Can someone tell me what is wrong here?

[crystalchik]

Hello,
I have a GQF incubator and I have been hatching with it for 4 months now. I bought it used so it wasnt "manufatured set". The temp is help perfectly at 99.5*F (according to the GQF gauge thermometer) and I have an outside digital thermo/hygrometer that says that the temp is 101.1*F and the humidity is 47% (it was 55%). I have a little yellow sheet (that came with the incubator) that says it needs to 85-87% with the wet bulb...what the heck is this and is it different from regular humidity percent??
ANYWAYS, I will have about 1/4 (or sometimes way less) of my eggs hatch PERFECTLY FINE, and then I will get the rest that pip, and drown because the egg is filled with fluid. Then some will die at about the 7 day point. The eggs that live and die are right next to each other and i just dont get what could be wrong? I lost 10 peacock eggs so far and a countless number of chicken eggs and chicks. (somewhere like for every 1 chick I have live I have about 3 die...I have about 15 chicks) I even have some chicks hatch fine and then die a slow death within 2-5 days.
Please can someone help me!! It breaks my heart to see all these chicks dying and I can t figure out why.
Thank you for any info you can give me!
Crystalchik

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Your humidity is to high. On a hygrometer you want 40-45% the first 18 days and then 60-65% until they start to hatch and it will go up as they hatch. When the humidity is to high the liquid doesn't evaporate the way it should and your chicks drown.

 

[MissPrissy]

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When was the last time that incubator was sterilized top to bottom? How are you cleaning it between hatches?

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Wet bulb is another way to meaure humidity.

Are you putting your digital thermometer completely inside the incubator? Do you have it raised up to egg height?

If you have a digital hydromemeter you want it at 40 - 45% for the first 18 days. Then stop turning the eggs and boost it to 70% for the hatch.

Quote:
Are these eggs shipped? Shipped eggs can have a huge failure rate. Actaully it is not uncommon for some eggs to hatch and others to pip and die. Something is wrong with the chick not the incubator. all sorts of genetic problems are in combinations of breeds of chickens and they show themselves mostly in failed hatches. Also you could have the humidity way too high. It could be a combination of several things.

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Are you opening the bator during a hatch? This is a huge no no. If you open it you have changed the hatching environment and the other chicks can die very easily after pipping.

Again if they are shipped eggs the % of loss is always higher. I also have to wonder at the accuracy of your thermometer and hydromemeter.

Quote:
That sounds like a water logged chick which indicates the humidity is too high. It also fits the possibility of the chick having a bacterial infection from the incubator.

Sterilize that bator completely. Take it apart and put the electronics up in a dry place in the blazing sun and let them bake. Wash the other pieces in hot soapy water. Rinse well. Soak in a tub of diluted bleach water. Rinse well. take it out and set it in the sun and let it bake. Germs won't be able to thrive in the baking sun.

Then try again to incubate your eggs.

100 mean temp. Day 1 - 18 humidity at 40%. Day 18 - 21 (through hatch) boost the humidity to 70%.

Once the pipping and hatching starts do not open the incubator. If you open it before the hatch finishes you compromise the other eggs and they can die in their shell after pipping.

Let us know what's going on in a bit more detail if you can.

 

[crystalchik]

Thank you for all of your replies and I am sorry it took me a while to get back!

Farmer Kitty wrote:
When the humidity is to high the liquid doesn't evaporate the way it should and your chicks drown.

Oh my gosh, that makes perfect sense! That is terrible!

MissPrissy wrote:
When was the last time that incubator was sterilized top to bottom? How are you cleaning it between hatches?

I try to sterilize it between every hatch, however I will skip it if only one egg hatches. I take out all the trays and egg carts and spray them in Clorox and let them sit for about 15min. I take Clorox and spray it in the bator and on the turners and let it dry with the door open until there is no more stench.

MissPrissy wrote:
Are you putting your digital thermometer completely inside the incubator? Do you have it raised up to egg height?

If you have a digital hydromemeter you want it at 40 - 45% for the first 18 days. Then stop turning the eggs and boost it to 70% for the hatch.

I put the digital hygrometer right at the top shelf right in front of the water tub. Obviously the reading will be wrong so I moved it down on one of the egg trays.
I have a question about changing the humidity when the eggs get closer to hatching...I put eggs in at different times and if I were to raise the humidity for one clutch, that would count as fluxuation for the others, right? What do I do? The eggs would not last 21 days for the ones before them to hatch.

MissPrissy wrote:
Are these eggs shipped?
all sorts of genetic problems are in combinations of breeds of chickens and they show themselves mostly in failed hatches.

No, none of the eggs are shipped.
Do you know anything about "inbreeding"? I have had a line of chickens for about 6 years and I haven't introduced new "blood" and someone told me I may start having problems because of inbreeding. Might this be a factor??

MissPrissy wrote:
Are you opening the bator during a hatch? this is a huge no no.

OH MY GOSH!! I had NO idea!! I do open the bator during hatching! I am careful not to do that anymore, but the majority of the time, the pipped eggs have already died by the time I open the door. I just lost another peachick that pipped, I pulled it out of the shell dead and its navel was big and red and seemed to have yolk protruding from it. Its belly was very big and seemed "full of water". Is this anther sign of high humidity?

MissPrissy wrote:
That sounds like a water logged chick which indicates the humidity is too high. It also fits the possibility of the chick having a bacterial infection from the incubator.

Sterilize that bator completely. Take it apart and put the electronics up in a dry place in the blazing sun and let them bake.

Wow, is there any way to tell what is water logged and what is bacterial?? I have had a bad bacterial infection in a chick where the chick's abdomen turns green and it literally stinks like an infection would...that was not with this bator, though.
Do you know how to easily take the bator apart? It did not come from the supplier so it did not have directions. But your right, this Florida sun will work mirracles on those germs!

Farmer Kitty and MissPrissy, thank you so much for all of your help, I have already learned so much!

Please let me know if there is anything else I can answer for you!!
God bless,
Crystalchik​

 

[MissPrissy]

Even if no eggs hatch you MUST sterilize it. Stuff does grow in that warm moist environment unseen.

You should have 4 bolts on top. Take them out and the yellow thermostat unit and fan assembly should drop right out.

I am trying to think of the name of the water logged/soggy chick sydrome and for the life of me I can't think of the proper name!

I have had a bad bacterial infection in a chick where the chick's abdomen turns green and it literally stinks like an infection would...that was not with this bator, though.

That is exactly what one of them does.

The bacteria can live on thermometers or anything else you may have used in a previous hatch.

Wash everything possible in hot soapy water. Soak in a diluted bleach water and set in the sun. Use a cloth soaked in the bleach solution and rung out dryish to wipe down electronic parts, thermometers, etc.​

 

[Farmer Kitty]

For staggard hatches you need a second bator to use as a hatcher (18-hatch). Using the same bator to incubate and to hatch at the sametime compromises the eggs that are incubating. The bacteria from the hatching eggs can/will kill the incubating ones.

 

[crystalchik]

I know its been a while but I want to thank all of you for all the help you have given me! I think things will be better off now in the bator!!

Crystalchik