chicks died in eggs.... why?

[wjallen05]

I had 13 chicks hatch at days 22 and 23 of incubation. At the end of day 23, when the remaining 5 eggs hadn't even pipped, my husband and I opened them up to see what was going on, and all 5 chicks were fully developed but dead. Anyone have any idea why this happened? It was absolutly heartbreaking. Also, one of the chicks had zipped it's shell all the way around and then died.

 

[Jenski]

Sorry about your chicks.

What was your temp? What was your humidity? What kind of incubator? These things will help determine what went wrong so you can improve the next hatch.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

What humidity level did you maintain during incubation?

What breed were they?

Where they from your own flock or were they shipped?

 

[Black Feather]

Hmmmm.....sounds like your incubator might be running a little cool if they are taking so long to hatch out.

You didn't mention what breed of chicken you are trying to hatch? Rose combed breeds from what I have read have a lethal gene in them that will cause the chicks to die in day 19-20-21 of incubation.

UC

 

[Hens_And_Chicks]

Did you open the bator during the hatch? Loss of humidity inside the bator causes the membrane to get tough and the chicks can't pip out.

Same thing happened on my last hatch - I think opening the bator to remove shell debris was the culprit. Live and learn. Won't be doing that on this hatch that is due on March 14th!

 

[wjallen05]

What humidity level did you maintain during incubation?

40-50 days 1-18, then 70-80 days 18-23

What breed were they?

Silkies and Ameraucanas

Where they from your own flock or were they shipped?

Shipped

What was your temp? What was your humidity? What kind of incubator?

100 degrees, mentioned above, a Little Giant still-air (I recently learned that I should have kept the temp at 102)

Did you open the bator during the hatch?

Yes, a few times, to remove the shells and then the next day to get out the fluffy chicks. It was super crowded in there with all the eggs, shells, chicks, the therm/hydrometer, and about 10 wet rags to keep the humidity up. The humidity never dropped below 65%, though.

Rose combed breeds from what I have read have a lethal gene in them that will cause the chicks to die in day 19-20-21 of incubation.

Wow! I had no idea! Yes, they are both rose-combed breeds.​

 

[Jenski]

Actually, I believe Ameraucanas have pea combs. Don't get worried yet!

 

[Smoky73]

Yep, Ameraucanas have Pea Combs and silkies have Walnut combs...

I say that 70-80 for the last three days is a tad high, I never go above 70%

 

[SoccerMomof7]

That doesn't make me feel better, I just put 14 eggs in the bator and my rooster is rose combed! That definately took the air out of my baloon...

 

[Black Feather]

Quote:
Goodness, don't worry too much about it. I've found very little research about the topic, but have heard from numerous breeders that this is the case.

However it is well documented that rose combed breeds also have lower fertility than single comb breeds as well.

Here is a link to the research
http://www.rosecomb.com/federation/articles/infertility.html

Rose combed crosses do not have the same issues as pure rose comb to rose comb breeds.

I raise rosecombs and still get lots of chickies. I have weeks where I get 100% hatch, and other weeks where I get as low as 50%. The bad weeks are more likely caused by something going on with the incubator.

This past week I had 36 good eggs ready to hatch and 24-26 of them hatched. I opened the other eggs up and had just what you said, fully formed chicks that didn't make it. I would say 50% of the dead chicks had not absorbed the egg yolk, and the other 50% had, but had not pipped.

UC