August Hatch along?

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Ruby took the peeps out of the nest today. 2 eggs in the incubator now.
 
BlueBaby said:
I'm glad that the one has a smaller bowtie on it, as that is what I am trying to aim for! If that one turns out to be a boy and you don't want him, bring him back to me.
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I think it won't matter. I really want another roo and a nn boy would be awesome!

I'm hoping I could eventually breed even those out though.
 
anvia said:
I’m sorry - did you hatch any?
In my experience - & I completely appreciate I am in a massively different climate - 77% sounds too wet - when that first egg pips humidity goes up hugely and the risk is saturating the others & then they drown. Personally with hens eggs I’ve aimed for to 60-65% once I have the first pip. That first pip raises humidity so much I often dont have to add more moisture - if anything I have to ventilate it out - but that could just be my incubators....
Over the years I’ve gone for drier and drier incubating and targeting humidity needs with damp paper towels - ie an early pipped egg or to achieve a change in humidity.
But - we moved house.... & we now seem to have majority late stage egg death - just like you describe... & I don’t know why. Our last hatch was 13/24 which I think is very poor compared to previous hatches. We got 21/24 almost fully formed the other 3 were infertile - something is going wrong in the lockdown for us too - and I think it’s humidity related. I shouldn’t lose 8 in lockdown?

I honestly find damp paper towels easier to control than reservoirs - you have more control & can effect a more responsive change in humidity.
Im also wondering if me physically moving the eggs on lockdown is causing drowning - this hatch the eggs are starting on their sides and staying that way throughout. My favourite trusty incubator keeps the eggs horizontal throughout incubation.... & when my broodys have built their nests the eggs are stacked horizontally.... but my more modern incubators & their manuals say to incubate big end up until lockdown & then lay horizontally.... I’m wondering if by laying them down on day 18 I’m drowning a large percentage of them? - by shifting the fluid within the egg?

When you say you moved the incubator for hatching did you change how the eggs were lying in the incubator? Were yours vertical or horizontal? Equally I’ve seen how my broodies spin their eggs! - but they do it fast.... so does the egg settle quickly?

Could it be we have the same problem?
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No, none hatched. 1 died in the 2nd week and the rest all died at or just before lockdown.
I left the eggs alone, I didn't lay them on their side, even though I wanted to. I thought that would be better. But I didn't dare tip them around this late in the game. No I moved the whole incubator into a different room with more stable temprature and humidity.
I hear that 75% was target humidity for lockdown so when my meater said 77% I figured that was okay. The meter has a 5% difference so it could have been as low 72% or as high as 82%
I went and bought a better meter with a lower difference.
My new incubator will be using sponges or perhaps wet paper towles if a sponge is too much. We're finishing it up right now and will be letting it run for a few hours.

I don't know if laying the eggs on their side at the last minute would do anything. I would think it would be okay if you were super gentle with them. But i'm not an expert. I would be too nervious to move them that late in the game. I was reading about how chicks need to get into hatching position and that being moved or handled can knock them out of position or interupt them and they never back back and end up dying.

I find it facinating that broody hens can hatch eggs just fine, with the temp and humidity swings and getting knocked around. And we with our delicate handling can't seem to do it.
 
Sakai said:
No, none hatched. 1 died in the 2nd week and the rest all died at or just before lockdown.
I left the eggs alone, I didn't lay them on their side, even though I wanted to. I thought that would be better. But I didn't dare tip them around this late in the game. No I moved the whole incubator into a different room with more stable temprature and humidity.
I hear that 75% was target humidity for lockdown so when my meater said 77% I figured that was okay. The meter has a 5% difference so it could have been as low 72% or as high as 82%
I went and bought a better meter with a lower difference.
My new incubator will be using sponges or perhaps wet paper towles if a sponge is too much. We're finishing it up right now and will be letting it run for a few hours.

I don't know if laying the eggs on their side at the last minute would do anything. I would think it would be okay if you were super gentle with them. But i'm not an expert. I would be too nervious to move them that late in the game. I was reading about how chicks need to get into hatching position and that being moved or handled can knock them out of position or interupt them and they never back back and end up dying.

I find it facinating that broody hens can hatch eggs just fine, with the temp and humidity swings and getting knocked around. And we with our delicate handling can't seem to do it.
Click to expand...

Sorry that you lost your hatch. I incubate them at 100-F. with a 45% humidity until lock-down, then the egg's get laid down. The temp remains the same, but I increase the humidity to 60% during the lock-down.
 
Aww thank you BlueBaby
My incubator is up and running. I've been messing with it a bit trying to get the temp stable. The humidity seems fine. around 40% which for dry method seems about right. My temps though, are being a butt. First it stalled for a few hours at 97. so I put a blanket over it and it went up to 104. So I took the blanket off..dropped to 95. Then I added a warm bottle of water inside the incubator and it shot to 108. Egads! I took the bottle out, and it hovered at 102 for the longest time. So I opened everything and let it cool back to 99 and put the (Now cooler) water bottle back in and put the styrofoam top on but not the lid. And at the moment is right at 100. I'm crossing my fingers I've found the butter zone. I'm not going to put any eggs in until it's just right.
 
The internally pipped chick is holding steady, still chirping once in a while, not yet externally pipped. I'm hopeful for the successful hatch of that one. The other egg that showed signs of life by rocking and jumping (seriously- egg bounced upward!) was evidently malpositioned. It has pipped in the narrow end, but luckily managed to create an air hole. I heard the unmistakable sound of eggshell breaking, and rushed over to peek at the babies. I got this guy a larger breathing hole, rubbed it with olive oil to avoid shrink wrapping, and hope it can continue to develop a bit. Chick is fine and able to breathe. I won't attempt to remove chick from shell until it has passed the expected hatch date. These babies aren't due until tomorrow. Here's hoping they manage to stay inside egg until fully developed!
 

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