Dying after pipping

[JacksonPearce]

In my most recent hatch, I had quite a few chicks die after pipping— which is, of course, heartbreaking! Any ideas on why this might be?

I’m using a new incubator, a Incuview. Rotating 6 times daily, solid temperature. The eggs were Cochins and seramas. One serama died after trying to hatch for almost a full day— I went to assist but it seemed like there was still a lot of blood in the membrane, so I held back. Another chick that died also seemed to still have a lot of blood in the membrane.

I did a dry hatch, as I’ve done before, because I’m in GA and our humidity is naturally fairly high. I started doing a dry hatch last year when I realized my unhatched chicks were too wet/gummy.

Any suggestions?

 

[MaryZoe]

So sorry to hear about your loss. While I'm sure you realize that there could be all sorts of problems, I might start with the humidity. Have you tried a dry hatch up until lockdown. Then, for those last three days, maybe increase the humidity. I find that my chicks need a lot of humidity to hatch well, and I live in Naples, Florida, which is also a very humid environment.

Best of luck with your next hatch!
MaryZoe

In my most recent hatch, I had quite a few chicks die after pipping— which is, of course, heartbreaking! Any ideas on why this might be?

I’m using a new incubator, a Incuview. Rotating 6 times daily, solid temperature. The eggs were Cochins and seramas. One serama died after trying to hatch for almost a full day— I went to assist but it seemed like there was still a lot of blood in the membrane, so I held back. Another chick that died also seemed to still have a lot of blood in the membrane.

I did a dry hatch, as I’ve done before, because I’m in GA and our humidity is naturally fairly high. I started doing a dry hatch last year when I realized my unhatched chicks were too wet/gummy.

Any suggestions?

 

[JacksonPearce]

Thank you! I did add a lot of water in the end to up the humidity-- honestly, I worry if it was too much, as I'm getting a lot of condensation. Hm...

 

[JacksonPearce]

Whew! It isn't quite as bad as I thought-- when I went to open a few eggs to see why they'd died pipping, I discovered a few weren't dead after all! They sure looked that way-- no beaks moving, very still, but the moment I tapped at the shell they started moving. Two had indeed died; I pulled a bit of shell away from the remainder, but didn't want to do too much since I saw some veining on the membranes. Perhaps they are just (quite) late hatchers for one reason or another. Fingers crossed they pull through!

 

[MaryZoe]

Best of luck! I've found Seramas a little tricky to hatch. Had one of my worst hatches with Seramas. They sure are cute, though, when they hatch!