ANOTHER failed hatch

[fowlwoman1]

I have about 100 eggs in my cabinet bator, so it isn't exactly feasable to put them into the LG. But I have been trying to come up with hatching boxes to use inside the cabinet bator in case it's a bacterial problem with the LG. In fact, this last hatch I put two eggs in a hatching box in the cabinet bator, but they both died. For these hatching boxes I"m making I'm using see through sterilite containers with about 10 holes drilled in them for ventilation and wet pine shavings under those net-like foam shelf liners for humidity. I"m trying to hatch as a source of income, so I've got to solve this problem. Maybe I"ll just go crazy instead....

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

This time with green in the liquid.

Green suggests infection. Since you obviously have so much invested in this project, it might be well worth the cost to send samples to a vet lab/nearest university veterinary school lab and/or have them autopsy some of the dead chicks and find out exactly what organisms you are dealing with.

What materials are in your cabinet incubator? If it is wood you may need to disinfect for this organism, then completely reseal the interior with food-grade polyurethane or something similar to keep these bacterias from seeping through the wood and back into the incubation area inside the cabinet.

If I were having the problem, I'd probably start with small hatches until I'd pinpointed what was wrong and figured out how to correct it. I think I'd also use both the cabinet incubator and the LG to incubate those small hatches, using them against each other to test all the variables until I got all the kinks out and had the problem(s) worked out. Only then would I go back to incubating in one and hatching in the other.

Good luck with this!

HTH​

 

[thepetpaw]

I got 13 eggs to hatch out of 42...and two of the hatchlings are curled toes....! The other 11 are doing great. I had to throw about 12 away that were unfertile and I did the same as you...

I opened up the remiang eggs and they all developed fine but for some reason died...even 4 that pipped - they died.

Joni

 

[fowlwoman1]

Don't chicks always poop green for their first poops?

 

[CountryMom]

Fowl, thanks for asking this. I had some good sucess with a few batches to begin with. Then horrible results with another set of shipped eggs. I have two hovabators and one LG. I was doing fine with all of them and then the LG hit 125 and cooked 100 quail eggs three days before the hatch. It is frustrating especially when hubby wants to raise quail for profit. I have to get this right. And I hate to invest in a big cabinet bator if I cannot get the small ones to work.

MissPrissy, your post was especially helpful to me. That last batch we worked so hard to run them as perfect as possible and only one hatch. The rest were either not even developed or died a few days prior to hatching. And thanks for all the info on sanitizing your bators.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
I must agree with Hawke. There is a bacteria causing an infection. If it is not in the incubator itself it is being picked up somewhere repeatedly.

 

[CindyS]

I would think wet pine shavings would be a breeding ground for bacteria, have you always used this method? this might be the problem.

 

[speckledhen]

That could be. Also, the contamination may already be in the egg. Not long ago, ecoli contamination was traced to possibly dirty nests when someone I know hatched chicks from a breeder. Only chicks from that breeder had symptoms you described and none from other sources. A necropsy on a dead chick was actually done to confirm this. So, if the eggs themselves are already contaminated, even if you put them in a sterile environment, they will still grow bacteria inside the egg in the warm, moist environment that a bator is.

 

[Katy]

I can't imagine that the wet-shavings being used as a humidity source could be any good. I think how quickly they get musty and sour smelling when the chicks get them a little wet. That's the very first thing I'd do differently. I agree with going with smaller amounts of eggs until you sorted this out. Just out of curiousity why are you using the wet shavings and who told you to do it?

 

[pips&peeps]

First off, where we live here in the great State of WA, I do not recommend any type of styrofoam incubator. I used one for two years, hatched around 8 chicks and threw it away.

I got a cabinet style incubator and after the first couple of hatches, got it figured out and don't have any problems now. I probably hatch over 500 chicks per year.

Also get rid of the wet pine shavings use water with oxine for humidity.