Eggs hatching... soon?

[rachelsflock]

Ugh. I threw out 12 eggs. Out of those, 2 appeared to be fully developed but dead. They had feathers, beaks, toenails, everything. I have 7 left on lockdown but I just feel sick about it. Why do they die so close to hatching??

Try dropping the temperature to 98 to 98.5 on the last several days of incubation. I've done this and it consistently gets a better hatch rate from coturnix, ducks, and chickens. I think higher temperatures along with the stress of preparing to hatch can give hatchlings heart attacks in the shell. Remember, toward hatching time broody mommies stand up off the eggs more or spend more time off the nest . Mother knows best. Maybe it will work for you too.

 

[feedman77]

I'm late coming into this. what little giant incubator do you have?

I have a 9300 and 10300. both are notorious for the thermostat and the hydrometer to be off. had to set at 104 to get close to 100.

one of these had temp swings of up to 4 or 5 degrees and temp imbalances of up to 3 degrees difference in the corners.

if not hatching on day 17 _ 19 consistent I would say temp is to low.

this is my personal choice on humidity I don't add any water during incubation "dry incubation". I just try to keep it above 20 percent. add water on day 16 as they prepare to hatch. then take it up to 60 to 70 percent. seemed to have better results for me.

if you have a second thermometer that accurate double check your lg thermostat.

good luck.

I just got ahold of a cabinet incubator to hatch in this year.

 

[cshma11]

I'm late coming into this. what little giant incubator do you have?

I have a 9300 and 10300. both are notorious for the thermostat and the hydrometer to be off. had to set at 104 to get close to 100.

one of these had temp swings of up to 4 or 5 degrees and temp imbalances of up to 3 degrees difference in the corners.

if not hatching on day 17 _ 19 consistent I would say temp is to low.

this is my personal choice on humidity I don't add any water during incubation "dry incubation". I just try to keep it above 20 percent. add water on day 16 as they prepare to hatch. then take it up to 60 to 70 percent. seemed to have better results for me.

if you have a second thermometer that accurate double check your lg thermostat.

good luck.

I just got ahold of a cabinet incubator to hatch in this year.

It's a 9300. I will stick another thermometer in there and see what it's doing. I wish I could afford a nicer incubator but right now I'm on a budget. I'm a student nurse, husband is military, and we have 3 kids - 2 in daycare, 1 in kindergarten. Someday though...

 

[feedman77]

I hope any thing I put in doesn't discourage you from trying to incubate.

but my lgs gave me fits trying to figure out. I cooked a few.

somewhere in the incubating thread there is a large thread on setting the lgs up for optimal incubating and hatching in them.

good luck on your current batch.

 

[cshma11]

I hope any thing I put in doesn't discourage you from trying to incubate.

but my lgs gave me fits trying to figure out. I cooked a few.

somewhere in the incubating thread there is a large thread on setting the lgs up for optimal incubating and hatching in them.

good luck on your current batch.

Oh no! I'm going to work with what I've got until I can afford better! I have a pretty good thermometer with a sensor I can put in the LG and see if it's staying accurate.

 

[DK newbie]

Try dropping the temperature to 98 to 98.5 on the last several days of incubation. I've done this and it consistently gets a better hatch rate from coturnix, ducks, and chickens. I think higher temperatures along with the stress of preparing to hatch can give hatchlings heart attacks in the shell. Remember, toward hatching time broody mommies stand up off the eggs more or spend more time off the nest . Mother knows best. Maybe it will work for you too.

I know next to nothing about using incubators, but in my experience with broody button quail, mommy actually leaves the nest way less for the last 3-4 days before hatch. I see her leaving several times a day at the start but when the last days approach I sometimes don't see her leave at all, even if she's in my living room and I'm totally tuned in to any sound or movement coming from the quail cage at that point. I usually don't even see an egg for the last days, so I have trouble telling exactly when the chicks hatch - they are all dry and fluffy when I see them, they could have hatched a day before or even more for all I know..

 

[rachelsflock]

Once the eggs start pipping moms stay glued to the nest to keep humidity in, but the last few days before pip is when mommy hen or duck tend to get up more, or stand up ON the nest so air gets in to varying degrees. I've seen good muscovies do this during hatch too, and hens fluff up and stand off the eggs a little bit too. That is absolutely essential so mommy doesn't crush babies. Chicks start generating a little bit of their own heat toward the end too, and there's a good chance they complain when too hot and the hens can listen, just like they do after they're hatched. Incubators can't hear, so babies get cooked. Just keep it above 96. Activity slows and hatching gets delayed resulting in weaker chicks if it goes below that (like in a power outage, based on my experience).

Not meaning to hurt anyone else's feelings, just sharing what greatly reduced my chick/duckling mortality in my various hatching adventures no matter which of my incubators I've used. It's great to hear you have a back up thermometer/humidity gauge. Those are VITAL, even with incubators with thermostats.

 

[cshma11]

I put a thermometer probe in the incubator and the temp has been accurate within 0.1 degrees. It said it was 100.5 and the external thermometer said 100.4 - and the most it has fluctuated was 1 degree (99.5-100.5).

And the egg on lockdown as of today is no longer moving at all. Apparently I'm not very good at keeping them alive.

 

[rachelsflock]

Aw, better luck next time! Don't give up yet. You'll get it.

 

[feedman77]

that's a good thing that your temp is holding steady. so that can be ruled out.

next thing to look at will be humidity. if you have more eggs try running the humidity lower during incubation. maybe they are internal pipping and drowing.

are your eggs your own or shipped?

sorry about the loss of your lockdown egg.

my incubation has been a lot of reading threads and trial and error. but try another batch if it goes good try and duplicate it. if it goes bad try again and make a small change.