Causes for pip at wrong end

[JerseyHen]

I searched the threads for information on this and find a lot of "help my chick pipped at the wrong end, help me", but I am trying to find out why it happens, not how to help them out of the shell. I have been hatching for some time, with decent success, until this recent hatch. So far I have almost 50% of the eggs pipping on the wrong end. 2/3 of these are eggs from proven breeders, 1/3 is from a new pullet. I did use a new incubator and didn't have an autoturner, but I was diligent about turning the eggs on a schedule (I work from home so I can do that sort of thing). The temps seemed to be pretty stable with the built in and secondary thermometers (brinsea spot check). I did have some challenges with humidity, but at lockdown the aircells looked pretty typical. I had them large end up in cut out egg cartons for the hatch.

What are the proposed causes of wrong end pipping? I have some important eggs coming and I don't want to lose them to something that can be corrected. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Susan10]

I'm very curious about this because today was day 5 of my eBay bought and shipped mandarin eggs in the incubator. I candled and so far I can see 4 embryos developing but a few of the air cells look misshapen or detached. Maybe even one of the pieces that holds the yolk at one end of the egg detached. I can't decipher because I'm new to candling. Obviously rough shipping, or maybe the delay in delibery(took 5 extra days). Anyways, curious about your predicament and how to prevent it.

 

[LBKS]

I searched the threads for information on this and find a lot of "help my chick pipped at the wrong end, help me", but I am trying to find out why it happens, not how to help them out of the shell. I have been hatching for some time, with decent success, until this recent hatch. So far I have almost 50% of the eggs pipping on the wrong end. 2/3 of these are eggs from proven breeders, 1/3 is from a new pullet. I did use a new incubator and didn't have an autoturner, but I was diligent about turning the eggs on a schedule (I work from home so I can do that sort of thing). The temps seemed to be pretty stable with the built in and secondary thermometers (brinsea spot check). I did have some challenges with humidity, but at lockdown the aircells looked pretty typical. I had them large end up in cut out egg cartons for the hatch.

What are the proposed causes of wrong end pipping? I have some important eggs coming and I don't want to lose them to something that can be corrected. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

According to this (click the link for the PDF), the average malpositioning rate is 1.5% (of which a wrong end pip would be a subset of malpositioning). Looks like wrong end pipping (head not directed towards air cell) makes up 4.5% of the 1.5% of malpositions, so a 50% wrong end pip is waaay off normal. If you don't think it's genetic in your flock, it may be one of these contributing factors (per the PDF):

Quote: Highlighted the two that sound like they might have been in play based on your description. Maybe some things to look into? I've had a larger than average amount of wrong end pips, but always have had humidity issues.

 

[JerseyHen]

That is EXACTLY the information I was looking for. Thank you so much!!! I think it may have been the angle of turning. I will fix that. I also have corrected the humidity issues (you know it is when you are working out the idiosyncrasies of a new incubator) .