Chicks dead in shells AGAIN

[LaFleche]

Here is some more information for trouble shooting: http://extension.msstate.edu/content/trouble-shooting-failures-egg-incubation

 

[Emmafh]

To clarify, I tried dry incubation for my second hatch but after the shrink wrapped chicks and much lower hatch rate, decided to go back to doing the exact thing I did for my first hatch.
All three egg batches were picked up by myself from (two different) friends places which are only 15 minute drive away.
Nothing else had changed on the incubator (humidity or temp settings) the only thing that had changed is the weather is wetter but warmer here (mid France) but stayed in the exact room and place for each hatch.
Sounds like my humidity reading isn't as actuate or reliable as I thought although I generally do it by amount of fluid in the incubator and not necessarily the number will try a fourth time but perhaps once my first hatch start laying so I don't bankrupt myself killing chicks

 

[LaFleche]

There are several things to consider apart from possible incubator issues:

• Have the eggs been shipped?
• How old were the eggs when you started incubation?
• How were they stored (humidity, temperature)?
• Did you turn them during storage twice a day?
• Did you candle them before incubation?
• How did their shells look? Any porous or hairline/capillary cracks?
• Who laid the eggs, pullets or at least 2-3 year old hens?
• Have the parent birds been properly de-wormed prior to collecting hatching eggs?
• Have the parent birds been fed a proper nutrition and vitamin additives after being de-wormed?
• Could there be an underlying issue/infection in the parent flock?

 

[LaFleche]

37.5-37.8c throughout
55% days 1-18
65% days 18 onwards
It's baffled me also!

What kind of incubator did you use? Automatic turner and forced air (motor ventilation)?

What kind of eggs did you incubate? Duck eggs, chicken eggs (bantam or standard size)?

For normal size fresh chicken eggs your temperature would have been to low and the humidity too high during the first 17 days.
Always add additional thermometer and hygrometer that have been properly calibrated, so you will notice immediately if something goes wrong with the temperature and humidity indication/readout of your incubator.

Temperature 37,8°C and 45% humidity for days 1-17.
Temperature 37,3°C and 60-65 % humidity from day 18 on.

And ventilate the room where the incubator is located daily for at least 10-15 minutes.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I use Brinsea mini advance II
In my hatch (50% H.Rate)
The temp remained 37.5°C
I didn't have a way to measure humidity but I added water the way the manual suggested to.
Only opened the bator around 3 times during the whole incubation to weigh them to check humidity

 

[Smileybans]

I'd lowered the whole hatch, perhaps I didn't lower it enough?
I can't say I was tracking the air cell exactly but I kept an eye on it and the development of the chicks. I only candle day 7 15 and 18 roughly
By the end the air cell was roughly 1/3rd of the egg
What humidity do you do your dry hatch from day 1-18?

Days 1-18 the humidity in my incubator doesn’t go above 20%. The humidity where I have my incubator is also high. So I don’t need the incubator humidity to be high. The room does it for me.

I have to be a bit dubious about statements like "my hatch rate went from 50% to 90% using dry hatching" I am not questioning that is what happened, I'm just questioning the actual reason".
1/3 water loss in the egg is what it should lose but there is no harm in the egg losing a bit less. 12,13,14, even 15% water loss by the end is ok. But if humidity is too low for the full 21 days and the egg has already lost 1/3 then it cannot lose any more and one might even have to assist by adding moisture in the final day.

From the description you already determined that you only got 2 out of 10 to hatch on your second attempt because they got shrink wrapped.

Try a 4th time but I'm sure the results will be the same.

For a first try 7 out of 12 is not bad. On the second attempt more often than not things normally improve (unless one tries something radically different like dry incubation for the first time), then on the third attempt one usually has it dialled in.

But if one starts changing from dry to wet, to forced to dry air one will never have thnigs dialled in.

PS: I am suspecting when some people's hygrometer does show 30%, mine would show 50%... I've had unreliable hygrometers like those before and if I were to rely on those hygrometers and didn't know any better I'd be swearing 30% works best for me...

But not if I was getting 20% hatch rates - unless the eggs were shipped. By the statement that the eggs were bought maybe they had a rough shipping which would make the first result of 7/12 even better, it's just a shame to see experiment 2 and 3 then went far worse which I see too often someone trying and giving up on dry incubation.

Considering how many chicks the method kills I do not think it is a good idea to even advise people try it at all even if it does work great for a handful and it is the only way that works for them, that is great but every week I see people say they tried the dry incubation method and got bad results. If people want to try it they will try it but considering in my optinion in gives bad results for 75% of people that do try it, isn't it better to advise not to try dry incubation and only have 25% of people fail?

That’s why I mentioned the humidity surrounding the incubator. When incubating you have to take into account the humidity in your environment. Not just the humidity in the incubator. My air humidity here is higher. So I dry incubate and hatch. Otherwise my chicks don’t lose enough water. They drown. I recommend it dry incubation because it has saved so many of my chicks. Believe it or not my hatch rate did double. All I changed was how much water I was sticking in my incubator.