Bad luck so far with the incubator :( any suggestions?

[Midnyte]

Ok so this is my 1st time with an incubator and 2 eggs haven't made it so far. I put 20 eggs in an incubator to see if I could hatch them. 2 died before day 10 when I 1st candled them. I added another a couple days before that so I had 19. Egg 9 died around day 15. So I had 18 left. Today is day 20 for a few of them and 1 started pipping early this morning. About 5 I noticed the pipping. By 8:45 a.m. it wasn't chirping anymore and checked for movement and it wasn't moving anymore either. Peeled back some of the shell with out disturbing the membrane just to check it and it was yellow. I learned from my 1st egg attempt that yellow membrane means dead. So I opened the shell to see what went wrong and it looks like the chick bled to death? Now my 1st egg attempt also got to the pipping stage and the samething happened except it didn't bleed to death. Not sure what happened with that one. I thought I did something wrong with it so I tried again with the 21 following every direction closely. And we're not off to a good start anyone have any suggestions to help the rest of my eggs hatch?

 

[scflock]

Ok so this is my 1st time with an incubator and 2 eggs haven't made it so far. I put 20 eggs in an incubator to see if I could hatch them. 2 died before day 10 when I 1st candled them. I added another a couple days before that so I had 19. Egg 9 died around day 15. So I had 18 left. Today is day 20 for a few of them and 1 started pipping early this morning. About 5 I noticed the pipping. By 8:45 a.m. it wasn't chirping anymore and checked for movement and it wasn't moving anymore either. Peeled back some of the shell with out disturbing the membrane just to check it and it was yellow. I learned from my 1st egg attempt that yellow membrane means dead. So I opened the shell to see what went wrong and it looks like the chick bled to death? Now my 1st egg attempt also got to the pipping stage and the samething happened except it didn't bleed to death. Not sure what happened with that one. I thought I did something wrong with it so I tried again with the 21 following every direction closely. And we're not off to a good start

anyone have any suggestions to help the rest of my eggs hatch?

You peeled back the shell 4 hours after the pip? Are you sure it was dead before you did that? Mine usually take anywhere from 12-16 hours from pip to hatch.

 

[scflock]

My suggestion is to leave them alone and don't open the incubator any more until at least tomorrow. That's why it's called lockdown. The hatching process takes much longer than a few hours. Mine usually take 2, maybe 3 days. Chicks that may have hatched on their own can be inadvertantly killed by opening the incubator during lockdown

 

[Midnyte]

Yes there was no chirping and no movement. The membrane was yellow and when I opened it I was careful with watching for any signs of life. Nothing. I found the head 1st of course and it wasn't breathing and eyes were glazed over. When I opened the rest of the way it was way bloody. Feel bad for the little guy. We hatched 5 eggs under a broody hen and it did take almost 24 hrs from the pipping stage to hatch but they were either chirping or moving the whole time

 

[Midnyte]

Ok I will try not opening the incubator. Thank you for the suggestion

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes there was no chirping and no movement. The membrane was yellow and when I opened it I was careful with watching for any signs of life. Nothing. I found the head 1st of course and it wasn't breathing and eyes were glazed over. When I opened the rest of the way it was way bloody. Feel bad for the little guy. We hatched 5 eggs under a broody hen and it did take almost 24 hrs from the pipping stage to hatch but they were either chirping or moving the whole time

A yellow membrane does not neccessarily mean that they chick has died. The membrane starts to turn a yellowish brown when it starts to dry out. When it starts to dry out the membrane will dry to the chick like glue and keep the chick from being able to turn to finish hatching and usually the chick will die with no intervention. If you can catch it early enough you can pull out the egg and expand the pip hole a bit moisten the membrane. If it has started to glue to the chick (usually right around the pip hole where it is open to air flow,) you can wet it (careful not to get moisture in the "nose",) and gently pull the membrane away from the chick where stuck. Once you have the membrane moistened and "unglued" you wrap a wet paper towel around the egg (not over the pip) and replace it to the bator to finish the job.

What is your humidity? Usually you do not see the membranes drying like that unless there is opening of the bator with a lower humidity levels, or too low humidity during hatch to begin with. The other possibility would be a lid or window not being closed properly letting a constant source of airflow directly on the pipped egg.

 

[Midnyte]

Oh ok and my humidity is currently at 55% I have been raising it slowly since it started chirping trying to get it to the right setting. And I will try your advice for the rest of my eggs thank you very much

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh ok and my humidity is currently at 55% I have been raising it slowly since it started chirping trying to get it to the right setting. And I will try your advice for the rest of my eggs thank you very much

55% is quite low for hatch. I would definitely try to get it 65% at least. I run at 75% humidity during hatch, (I open my bator and need a higher humidity level to do so w/o jeopardizing the pipping eggs.) If you have a couple clean sponges and the room in the bator, I would wet the sponges and just set them inside with the eggs. That should bring the humidity right up and give them better conditions to hatch out in.

If you don't have sponges, a wet cloth may do as well.

 

[scflock]

Amy is giving you the best advice for this, so I can't top anything she said. I just wanted to say that my mom lives in Prescott. Beautiful area

 

[Midnyte]

Ok thank you! I just put more water in it. If it doesn't go higher I'll try a sponge or cloth! Thank you so much!

and I agree scflock it is very beautiful up here. So glad I moved up here and everyone is so nice too.