Causes for my poor hatch?

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Hey guys,

right now I'm in the midst of hands down my worst hatch ever. All the eggs that were pipped last night stayed pipped, with no forward momentum, until this morning, when I started helping them out of their shells. Their outer shells crack easily off the inner membrane, which I always assume means they've been shrink wrapped. Two of them, though, didn't even fully absorb their yolk sac. :/

I tossed those, though I later learned maybe they could have been saved.

Here's my question--what do you think I did wrong?

When I'd set them to hatch, I realized I should have calibrated the incubator. I do believe it was running low.
Also, though, I switched them from one incubator to a different one about a day into lockdown. I'd assumed it would be fine, as they never hatch until they've been locked down a couple days. But do you think that could have done it?

I absolutely do not want a re-run of this. It's a pain trying to gently get them out of their eggs, knowing I'm gonna kill maybe 1/3 of them in the process. Not to mention that even the ones I have gotten out of their shells are still weak and lying on their sides. I may end up with a whole hatch of sickly runts.

So what do you think? Cold incubator? Or could all of this be because I transferred the eggs?

(FWIW, I never noticed popping until 24+ hours after I moved them from one incubator to the other.

Thanks.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Hey guys,

right now I'm in the midst of hands down my worst hatch ever. All the eggs that were pipped last night stayed pipped, with no forward momentum, until this morning, when I started helping them out of their shells. Their outer shells crack easily off the inner membrane, which I always assume means they've been shrink wrapped. Two of them, though, didn't even fully absorb their yolk sac. :/

I tossed those, though I later learned maybe they could have been saved.

Here's my question--what do you think I did wrong?

When I'd set them to hatch, I realized I should have calibrated the incubator. I do believe it was running low.
Also, though, I switched them from one incubator to a different one about a day into lockdown. I'd assumed it would be fine, as they never hatch until they've been locked down a couple days. But do you think that could have done it?

I absolutely do not want a re-run of this. It's a pain trying to gently get them out of their eggs, knowing I'm gonna kill maybe 1/3 of them in the process. Not to mention that even the ones I have gotten out of their shells are still weak and lying on their sides. I may end up with a whole hatch of sickly runts.

So what do you think? Cold incubator? Or could all of this be because I transferred the eggs?

(FWIW, I never noticed popping until 24+ hours after I moved them from one incubator to the other.

Thanks.

I think moving them to another incubator while they were in lockdown may have been the fatal flaw here. Lockdown is the most important phase of hatching eggs. During this time the chick is shaking the egg and turning inside to position itself to pip. When the egg is moved to much it can stop the chick from getting into the correct position. It also decreases crucial humidity and heat, which does lead to shrink wrapping. Being cold early on could of also led to underdeveloped chicks. And when assisting you never want to just rip the shells off. Chicks are connected to a blood supply in the egg, and removing the shell to early can cause them to bleed out. Hope this helps, and good luck on your next hatch.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

What day were they on before you gave up?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Maybe you should read or re-read this as well. Guide to Assisted hatching

 

[Nabiki]

I don't think moving them to a different incubator for lockdown was the problem. I do that all the time with my regular and celadon eggs. I incubate them all in my hovabator, then transfer the celadons to my Rite Farm little one at lockdown so I can keep the chicks separate.

I would be more inclined to think temperature and/or humidity during incubation, or bad genes. How many calibrated thermometers do you have inside the incubator? Calibrated hygrometer?

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

From one Hawaii gal to another, I think you're overdoing it. Run a dry, then wet incubator. Don't sweat (no pun intended) the humidity beyond what you can control. Keep the temperature constant.

Everyone has little tips and tweaks. Check out which ones you want to try, then apply them several at a time so that you can narrow it down to what works. For me, a spray of hydrogen peroxide on the eggs at day 1 and a warm water misting before lockdown seems to have been beneficial.

You have a top of the line incubator (which I did not), so you can likely rule that out as a cause of your woes.

And, you have my condolences. Our first hatch had a bird that could have been saved if I was smarter. I'm sure the memory will be forever etched into both my mind and my daughter's. It is heartbreaking when the hatch doesn't proceed smoothly.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Just wondering what the peroxide does? I've never heard of this. Interested.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Just wondering what the peroxide does? I've never heard of this. Interested.

I seriously have no idea. I'm presuming some oxygenation and / or sanitation? All I know is that I was delighted when healthy birds all popped out of their shells like popcorn.

 

[JaeG]

Sorry about the rough hatch.

Were they your own eggs or had they been shipped to you? Shipping plays havoc on eggs if they get a rough ride and I've had none hatch from shipped eggs. Other times it's been fine. It all depends on what sort of trip they've had to you. There also seems to be an increased incidence of malpositions in shipped eggs. Otherwise I too would wonder about the genetics of your birds if they are your own eggs, or you picked them up from someone.

The ones lying on their sides might surprise you. I had one that had been pipped for 36 hours without progressing further so I helped it hatch. It seemed ready to hatch (had absorbed its yolk etc) but all it did was lay on its side twitching as though it were still going through hatching spasms. I left it in the incubator thinking it wouldn't live through the night, but the next morning it was zipping about yelling its head off, wondering where its friends were.

Quail can take up to 36 hours from external pip to unzipping (generally more like 24, but sometimes you get a slow poke) so I try not to interfere until they've had that amount of time to get themselves organised.

If the membrane still looks white then it's fine. A shrink wrapped membrane goes hard and brown where it has been exposed to air at the pip site.

Do you know what your humidity was at hatch? Even though my climate is humid I always need water in my incubator, even just a little, as otherwise the humidity drops too low. But the benefit of a humid climate is that you can open the incubator without too much worry even when the eggs have pipped. I don't think moving them would have adversely affected them. My humidity did take a plunge (as I forgot to top up the water well - mine seems to evaporate fast) and I lost a couple of quail who had pipped last hatch.

If your temperature was too low then that would have delayed the hatch by a couple of days, so if they were on schedule I don't think that is the reason either.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Maybe you should read or re-read this as well. Guide to Assisted hatching

Omh my gosh, THANK YOU!!

This is so helpful!!

It looks like I'm going to be able to save 10 out of 13 eggs. this is a game changer. thanks.