chicks die near end of incubation

[MissPrissy]

Get a new thermometer and hydrometer. If you had a chick hatch 2 days early your temperatures are high and rushed the development. That is probably the reason the others died. You can't hurry them along.

 

[Mahonri]

You are correct. My radio shack gauge was probably not as accurate as the one I got at Home Depot.

Miss Jayne's 1 egg that made it (leghorn X Dellie) was 2 days early also.

 

[emvickrey]

I was told that a Hova BAtor 1588 was what I needed. That just put water in the rings plug it in and it did all the work. After I did a little research on it I found that is correct and had decided to get one with turner.
I had better luck when I rotated the eggs. the first time. Maybe I was turning them too much. The egg turner just shifts them a little. I made sure they where turned completely to the other side.

I put 3 eggs straight from the hens bottom into the bator this time for a test. I haven't opened the top but a couple of times and instead of turning the eggs by haid I prop up the bator to ean on one side. And 3 x's a day I prop of the opposite side. I have a straw I plan to use when it needs water. We will see. I really want to have a better hatch rate than 1 out of 12. I also have all the vent holes plugged up except for 1. That helps keep the temp and humidity more stable than it was with them open. I will open a couple on the bottom because there is no fan in it.

 

[MissPrissy]

If you have plugged up the little holes in the bottom you have stopped the air circulation with fresh air exchange. Not enough air exchange and your eggs can essentially suffocate as the gas exchange is required.

 

[ajablu]

I'm glad that MissPrissy mentioned the early hatching eggs. Mine also pipped and hatched on days 19 and 20. By day 22 the others were all dead in the shell. My hovabator said the temp was maintained at 100.5 and to let it at the factory preset settings for the first few hatches.
The thermometers/hydrometers I bought were all from Walmart so maybe they were all a bit off. All 3 of them showed good humidity levels and nearly same temps, but must have been a bit off if the chicks hatched at day 19 and the rest died in the shells. Maybe we will have better luck with future hatches if we fix this. My LGS tend to have hatches start on day 21 and go through day 22 . I just started hatching early this year. I have been doing lots of reading to try to up my hatch rates by correcting whatever Im doing wrong and will try setting the hova a bit lower.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have had the same problems, with both shipped and my own eggs. I have one hovabator 1583 (wafer thermo model, forced air), and one LG still air 9200 model. Both have auto turners. A few of the eggs die within the first few days, then most of the rest die around day 16 or 17. I keep the vent holes open all the time, and keep the humidity in the 30's for chickens, and near 60 for ducks. I hatched 1 duckling from my own ducks eggs, and that was out of over 20 eggs. I am lucky to get 1 chick from shipped eggs, but my hen hatched 7 of 10 shipped eggs just a few days ago.

I have asked this same question many times with no luck. I hope you can figure out what is causing this, cause I'm about ready to give up on hatching, and just let the hens do it. I have spent way too much money on eggs, and have a lot of $40 and $50 birds in my yard....

 

[emvickrey]

I plan to buy a new bator and the one I looked at today is a 1583. I'm afraid to buy eggs for hatching and have them not hatch. I would rather buy the chicks.

I put 3 eggs in my bator and decided to just leave them alone to see what happens. The temp has been good between 99 and 100 until I got up this morning. It was at 104.1. No reason at all for it to jump up so high. I'm sure the eggs are ruined. I'll leave then in though until time to hatch. They are about half way through right now. Hatch date is May 13. We will see.

 

[willow]

Well, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one this is happening to. I had 2 hatch day 19-1 normal and 1 I had to help.

Now is day23 and no more pips.

I am REALLY upset about this.

I'm thinking I may just quit incubating all together.

 

[emvickrey]

What kind of bator are you useing? I'm curious if it makes a difference.