alecmunni
In the Brooder
- Apr 15, 2020
- 3
- 4
- 14
Hello all! Hope everyone is having a great day! I am here with a question, as I am stuck in a pickle and am having a hard time wrapping my head around a current hatching issue I am experiencing.
I have been hatching and raising poultry for about 7 years now and have never experienced anything like the issue I am having.
Back Story – I have a few mixed breed bantams that have escaped their pen over the years, and roam my acreage and have started their own colony by sitting and hatching their own babies. I had a hen nesting in one of my flower pots, but unfortunately I learned one morning last week she had been eaten, leaving about 23 eggs exposed without momma (lots of eggs for a little bantam)!
I took the eggs in and candled them. About half of them appeared to be more than half way developed and the other half appeared to be less. All were alive when candled which really surprised me.
I took out one of my older incubators (still air), set it to 99.5 degrees at 50% humidity. A few days ago, I raised the humidity to 70%. I also have multiple readers for temp and humidity to verify its accuracy.
Last night 6 eggs pipped through the shell. 4 of the 6 started to zip. Once at the half way mark, all of them died! I then decided to assist the other 2, which ended up surviving.
Today 2 more pipped through, once at the half way mark 1 died, the other I assisted and it lived.
I have more eggs that ae due to hatch and I really hate to help them as I know it can cause potential issues, but at this point, I feel like I have to at the rate they are dying. I have never experienced anything like this before, and think it is really strange.
The one thing I have noticed is they die once zipping at the bottom side of the eggshell.
Is there anything I can do to correct this issue? Is it because of the change in environment from being mom incubated to a machine? Or maybe the 3-4 hours they were cold between when momma died and them being placed in an incubator?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You!
I have been hatching and raising poultry for about 7 years now and have never experienced anything like the issue I am having.
Back Story – I have a few mixed breed bantams that have escaped their pen over the years, and roam my acreage and have started their own colony by sitting and hatching their own babies. I had a hen nesting in one of my flower pots, but unfortunately I learned one morning last week she had been eaten, leaving about 23 eggs exposed without momma (lots of eggs for a little bantam)!
I took the eggs in and candled them. About half of them appeared to be more than half way developed and the other half appeared to be less. All were alive when candled which really surprised me.
I took out one of my older incubators (still air), set it to 99.5 degrees at 50% humidity. A few days ago, I raised the humidity to 70%. I also have multiple readers for temp and humidity to verify its accuracy.
Last night 6 eggs pipped through the shell. 4 of the 6 started to zip. Once at the half way mark, all of them died! I then decided to assist the other 2, which ended up surviving.
Today 2 more pipped through, once at the half way mark 1 died, the other I assisted and it lived.
I have more eggs that ae due to hatch and I really hate to help them as I know it can cause potential issues, but at this point, I feel like I have to at the rate they are dying. I have never experienced anything like this before, and think it is really strange.
The one thing I have noticed is they die once zipping at the bottom side of the eggshell.
Is there anything I can do to correct this issue? Is it because of the change in environment from being mom incubated to a machine? Or maybe the 3-4 hours they were cold between when momma died and them being placed in an incubator?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You!
