All my chicks died!!!

[AmyLynn2374]

Hi all,
I had an issue with the incubator around 14 days in, for some reason it got rather hot and went to 40 degrees Celsius! I had the humidity at around 20% for the first 18 days. I then raised it to between 80 - 90% after that. The two that had internally pipped were rather wet and had a lot of fluid in with them. The one that had breeched the shell looked normal. what does the excessive fluid mean?

Ok. 40C is the equivelent to 104F. That can kill chicks, but if that happened at day 14 and your chicks made it to lockdown and hatch, then I'd say it wasn't there long enough or by the fact that your hatch is late, your thermometers are off. Late hatches are the first indicator that the temp is lower over the average than what it should be. For still air it should be about 101.5. Between 101-102 or 38.3 and 38.9C) You said the humidity was around 20% Were you running dry and not adding water? That number is in direct contrast with the extra fluid in the eggs, so I would say that the hygrometer you were using is not working. If they had a lot of fluid, that signifies that the egg did not loose enough moisture which points to high humidity over the first 17 days of incubation. Chances are if there was excess fluid in the egg and they pipped that the fluid entered the pip and drowned the chicks.

Oh It was a still air incubator, it isn't branded one I'm afraid just a generic one. It had a in built thermostat and humidity gage. Although this had this built in I had another one inside the machine too, I didn't quite trust the machine.

It sounds like you are using one of the Janoel knock offs. Yellow bator?


This is what I would do: Get a couple thermometers that you can verify the correct temps on. (Using a glass one checked by the ice water bath, you can verify any others that you have that are digital. Once you know that you have accurate therms, you're on the right track. (There's also a spot check put out by Brinsea that is highly recommended, cost around $20 I think.) Your hygrometers can be checked by the salt test for accuracy. Once you know your instruments are correct, check the bator running it dry and if it stays above 25% run it dry and add no water. I prefer 30%. Check your air cells at least days 7/14/18 and make sure that the air cells are growing properly. This will allow you to see for yourself whether you need to adjust humidity or not. At lockdown, I would shoot for 75% humidity. It'll go up when the chicks start hatching but will come back down. I am going to give you a couple links you might find useful. One is for the humidity method I use, one is an overall hatching guide (from a hands on perspective). I'll also add the link for calibrating/checking hygrometers.

http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
http://hatching411.weebly.com/
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/cigar-101/article/29/salt-test

 

[lilifluff]

I never thought to check if the they were working properly!!! Would It be better if I make one of my own rather then using the one I have already have?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I never thought to check if the they were working properly!!! Would It be better if I make one of my own rather then using the one I have already have?

If you can verify the temps and humidity and that bator will at least hold steady, there's no reason not to use it, just make sure all therms and hygros you are using are telling the trueth. I lost my very first hatch 2 years ago because I bought a brand new thermometer and never checked it. (Of course, who would think a new thermometer would be wrong, right?) I had one survivor (out of 17 eggs) that hatched day 24. I was told to check my thermometer. I did and found it was 6 degrees off! I was also running the highly touted 50% humidity. So between my temps being 6 degrees low and my humidity being high, it was a miracle I had even that one.

 

[lilifluff]

Thank you for your advice, I will surely double check the instruments I have. I'm also looking at the links you posted too. I would have never of thought of the suggestions you came up with.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for your advice, I will surely double check the instruments I have. I'm also looking at the links you posted too. I would have never of thought of the suggestions you came up with.

I hope you get it figured out and tweaked. I know how dissapointing a failed hatch can be.