Day 29 khaki campbell eggs - Help!

[amosygal]

Quote:
They are now in 98.5-99 degrees and 77% humidity. When I candled them on day 25 there was only one occupying the whole egg and was who almost did, BUT some of the otheres were definitely alive. When I candled them on day 29 some have shown progress. So I did expect a late hatch for some of them. So far out of 9 eggs who reached lock-down. 1 hatched, 1 internaly piped but probably drowned (he had water in the air sac), 1 died not fully formed, and 1 I tried helping but failed.

have you tried candling the remaining eggs to see if there is any movement?

I didn't candle them again until now, but I think I'll do so in a couple of hours. We are soon entering day 32...
Thanks for your help I'll let you know what's happening...​

 

[pete55]

Hi

All may not be lost yet. Please read this Guide to Incubation, its detailed but it may help you

It may be that your humidity is too high, you need to look at the size of the aircell and observe for shadowing (all in the guide).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=497391

More links and info on our website;

http://oakgarthgeese.com

Pete

 

[amosygal]

Quote:
It probably was too high during the incubation period, about 55%, that's what it said on the paper that came with the eggs. I'm reading your guide now, thanks...

 

[amosygal]

I'm sorry to announce: they are all dead

.
One at least manage to internal pip before he died, the other 4 didn't. One had bad smell, I don't know if that's what killed him or that he had been in the incubator so long after he died. some were in some kind of jelly.
I'll start a new batch of my own chicken eggs tomorrow. I might try these shipped Khaki Campbell again next year, at least I got one duckling so I hope to have campbell x pekin, I heard they are good layers too.
Thanks everyone.

 

[amosygal]

So to summarize:
started with 20 eggs.
1 not fertile.
1 cracked.
9 blood ring.
out of 9 the reached lock-down:
1 hatched.
2 internal piped and died before I opened the egg.
1 didn't internal pip but I tried to assist it and failed.
I was at 99.7F and 55% humidity, and in lock-down 99F and 75%-80% humidity.

 

[yinepu]

next time take a humidity reading from the room where your incubator is going to be located

my relative humidity this past summer has been between 23% and 26%.. so I have been incubating at 45% with excellent results on my own eggs and pretty good results on shipped eggs

so I am thinking you should start at 40% humidity for incubation and adjust it up or down from there depending on how humid the room is where you will be incubating..also be sure to monitor the air cells and if you have a good gram scale check the weights of the eggs before starting incubation (so you can make sure they lose 14% of their weight if duck eggs.. 13% if chicken eggs)


also be sure to sanitize the incubator and also calibrate your thermometers and hygrometers before the next batch of eggs

 

[amosygal]

Quote:
Relative humidity here is usually between 30%-50% in the summer. What does that mean, what should I aim for? Why does the humidity in the room change the humidity the eggs need? It just says everywhere that it depends on the local climate but no one really explains how. Where can I read about this issue? Thanks you very much!

 

[yinepu]

your incubator will draw in air from the room where it's located.. so when you're in a dry environment you need to compensate for the dry air it pulls in by adding more water.. however if you're in a very humid environment your incubator won't need as much water added to it and you can get away with doing "dry incubation" because the air that is coming into the incubator already has sufficient moisture..

ok.. lets see if I can give an example that makes some sort of sense..
first I am going to assume you are like most people and don't sit there monitoring your humidity 24/7
so lets say when you checked your hygrometer it said 50% inside the incubator.. (which is still a bit high in my opinion.. but for argument's sake we'll use it)
and lets say that the humidity in your room was already at 40%... then it went up.. perhaps it rained or something.. so the room humidity shot up to 70% during the storm.. then leveled out at 60% for a while before settling back down.. during that time your incubator was pulling in more humid air than when you set it up.. so even though you thought it was at 50% when you checked it.. it may have shot up to 70% while you were busy sleeping or watching tv or tending to your family.. eggs dont re-absord moisture.. however too high of a humidity during incubation will cause the eggs not to lose as much moisture as they should which results in drownings or bloated chicks and small air cells

there is also the possibility that your hygrometer could need to be calibrated.. so it could say 45% yet in reality be 60 (which is why I don't go by just a hygrometer alone and i always calibrate mine just before i set the next batch of eggs)