Chicks in eggs but didnt hatch...WHY?!

[Farmer Viola]

Quote: if they don't show the same humidity %, then that one is broken, and you should return it and get your money back. All mine show the same #. I test it when I begin my hatch. then I go to 1 therm and 1 hygrom. but I have 3 or 4 in my house that I could use at any given time.

So..your advice for someone whose chicks just died is, do nothing different, try again, expect different result? Hmm...

 

[sdm111]

No I think Its pretty simple fully developed chicks which seems like they are too big to turn, pip and zip or internally pipped and drowned = too high humidity. anyway you win.

 

[remme]

Ok. One my name is remme not Renee ha I'm a dude...Secondly what's the consensus. Lower my humidity during the first 18 days or lower it during the last 3? Thanks

 

[new breeder]

Ok. One my name is remme not Renee ha I'm a dude...Secondly what's the consensus. Lower my humidity during the first 18 days or lower it during the last 3? Thanks

i am sorry iwas comfused yesterday, a lot of problems withmy incubator last day and my head was off......


wwell the perfech humidity is 60% day 1-18 19-21day 75% that hummidity it's for my chicken the best

 

[Aphrael]

I really don't think there is such a thing as the "perfect humidity". So many factors can play into it, different things work for different people. What you describe is very similar to what happened in my first hatch. I had a number of eggs with fully formed chicks, even with yolk fully absorbed, but they died in the shell without ever even pipping. When I opened them I could see there was NO room in there for them to turn into the position to pip and zip. After research I determined that this was most likely caused by the air cells not growing enough during incubation (i.e. the humidity was too high to allow proper water loss from the eggs). The eggs that had hatched well had very porous shells and lost more moisture. On my second hatch, I only added a bit of water if the humidity dropped below 20-25%. That hatch went MUCH better. I am setting more eggs today for the NYD Hatchalong, and will be using this same method.
Anyway, this is all my long-winded way of saying that it might be beneficial to you to try lowering your humidity for the first 18 days of incubation. As the incubation progresses either chart the air cells to make sure they are growing properly or weigh them and measure moisture loss that way.

 

[new breeder]

I really don't think there is such a thing as the "perfect humidity". So many factors can play into it, different things work for different people. What you describe is very similar to what happened in my first hatch. I had a number of eggs with fully formed chicks, even with yolk fully absorbed, but they died in the shell without ever even pipping. When I opened them I could see there was NO room in there for them to turn into the position to pip and zip. After research I determined that this was most likely caused by the air cells not growing enough during incubation (i.e. the humidity was too high to allow proper water loss from the eggs). The eggs that had hatched well had very porous shells and lost more moisture. On my second hatch, I only added a bit of water if the humidity dropped below 20-25%. That hatch went MUCH better. I am setting more eggs today for the NYD Hatchalong, and will be using this same method.
Anyway, this is all my long-winded way of saying that it might be beneficial to you to try lowering your humidity for the first 18 days of incubation. As the incubation progresses either chart the air cells to make sure they are growing properly or weigh them and measure moisture loss that way.

sorry i dint say it right, perfect for my borrow incubator ( i just buy a new one but right now waiting for the old t hatch 10 egg's) for the new one i dont kknow, but the manual of the new incubator say the same :/

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The hydrometer, thermometer, and thermostat that comes with your incubator is NOT to be trusted. Use multiple devices or better yet get precision calibrated instruments to be sure that your settings are accurate. Ninety eight degrees on one thermostat or thermometer may be 103 degrees on the next. Do not under ANY circumstance open your incubator after lock down. Not to remove chicks, add water or for any other reason.

Use small incubators only in draft free and temperature controlled areas even if that means that you have to evict your wife or husband
from the bed room.

Never set up an incubator in or around a heater or AC duct or vent.

Use a large syringe with a short length of IV hose on it (in place of the needle) to add water. Never use cold tap water, every water addition should be preheated to 100 degrees. Use the syringe to add water without opening the incubator.

Every time you open small incubators you run the risk of wild swings in temperature, because of the small thermal mass, Styrofoam incubators are the worse. Drafts have the same effect. Temperatures inside the incubator can swing like a yo-yo 10 degrees or more every time that you open it and it may take hours before it re-stabilizes.

As incubation progresses you may need more ventilation. The incubation process creates Carbon Dioxide, maybe 100s of times more CO2 than naturally occurs in the atmosphere so learn how to use the vent holes in your incubator.

When you are ready to set eggs start the incubator humming 3 - 4 days ahead of time so that the interior temperature of the incubator has time to stabilize before you add the eggs. Set your eggs out in the incubation room 5 - 8 hours before putting them inside the incubator so that the eggs don't cool off the incubator too much.

Do not candle the eggs before the 10th or the 11th day and then only candle them once. You can candle them again at lock down.
Curiosity kills more than cats, too much curiosity about what's inside your eggs kills developing chicks.

Don't add more eggs to an incubator once you have started incubating.

If possible use a separate incubator without the turning feature as a dedicated hatcher. Treat your hatcher like it was an incubator, start it early and let it stabilize before putting eggs in it.

Hatching only a hand full of eggs is more difficult than hatching an incubator full because the baby chick sounds coming from inside the egg encourages the chicks to try harder to get out of the shell and the reduced thermal mass makes keeping the temperature in the correct range harder.

Healthy vigorous brood fowl in tip-top shape (both hens and roosters) produce healthy vigorous chicks. Guess what unhealthy and weak brood fowl produce?

Unless there is a real or pressing need to do so, never, never save eggs from hens or roosters 4 years old or older. However be sure to breed back 2 and 3 year olds who have a lot of their chicks reach adult hood. These brood fowl are producing chicks with healthy immune systems, and healthy chicks are worth their weight in antibiotics.

I don't like still air incubators but if you use one do remember to only measure the temperature at the very tippy top edge of the egg. Below the top of the egg the air is cooler, above the top of the egg the air is hotter, you need to keep your hatching eggs in the Goldilocks zone.

Obviously teeny tiny incubators are more difficult for a beginner to use than larger cabinet style incubators. Cabinet incubators cost more but the level of dedication needed to pull off good hatches in a cabinet incubator is lower.

Everyone has to start somewhere. The Spring Equinox is only a little over 90 days away. The time to plan and make up your brood pens is now.

I hope that this helps someone.

 

[Poulet des Bois]

Thank you, very helpful.
I just completed a batch, but all fully grown died before hatching; 2 pipped thru inner membrane, but not shell. I've learned a great deal, but still not certain about what went wrong.