NOTHING. Should I let these stay in the 'bator a while longer or is it a hopeless cause? Any ideas what I did wrong this time? I thought I did everything the same as the last batch in which I hatched 13 of the 13 I placed in the 'bator on day 18. Maybe I am expecting too much?? Any suggestions are appreciated. THANKS
Hatches just do vary sometimes. Did you replace batteries in your thermometer/hygrometer if they're digital or did you rely solely on the HB? Did you disinfect the bator between hatchings and rinse and dry thorougly? Try drying it in the sun for some extra prevention (not that I've seen the sun in TN for forever right now) Were these eggs from different stock? Eggs are laid under different conditions each time they're laid. Shipped eggs are different. And even the same parentage can produce varying degrees of success. There are no guarantees, even the companies with climate controlled rooms and room size computer controlled incubators lose whole hatches. Nature will do what it does, we just do our best. Don't think there's anyone here who has done it for awhile that hasn't had partial or whole hatch failures. My first hatch resulted in one chick. It happens, you try to do everything right, every time but nature will always have the final say. Though it's painful to some degree - you learn from asking the questions resulting from failure than you ever do from automatic success.
