eggs keep dying

[Chickaletta8]

Candled last night day 11. Day 8 we had 18 wigglers, last night we had only 15. We put 24 in and have lost many. Only 2 not fertilized at all. The rest were blood rings. The loss makes me sad. Why oh why are they dying?

 

[WalnutHill]

Dying so early, it is most likely due to overall high temperature or overall low temperature, or spikes of high temperature that last more than an hour or two. Do you keep your thermometer on the warm side of the eggs? Where is your thermostat positioned in relation to the eggs?

Any difference in where in the incubator these eggs were positioned?

 

[Chickaletta8]

It is a still air incubator and they were mostly on the outsides and the front. The incubator stays at 98.9 and 99.5. Has a egg turner in it.

 

[WalnutHill]

Your incubator temperature is too low. Still air incubators should be maintained at 102F on the heated side of the egg (per Mississippi State University; 101.5 is also acceptable).

http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_environment.html

Those temps will allow incubation to start, but will not sustain growth once "real" body structures begin to take form.

In a tabletop incubator, temps on the edges can vary by a few degrees. When I use my Little Giant incubators, I rotate eggs from center to edge, and edge to center, every few days, or if not fully loaded I don't set on the outside cups of the turner.

 

[Chickaletta8]

Wow!! That is way higher than the package said. Thank you so much. This may save lives! Lol

 

[lazy gardener]

Why, oh why do the manufacturers put such stupid instructions in their incubators? You'd think that they'd get with the current research, and promote their product in a way to allow it to succeed instead of being a wretched failure.

 

[WalnutHill]

Why, oh why do the manufacturers put such stupid instructions in their incubators? You'd think that they'd get with the current research, and promote their product in a way to allow it to succeed instead of being a wretched failure.

Agreed.

 

[heritagebirds]

Sorry to hear you were having trouble with hatch. I would get plenty of eggs going into lockdown, but then would lose them at hatch. I live in a very humid climate and have to do the dry incubation method.

 

[Chickaletta8]

When I get home this evening, I will slowly increase the temp on this. Do you guys think it will be too late?

 

[WalnutHill]

They have little to no chance if you don't raise the temp, don't worry about raising it slowly, just try not to overshoot.

You can't correct the past, any survivors will undoubtedly be late. Be very careful to monitor the air cells and adjust your humidity based on what you see today based on the current development stage of the eggs. At day 12, the eggs should be 3/4 full of chick with 9 days to go. I would guess that your survivors are probably at day 7 or 8 stage, and the air cell should be sized for that stage, not how many days they have been in the incubator. You may need to raise the humidity to ensure the air cells are not too large, too early.

If your eggs are at day 7 stage, expect an additional 12-14 days of incubation and time lockdown accordingly.