Causes of death after lockdown?

[Erin80]

All 7 eggs were alive at lockdown. Only two hatched. The 4 others died. Any idea what would cause this and also what I can do next time to prevent it? My temps were low throughout....could that be it?

 

[Josip]

This is my first time to incubate eggs and I will be in lockdown for few days am afarid of that can happen to me

 

[ampouet]

I'm so sorry for your eggs that didn't hatch.
This is my first time incubating eggs too (D-2 until hatching ) but I've read a lot about it and it seems like death during lockdown is caused either by poor ventilation or by too low/too high humidity.

 

[Rose Quartz]

It could be a lot of things. Humidity or lack of air flow as ampouet mentioned, low temps could have caused problems, it slows their growth rate so that by the time they are ready to hatch they're too weak. High temps are a problwm too, if it doesn't outright kill them they can have malformations, or other problems that cause them to die. What I'be seen most often with high temps is chicks hatching with their yolk out and dying from complications after hatch.

Most of my after lockdown deaths though are actually caused by malpositions. They're in the egg not quite right and just can't get out. It can be caused by not being turned enough for the first 18 days, it can also be -as far as I've read- genetic.

I've lost a few to dirty hands too. My 2 year old (at the time) wanted to help and stuck her spaghetti noodle hands in before i could stop her.



All that said, incubating doesnt have to be perfect, broody hens leave their eggs for extended periods even in winter temps and they still hatch. It's just any thing like temp and humidity can affect them negatively and it's possible that the colder temps could have played a part. It's also possible you had nothing to do with them dying and they had some other thing go wrong.

Hope it goes better for you next time. And that the chicks you did get are all the gender you wanted.