Eggs not hatching

[Sixandahalfacres]

The initial humidity was likely too high and you may have chicks that drowned after the internal pips - I keep my humidity around 30% until lockdown. I would take out a few non-pipped eggs and candle or water candle to see if they are still alive. Day 23 is pretty late unless the temp was low during the whole hatch.

 

[Sixandahalfacres]

If there are no pips you can open the incubator - just make sure to get the humidity back up after. It’s when there are pips that you shouldn’t open it, although not sure why your first chick died. Did you open it up to see why?

 

[franci64]

If there are no pips you can open the incubator - just make sure to get the humidity back up after. It’s when there are pips that you shouldn’t open it, although not sure why your first chick died. Did you open it up to see why?

I'm going to open it shortly. What should I look for? From what I've been reading, I had my humidity way too high. 50% until lockdown and then 70% after that. Im guessing they all drowned after the internal pip.

 

[oregonkat]

I'm going to open it shortly. What should I look for? From what I've been reading, I had my humidity way too high. 50% until lockdown and then 70% after that. Im guessing they all drowned after the internal pip.

How did you know that the chick was dead? The time between pip and zip can be 24 hours. There is a lot of stuff that the chick is working on once it externally pips. They rest for long periods of time before making the final zip and push to hatch.
When you candle your eggs, the air cell in viable and growing eggs will tell you if your humidity is on track. The trouble with humidity that is too high is that the chick will grow to fill the space made available by an air cell that is too small and thus when it comes time to pip, there is not enough air cell available and the chick essentially drowns.

Have an independent and calibrated hygrometer and thermometer inside your incubator so that you know exactly what is going on with the humidity and temp. and mark your air cells on the eggs so you can watch the progression through incubation. There are some wonderful articles here on BYC that walk you through incubation step by step.

 

[franci64]

How did you know that the chick was dead? The time between pip and zip can be 24 hours. There is a lot of stuff that the chick is working on once it externally pips. They rest for long periods of time before making the final zip and push to hatch.
When you candle your eggs, the air cell in viable and growing eggs will tell you if your humidity is on track. The trouble with humidity that is too high is that the chick will grow to fill the space made available by an air cell that is too small and thus when it comes time to pip, there is not enough air cell available and the chick essentially drowns.

Have an independent and calibrated hygrometer and thermometer inside your incubator so that you know exactly what is going on with the humidity and temp. and mark your air cells on the eggs so you can watch the progression through incubation. There are some wonderful articles here on BYC that walk you through incubation step by step.

Thank you. From what I understand my humidity was too high. 50 to 55% (100 F) for the first 18 days and 70% after. The one that pipped never zipped and stopped moving. After 48 hours I opened the egg and it was dead. I'm learning.

 

[franci64]

If there are no pips you can open the incubator - just make sure to get the humidity back up after. It’s when there are pips that you shouldn’t open it, although not sure why your first chick died. Did you open it up to see why?

I opened the egg with the chick that stopped moving/chirping. It looks like the yolk sac was still intact. What could that mean?

 

[oregonkat]

I opened the egg with the chick that stopped moving/chirping. It looks like the yolk sac was still intact. What could that mean?

What did the air cell look like? If it was too small the chick may just have drowned but there could be a host of other issues too. The yolk still being unabsorbed is understandable as most of that absorption happens at about the same time as the internal and external pip as far as I understand. Sorry about your hatch but heaven knows we have all been through it and it is all a learning experience. It'll be much better next time.

 

[franci64]

What did the air cell look like? If it was too small the chick may just have drowned but there could be a host of other issues too. The yolk still being unabsorbed is understandable as most of that absorption happens at about the same time as the internal and external pip as far as I understand. Sorry about your hatch but heaven knows we have all been through it and it is all a learning experience. It'll be much better next time.

I'm not certain what to look for in terms of the air cell.