Advice needed any help greatly appreciated.

[Rosy Starling]

Hi, this is my first hatch and I would like to ask some advice. I had no idea about shipping eggs and the consequences so set eggs after only standing for a couple of hours without candling as I didn't know I should. I manually turned eggs with clean hands 5 times a day. At day 5 I candled and was surprised my eggs did not resemble any that I'd seen on the internet (this is where experience or lack of it comes in). I soon realized they had detached air cells so placed them upright in a cut down egg box. Two were infertile so where discarded and on day 8 two had a blood ring so where also set aside. Two now remain and are moving but still with massive detached air cell. However, up until day 5 when all were still in the incubator they were losing weight on target but since removing 4 eggs they have lost 1g more than they should at this time. So on day 10 I added water to the second well to increase humidity so chicks might catch up in weight. However, today I am now questioning this logic so I have since dried up second well and humidity resting back at 45%. I am concerned that they are underweight but with the huge air cell I wonder is this normal? Should I increase humidity to even out weigh loss or continue on this normal trajectory? Also should I continue to turn (lean) eggs up until day 18 or should I stop at day 16? Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Tonyroo]

You might wanna go read up on some threads about incubating eggs on here. To give you an idea of the way other people incubate there eggs and the methods for successful hatch.

 

[333113]

On your humidity questions:
When you remove eggs from the incubator you are removing a source of moisture so, yes, the humidity would drop somewhat.

I would keep the humidity where your incubator manufacturer recommends, and try to keep the eggs on the normal trajectory for weight loss. Often, people will wash eggs before they ship them which removes the cuticle or bloom. This makes the egg more porous and more likely to lose moisture. You will have to make that up by increasing the humidity in your incubator.

For turning, it won't matter much whether you stop on day 16 or 18. Once they pip, they have started the hatching process, so you won't want to disturb them much after that.

Hope this helps!

 

[Rosy Starling]

On your humidity questions:
When you remove eggs from the incubator you are removing a source of moisture so, yes, the humidity would drop somewhat.

I would keep the humidity where your incubator manufacturer recommends, and try to keep the eggs on the normal trajectory for weight loss. Often, people will wash eggs before they ship them which removes the cuticle or bloom. This makes the egg more porous and more likely to lose moisture. You will have to make that up by increasing the humidity in your incubator.

For turning, it won't matter much whether you stop on day 16 or 18. Once they pip, they have started the hatching process, so you won't want to disturb them much after that.

Hope this helps!

Yes they were washed before shipping to me. I didnt know to compensate for this. They are now on day 16 and alive but weigh less than 13% more like 15%. I have periodically been filling the second water well and humidity is about 50% now but I am concerned they have lost too much weight.

 

[Rosy Starling]

You might wanna go read up on some threads about incubating eggs on here. To give you an idea of the way other people incubate there eggs and the methods for successful hatch.

I have but nothing that relates to my specific issue.

 

[333113]

Yes they were washed before shipping to me. I didnt know to compensate for this. They are now on day 16 and alive but weigh less than 13% more like 15%. I have periodically been filling the second water well and humidity is about 50% now but I am concerned they have lost too much weight.

It's okay. I am happy and not surprised that they are alive. The advice for hatching is all aimed at the ideal environment, but very few chicks get to experience "ideal," even under a broody mom, any more than we do. So, just do your best to aim for it, but don't worry if it's not exactly on target.

You will want to read up on the pipping and hatching process ahead of time, so you know what to expect. You probably have already done this, since you sound very conscientious.

If they need assistance in hatching, it would probably be because of being too dry, so read up on that (here is my favorite article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/ )
and have your materials ready. I have assisted lots of eggs to hatch, partly because I ship most of my best eggs and keep the older or dirty ones for myself.

 

[Rosy Starling]

It's okay. I am happy and not surprised that they are alive. The advice for hatching is all aimed at the ideal environment, but very few chicks get to experience "ideal," even under a broody mom, any more than we do. So, just do your best to aim for it, but don't worry if it's not exactly on target.

You will want to read up on the pipping and hatching process ahead of time, so you know what to expect. You probably have already done this, since you sound very conscientious.

If they need assistance in hatching, it would probably be because of being too dry, so read up on that (here is my favorite article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/ )
and have your materials ready. I have assisted lots of eggs to hatch, partly because I ship most of my best eggs and keep the older or dirty ones for myself.

Thank you Connie for your sound advice, it is most appreciated. I have, as you suspected read as much as I can and the above linked article is a GOD send. I happened to have read it a few times in preparation as I think I might need it. A question always comes to mind though. When do you decide to make the Safe Hole? It explains in the article that no harm can come from making this prior to running into difficulty (as it is so small). I think this might? be a wise move. I candled the eggs today and mostly all black except for the distended air cell which is largely at the blunt end but descends down one side also. I have marked it on the shell so I will know where I can make the hole safely if necessary. Also I'm a little concerned that if eggs move about a bit prior to hatching, will they fall out of the cut down paper egg boxes. I am pretty sure they should be positioned upright to hatch.