Facing issues from start.. kindly help.

[felixpaul]

I have Kadaknath hen. I keep it's egg in my incubator it's an automatic Incubator (except humidity normally 65%).
I have tried several times and surfed well and tried different techniques but I couldn't get them all hatched or have a high hatching %.

Everytime many eggs gets pipped but chicks dies inside the shell

Cross Checked the temperature with external thermometer, it shows correct.

Some people said it was because of humidity then I used to add several amount of water.. but all in vein.

This time I read we can add humidity in the room so I started having a kettle randomly. I could see the humidity 68-72%.

Even after that out of 30 eggs. I found 4 dead,
5 born, 4 live in shell.

Guys need help if I'm doing something wrong.

 

[eggbert420]

Could just be genetics, seems like you are doing everything right.

 

[Floof]

What do you run your humidity at for the first 18 days of Incubation? If the humidity is too high, not enough will evaporate and the air cell will be quite small. In my experience the chick will grow too big in the shell to zip properly and will pip and then make no progress. Sometimes you can help those ones. My last batch had that happen and I was able to help most of them out of their shells successfully but they were very swollen/bloated and struggled the first few days. Have you looked at your dead in the shell chicks? It could also be that they are suffering from a genetic problem like cross beak and physically can't get out because of that.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Is your hygrometer accurate? If it's not, and it's reading a lower humidity than what it truely is, your chicks could be suffocating in the excessive humidity. I had problems with that when I first incubated turkey eggs and lost a few that way.

 

[felixpaul]

Could just be genetics, seems like you are doing everything right.

It couldn't be genetics as I have hatched once with hen and it was 100% .

 

[ronott1]

I have Kadaknath hen. I keep it's egg in my incubator it's an automatic Incubator (except humidity normally 65%).
I have tried several times and surfed well and tried different techniques but I couldn't get them all hatched or have a high hatching %.

Everytime many eggs gets pipped but chicks dies inside the shell

Cross Checked the temperature with external thermometer, it shows correct.

Some people said it was because of humidity then I used to add several amount of water.. but all in vein.

This time I read we can add humidity in the room so I started having a kettle randomly. I could see the humidity 68-72%.

Even after that out of 30 eggs. I found 4 dead,
5 born, 4 live in shell.

Guys need help if I'm doing something wrong. View attachment 1072856

The most common cause of bad hatches is temperature. You need to have an incubator that holds temps as close to 99.5 as possible. My guess is that you do not have correct or stable temperatures in the incubator.

Move the incubator away from windows, airconditioners and etc. The kitchen table or dresser in a bedroom are bad places for an incubator.
Try to keep the room that the incubator is in at a steady temperature. 75 would be perfect and it should stay within 10 degrees of that.
Humidity for the first 18 days of incubation should be about 40% I would say for those eggs.
Humidity at lockdown can be 60 to 65%. If you see condensation on the view window then humidity is too high at lockdown and your hygrometer is off.

I have read and helped people that have said that their temperatures were good only to find that they were not using a good thermometer to check temps. The first clue is when the thermometer does not read in tenths. You should be able to say that the incubator is 99.5. If you only see 99 or 100, do not use that thermometer.

Brinsea spot check is a very good choice. If you invest in one, you will likely be able to get your incubator calibrated and have great hatches.

 

[felixpaul]

What do you run your humidity at for the first 18 days of Incubation? If the humidity is too high, not enough will evaporate and the air cell will be quite small. In my experience the chick will grow too big in the shell to zip properly and will pip and then make no progress. Sometimes you can help those ones. My last batch had that happen and I was able to help most of them out of their shells successfully but they were very swollen/bloated and struggled the first few days. Have you looked at your dead in the shell chicks? It could also be that they are suffering from a genetic problem like cross beak and physically can't get out because of that.

First 18 days it used to be 65% or little less. But not above it.
Once I tried removing the shell manually and the chick died. So I thought unless it comes out by itself it would die.

 

[Floof]

65% is way too high for the first 18 days. Decrease it to 40 or 45% until lock down and then increase it to 65%.

Helping a chick out of the shell is always a gamble but there are some very good videos and tutorials on how to do it successfully. Only chip away small pieces of shell and very gently peel back the outer membrane to reveal the inner membrane. If you still see blood in the veins PUT IT BACK and give it more time to absorb the blood and yolk.

 

[abraga]

I think your humidity is to high during incubation.

 

[felixpaul]

The most common cause of bad hatches is temperature. You need to have an incubator that holds temps as close to 99.5 as possible. My guess is that you do not have correct or stable temperatures in the incubator.

Move the incubator away from windows, airconditioners and etc. The kitchen table or dresser in a bedroom are bad places for an incubator.
Try to keep the room that the incubator is in at a steady temperature. 75 would be perfect and it should stay within 10 degrees of that.
Humidity for the first 18 days of incubation should be about 40% I would say for those eggs.
Humidity at lockdown can be 60 to 65%. If you see condensation on the view window then humidity is too high at lockdown and your hygrometer is off.

I have read and helped people that have said that their temperatures were good only to find that they were not using a good thermometer to check temps. The first clue is when the thermometer does not read in tenths. You should be able to say that the incubator is 99.5. If you only see 99 or 100, do not use that thermometer.

Brinsea spot check is a very good choice. If you invest in one, you will likely be able to get your incubator calibrated and have great hatches.

I am from india, it's hot here room temp is 32-33c.
Incubators temp is maintained at 37.5c
I have seen condensation in the lid. I used to put a cloth over it to avoid formation of moisture.
In that case,
How to reduce the humidity in the starting days?