ANOTHER failed hatch

[fowlwoman1]

I don't understand it! I haven't been really counting how many hatches have been failures, but I think it's been around 5. I can get them to develop until about day 16 pretty well, but after that they start dying one by one. I changed to less humidity during incubation and more ventilation, more sterilization of the incubator and my hands before handling them. I've been opening up the eggs after they die to see the condition of the chick inside. This last one seemed promising since on day 17 one of the dead chicks had almost completely absorbed its yolk and had no stink or green. Today when day 21 had come and gone with no pips, I decided to candle. The remaining 5 were dead. This time with green in the liquid. I don't understand why there is liquid since the humidity has been low (except of course for the last 3 days). It's like they poop when they die. Or they poop because they are distressed and then they die. The ones that managed to live before usually had green liquid and had major goo that quickly turned to crust. I thought the humidity had been too high during most of incubation so they had the goop. I haven't opened the last 4 eggs, but they are dead. I can see poop floating around inside the liquid in the egg and no spontaneous movement. WHY is there liquid inside the egg?! Humidity has been 30% to 40%, about a third of the egg is empty from evaporation. Everything is right, but they die. I didn't have the humidity gauge in there this time, but I know it was plenty high, probably around 70%. I don't feed my chickens bad food. There aren't any mystery weeds that they could be eating. Any ideas could be helpful.

 

[fowlwoman1]

Also, I had a very successful hatch by a broody last week. I had her incubate them from day 1. 15 out of 18 hatched. Two of those that didn't hatch probably weren't fertilized, and another had something like chickie cleft palate. So I"m using this information to eliminate a diseased flock or poor nutrition. It must be the incubation.

 

[Katy]

What kind of incubator are you using?

 

[fowlwoman1]

I am using a homemade cabinet incubator and a Little Giant for a hatcher.

 

[BirdBoy88]

Next time you incubate if i were you i would incubate the eggs in the LG and use the cabinet as a hatcher

i have 2 LG bators and they incubate great for me

Sorry about the failed hatch

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Fowl, I'm having the same issues. All my eggs are shipped so I know my % will be less but this has gotten to be ridiculous. I've done all the things you talked about...scrubbing the bator, correct temps and humidity but I'm still having embryonic death...usually "late" embryonic death...between day 18 and hatching day.

I JUST got through opening 5 "end of hatch" eggs. 4 of them had died around day 18-19. One of them had the navel cord wrapped around it's leg and probably died within the last 12 hours. It had even pipped the internal membrane but didn't get the shell pipped.

I'm wondering about "outside" issues now. Hot weather breeding, hot weather shipping, seller sources, other shipping issues, etc.

I received a box of 40 Araucana and Ameracauna eggs from Gary and I decided I was going to sanitize them. After I researched it, I decided to use Hydrogen Peroxide 3% and dipped each egg for 30 seconds then put it on paper towels to dry. I'm even using disposable latex gloves to turn the cartons so I don't contaminate that bator.

I just don't know either. I've decided that the eggs I have now will be the last for the year....probably...I think...unless a really good deal comes along....likely....

 

[MissPrissy]

Symptoms
Many dead embryos at early stages

Probable Cause
Improper incubation temperatures (usually too high)
Corrective Measures
Follow recommended incubation temperatures.

Probable Cause
Improper egg turning
Corrective Measures
Turn at least 3 times daily.

Probable Cause
Inherited low hatchability
Corrective Measures
Avoid cross breeding.
May need to secure different breeding stock.

Probable Cause
Improper ventilation Increase ventilation rate in incubator and/or room, but avoid drafts.
Corrective Measures
Add oxygen at high altitudes.

Probable Cause
Pullorum disease or other salmonelloses Use eggs from disease-free sources.
Corrective Measures
Have NPIP representatives blood-test the breeder flock.

Probable Cause
Improper nutrition of breeders
Corrective Measures
Provide a well-balanced nutritional diet to breeders.

http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html#ED​

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
I would also reverse your incubators and see what kind of results you get. Won't hurt to try.

 

[CindyS]

I also think you should try the lg for incubating AND hatching. If the homemade bator has major issues, it can destroy the eggs even if they have been incubated successfully. Since you had a successful hatch with the broody, many causes can be eliminated. Whats left would be temps and ventilation. What kind of thermometer are you using? is it accurate? Does the incubator have proper ventilation? Do the chicks look like they are a 21 day chick? If not, the extra fluid is from when they died at day 16 or whatever.

 

[speckledhen]

This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask. What hygrometer are you using? A common problem concerns people with the AcuRite with a probe. They think the probe reads humidity in the bator(nope), but only the entire unit reads humidity. They put the unit outside the bator and it's reading room humidity rather than bator humidity so they keep adding water in an attempt to raise humidity that is already too high.