Depressed with eggtopsy

[Chickengnome91]

So out of 39 eggs our total live call? 8. Just 8.
I gave the chickens a extra week and half to hatch as I saw movement at the 29 day mark. Out of 39- 8 hatched / ( 25ish left in incubator after candling and no development.)
Eggtopsy results-
9 were fully developed , some with punctured to air sac or shell.
5 fully developed , some egg left to absorb
6 with larger yolk attached to them with veins
With the rest not looking like they developed past looking somewhat like chickens. Bones , some feathers.

I said I wouldnt cry but I'm definitely mourning this loss. Not because I lost money but just how we started off well , and these guys should be growing with their flock. I ended up burying them with our Rose's.


So what could of gone wrong? Temp was spot on at 100f , humidity kept between 65% and 72% during lockdown. =(

I know we had a few eggs explode and I did do my best to keep them warm and humid. (Less then 5-6mins out the incubator) =(

 

[Duckduckchicken32]

Hello! I’m sorry your hatch did not go according to the plan. Where do you get your eggs from?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Wow. So sad! My friend had a similar experience with her incubator. 6 hatched of 48. There's gotta be a solution. Maybe this info below will give you an idea?

So... Currently I have her incubator and am in the process of testing it. It's a styrofoam box thing by Miller Mfg, heater (no fan) in the top, and grooves in the bottom for adding water. No egg turner. I have found some issues with how it measures things - such as temp readings are different in the bottom where the eggs are vs. the control unit, and humidity is uncontrollable.

Control unit displays 99.5-degF, while my chick thermometer placed near the bottom where the eggs would be measures 96-deg. That was an easy adjustment - I set the control unit to 103-deg, and the chick thermometer is now reading consistently at 99.5.

Humidity is trickier, and I've tried and failed by changing a few different variables: Water in two channels, one channel, and no water at all; vent plug(s) open or closed; viewing window(s) slid open or closed; and moving the hygrometer to different areas. At last check, I filled one channel with polished rocks and added a little water, attempting to reduce the surface area of the water since I can't reduce the size of a channel.

At the moment with the rocks, the control unit measures 48% humidity, while my hygrometer measures 60% near the bottom away from the rocks. That's the closest readings I've found so far, but not yet ideal. I haven't yet checked the accuracy of the control unit's hygrometer (salt/water/baggie method), but that will be my next step.

The problem is those channels. They're too big. I've got to find a way to control the amount of water in them without disturbing eggs. Maybe I'll try abandoning the channels altogether, and just use some pieces of damp sponge in the corners of the tray.

Once I can get consistent 50% +/- readings near the eggs' level, I'll work on making adjustments to maintain 70% during lockdown. And then put a few eggs in it for a real test.

 

[Chickengnome91]

Hello! I’m sorry your hatch did not go according to the plan. Where do you get your eggs from?

I got my marans, olive Eggers, turkeys from same breeder. ( she does maran x amercauna crosses to produce her olives, amercauna, maran , then blue slate and red bourbon. ) pretty much all the ones that did hatch where from her eggs minus a barnyard mix.
I got a few barnyard mixed eggs from a local.
So majority where shipped from the breeder

 

[Chickengnome91]

Wow. So sad! My friend had a similar experience with her incubator. 6 hatched of 48. There's gotta be a solution. Maybe this info below will give you an idea?

So... Currently I have her incubator and am in the process of testing it. It's a styrofoam box thing by Miller Mfg, heater (no fan) in the top, and grooves in the bottom for adding water. No egg turner. I have found some issues with how it measures things - such as temp readings are different in the bottom where the eggs are vs. the control unit, and humidity is uncontrollable.

Control unit displays 99.5-degF, while my chick thermometer placed near the bottom where the eggs would be measures 96-deg. That was an easy adjustment - I set the control unit to 103-deg, and the chick thermometer is now reading consistently at 99.5.

Humidity is trickier, and I've tried and failed by changing a few different variables: Water in two channels, one channel, and no water at all; vent plug(s) open or closed; viewing window(s) slid open or closed; and moving the hygrometer to different areas. At last check, I filled one channel with polished rocks and added a little water, attempting to reduce the surface area of the water since I can't reduce the size of a channel.

At the moment with the rocks, the control unit measures 48% humidity, while my hygrometer measures 60% near the bottom away from the rocks. That's the closest readings I've found so far, but not yet ideal. I haven't yet checked the accuracy of the control unit's hygrometer (salt/water/baggie method), but that will be my next step.

The problem is those channels. They're too big. I've got to find a way to control the amount of water in them without disturbing eggs. Maybe I'll try abandoning the channels altogether, and just use some pieces of damp sponge in the corners of the tray.

Once I can get consistent 50% +/- readings near the eggs' level, I'll work on making adjustments to maintain 70% during lockdown. And then put a few eggs in it for a real test.

That actually may be a good thought to it. I know the humidity and temp seemed to stay stable with my outside hygrometer and temp. But it did seem weird we had alot more condensation this time around vs my quail hatch. I'm quitting hatching for the year and prob just gonna hang it up for now, then test in winter without eggs , see if maybe where I placed the incubator had something to do with it as I did switch to a different room

 

[Strong poultry]

So sorry for your loss. This was the first year that we started with chicken egg incubation from our girls. That went pretty good with only 2 of 12 not hatched. When we tried to hatch turkey eggs from mail order, the problems started. Despite the great packing job of the eggs , from several sellers, the hatch rates were half or less.
I am in no way an expert, but I feel the shipping process , the changes in temperature and lack of humidity of the eggs ,going from one temperature climate to another plus internal shaking that must occur probably cause more damage than viewed from an intact shell.
I did candle my eggs but am not obviously too good at that either.
No words of wisdom, only my reasons that I used with my coping.

 

[junior67]

do you have a calibrated thermometer/hygrometer in the incubator or just going by what the incubator says?

I am not sure what type of incubator you have but I use the NR 360 and I keep my temp at 99.5 average and 45% humidity before lock down.. I am thinking others would know more than me but the humidity seems a bit high.

But shipping is very hard on eggs so it could have been that as well. But I myself am pretty new to hatching eggs as well. but most of what I have tried has been shipped and haven't had much luck but mine have all just not started. the ones that have started I have had decent luck with.