Checked way overdue eggs, all didn't absorb yolk, all dead:humidity?

[DFCottage]

I just had my first hatch, out of 14 eggs 4 born between day 20 and day 21, 2 on day 22. I waited until day 23, then checked the remaining eggs with no pips. All were dead, with yolks not fully absorbed. One had a yolk/fluid substance all within the egg. One had a drop of blood by the beak. The surviving chicks are healthy and wonderful.

Was this a humidity issue? I never had any temp spikes or drops, humidity was 40-50 for the first 18 days, and 60 for day 19 until I could get it up to 70 on day 20. What went wrong? My only guess is that the humidity might have been too low on the first day of lockdown and that did it.. But the others were a perfect hatch, aside from 1 that got a bit stuck, that I was able to save. Because I had so many born on day

Thoughts?

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

are you sure about the temp, did you check your thermometer, and I have 50% or less all through incubation. it does sound like you humidity was to high

check this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=462892

 

[youngbiddy]

The only thing that comes to mind is that I've heard a lot of people say that 45-50% humidity for the first 18 days is too high. I've heard that humidity that high can keep the egg from evaporating enough moisture and the chick can drown when it breaks into the air sac. I'm on day 13 of my first hatch and I've been keeping my humidity around 35%, so we'll see.

Check out this link, hope it helps. https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html

And I'm so sorry about your babies.

 

[scbatz33]

It also depends on shipped eggs or not. I just had a hatch finish. All my eggs and my friend's eggs hatched. The shipped eggs all died with unabsorbed yolks. I incubate dry so humidity is not a factor. However, shipping trauma is!

That being said, Your initial 18 day humidity is too high, IMO. But again, I dry hatch so only the ambient humidity is present. I don't beleive that a 60% humidity on day 19 was a problem. I hatch between 60-70%.

 

[DFCottage]

Thank you very much for the links and advice. It seems like there is such a range for day 1-18 humidity.. I did so much research and though I was in a good range. I'm going to shoot for 35-40% next time nice heard more and more about dry hatches lately, might have to experiment with that soon. I'm thinking the babies did drown.. I'm so thrilled to have the 6 I do.. 5 of the 6 chicks were shipped from CA across to the east coast! The other chick was from a local group of 7 eggs I got.. The other 6 were amongst the group that got to the end and didn't make it.

 

[ItsAZOO32]

I am due a hatch next weekend and I really see my humidity vary depending on where it is in the incubator. I have a still-air HovaBator and have only refilled my small water cell once during the 15 day incubation. I too was paranoid about the humidty being too high! My hygrometer says 60% if it's in the middle of the bator (over the water) but 30% if it's to the sides... I just keep moving the eggs around when turning and watching that my air cell looks to be a good size based on all of the information I've ready. Hopefully a good number of my 28 will hatch next weekend because they are all growing and moving around well.

 

[chickencrazyinHT]

We have hatched several batches of eggs over the last few weeks and have had the same problem. We had a lot die from unabsorbed yolk sacs and thought our humidity was too high in the beginning (around 40 to 50 percent) We got the humidity down for this last hatch and out of 9 eggs 4 hatched. The other eggs were almost done pipping around but never made it out. I opened them up just to see if I could see a problem and it was the same. You could see where the chick didn't absorb all it's yolk and died before making it out. I also wonder about the problem because almost everything thing I read relates unabsorbed yolk sacs to high humidity, which in our last batch of eggs was not high. I still have a lot to learn.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

to dry is the lesser of 2 evils, high humidity causes more problem then to dry, but keeping your temp right is much more important then humidity. I do not keep an eye on it much, if there is water in the tray I don't even look at the %. my last hatch was 11 out of 12.

make sure your thermometer is right, and have only one, so you are not second guessing your self

 

[ItsAZOO32]

Ok, THAT's the issue I am having right now. I am due for lockdown in two days. I started with just the little crummy thermometer that came with my HovaBator but shortly after, added a digital thermometer/hygrometer. Now the digital is on the floor and is running a few degrees the plastic one that is sitting on top of the eggs which I know is normal in a still air bator. HERE's the problem.. I inserted a meat thermometer in one of the small holes of the bater to see what kind of accuracy I would get with that right above the eggs. It's reading roughly the same as the digital (99.5-100.0) while the plastic one on top of the eggs is saying 102+. What the heck?? (i'm also going to copy and paste this on my thread)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=462615

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

where your digital from, wally world, if so those are just as bad as the thermometer you get in the incubator, if you are serious in incubation get a digital incubation thermometer. Culter has a good one not to expensive too