Dead In Shell , no internal pipping

[ckmf]

Okay I tried twice at incubation, and have only hatched one chick. Fertility of the eggs has been good (all shipped eggs), and everything has been fine all the way up to hatching. The chicks develop like they should, and are still moving and kicking around when I place them in the incubator for lockdown. However, something happens in between then and they die in the shell? After an eggtopsy (or whatever you call it ) I see the chicks had failed to even internally pip. They were just dead. The temperature during incubation has been a constant 99.5 degrees (measured by three different thermometers, all calibrated). I use egg turners, that turn the eggs every two hours all the way to day 18. Ive used two different circulated air incubators, with proper ventilation. I have filled the water wells completely full both times, at the beginning of incubation, and added water every other day. My humidity was high throughout incubation and hatching. Could high humidity be my problem?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Okay I tried twice at incubation, and have only hatched one chick. Fertility of the eggs has been good (all shipped eggs), and everything has been fine all the way up to hatching. The chicks develop like they should, and are still moving and kicking around when I place them in the incubator for lockdown. However, something happens in between then and they die in the shell? After an eggtopsy (or whatever you call it ) I see the chicks had failed to even internally pip. They were just dead. The temperature during incubation has been a constant 99.5 degrees (measured by three different thermometers, all calibrated). I use egg turners, that turn the eggs every two hours all the way to day 18. Ive used two different circulated air incubators, with proper ventilation. I have filled the water wells completely full both times, at the beginning of incubation, and added water every other day. My humidity was high throughout incubation and hatching. Could high humidity be my problem?

It definitely could be the issue. An average high humdity during the first 17 days will keep the eggs from loosing the proper amount of moisture preventing the air cells to grow to an adequate size and causing chicks to grow to big or "bloat" making it impossible for them to turn in the cell. I would highly recommend a low humidity incubation method. (Often called dry incubation.) Monitoring the air cells during the incubation will keep you on the right track and help you to know how to adjust the humidity. You can find the method I use in the link in my signature at the bottom of my post. I swear by this method, especially for styrofoam bators if you have accurate thermometers/hygrometers and a bator that will hold a fairly steady temp.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

And BTW, welcome to the group!!

 

[ckmf]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice. I am going to read your link info now! I have a plastic incubator, but hopefully it works all the same

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice. I am going to read your link info now! I have a plastic incubator, but hopefully it works all the same

I know @WVduckchick uses a janoel knockoff (the ebay plastic bator) with pretty much the same method and has good rates as well.

 

[WVduckchick]

Yes, I believe Amy's method is accurate, no matter what you are hatching in. It sounds like you did your homework as far as calibrating thermometers, etc. But humidity is a huge factor that is often misrepresented by the incubator manufacturers. Your local humidity plays a big factor in maintaining your humidity, so take that into account too. Another thing you could try is weighing eggs (in grams is good) before setting them, just to get comfortable with how much moisture they should lose. Chickens (actually almost all birds) need to lose about 12-14% of their initial weight by the time they are ready to hatch. If you weigh them on the day they are set, and then again at day 7, they should have lost roughly 5% of their weight. Much more or less gives you time to adjust the humidity up or down.
Here's my Chinese incubator... is yours like this? If so, I actually drilled 3 more holes in the base for more ventilation. Oxygen is important to a developing chick.