Chicks DIS..again!

[TNBarnQueen]

OK..this is getting frustrating. I keep losing chicks during lockdown. Looks possibly day 20 or more day 21. They are perfectly formed...ready to hatch. I noticed the air sacs where larger when I candled them on day 24. My Temp stays at 99 (Hova) and humidity around 45-50..I do have spikes though when chicks hatch. I think the highest was 76 but went back down after 30-40 minutes. I pop the plug when it gets too high. When I put them in LD they are active in the egg. I use cradles made from egg cartons sitting the eggs tilted.
I am not going to go into the incubation period because being as they are fully formed ready to pip..it has to be a lockdown/hatching problem. Does ANYONE had any ideas?? This is getting so frustrating..and costly. I lost half of this last hatch. This was my 5th hatch and I am sure there are things I still need to learn about incubating so please..someone give me some ideas. I have eggs due to hatch in 12 days!
Thanks!!!

 

[Alas]

at lockdown the humidity is supposed to be closer to 70%. they're probably too dry to hatch

 

[aveca]

Are these your own eggs? shipped eggs? . do you feel the egg shells might be too tough for them to pip through? It is such a sad thing but it seems to be common..Im not sure if there is something in the enironment or what . the yolks have to be very hardy to send them all the way through a good hatch..might depend on what the hens and roosters are bing fed..winter time they need protien added and greens..such things make them even stronger..it could be any number of things..I would investigate everything from the feeding of parent flcok to shells too hard to pip , lethal gene..ect...
this year we have been having wonderful hatchs..several years ago we had disasterous ones..it was all in the feeds were feeding..I switched to a formula that an APA judge has made for his own flock..and add even more spinach ect shredded carrots little hamburg now and again and cooked aggs now and again to boost protien cause we live in long winter climate..

I hope you find an answer for this..such a sad thing..please let us know if you discover the cause

 

[TNBarnQueen]

The shells on the eggs did not seem to be too hard. These eggs where from 2 different people. This has been a problem in the last 3 hatches I have done. This even happened with my own eggs....I feed a good protein feed and supplement with fresh veggies, cook egg and they also free range. So..this has to be a problem with my hatching method.

 

[KZ]

What kind of incubator are you using and what is your hatching method?

 

[bel]

45%-50% humidity is too low it would be my guess, I hatch at 65%. If its too dry the membrane dries and hardens inside so they cant get out.

 

[artathart]

I agree. You can have low humidity up until day 18 but then it needs to be at least 60% so they can pip out of the shells.

 

[pete55]

I do realise that you think your problems are with lockdown but not incubation. You may be correct but any minor errors during incubation can weaken the chick. Hatching is a time of huge physiological changes and stress which weaker chicks cannot deal with. Sometimes minor errors in incubation are 'paid for' at this time.

I assume you are using a foced air incubator and recommend a temperature of 37.5C/99.5F with a low humidity until lockdown. If you want to be even more precise then weigh your fresh eggs and adjust your humidity until you achieve an overall weight loss of 15%.

It would be helpful to know if the chicks you lost made it to internal or even external pipping.

Pete

 

[TNBarnQueen]

Quote:
Will try to answer all questions in this post.
KC... I am using a Hovabator with fan..I think a 1588? It is the one that has the full view top on it. I had been keeping H at 35 app. during days 1-18 and raising it to around 50 -55 during LD...and I know now that is wayyyyy to low. I put water in at the start and do not add until around day 10 if needed. I also sometimes use small pieces of wet sponge to raise it and vent top plug to lower H if too high during hatching.

Pete...the chicks did not pip at all. I feel since the membrane was so thick it could not even turn. A friend of mine her on BYC said that she pencil marks where her air cells are each time she candles so she can tell how much they have increased/ decreased and adjust H accordingly. Makes sense to me. I am positive after those I have talked with and those of you who have answered me here on this post it IS humidity problems. So..that will be something I will be watching closely and raising. I was always so afraid of drowning the chicks but instead dried them out too much.

I want to thank all of you so much for your responses and suggestions. It has really helped me understand the process of things. Will let everyone know the results of my next one in 2 weeks. Thanks again!! Terry

 

[pete55]

Hi Terry

Happy to help and I also mark air cells with a pencil as they approach internal pipping. You have an instant visual record and very useful at the point where the air cell enlarges just before internal pipping. As an extra tool to support you do consider a set of small scales that measure in grammes, mine was quite cheap and really used for weighing ingredients in baking.

2 of our Rhea Eggs that are internally pipped and showing the extent of the air cell.

Good luck