Filled my incubator!

[MerleMice]

Couple of duds pulled, there were some eggs along the walls that were developing but definitely behind that I moved hubwards.

I pulled the plug on the cold end, turned off the turner, and put in some wet paper towels to boost the humidity (staggered each change so I could see what effects it had on the overall temp). If it's not high enough in the morning in going to go to the store for some sponges.

This time around I'm leaving the turner in because I was worried about the eggs sitting too low despite the egg carton trick, but next bunch is going to mostly be mutts so I will be a little more adventurous.

I am someone who likes to mess with things when I shouldn't, so tomorrow I'm going to a friend's house for the night, and will be back the day after to hopefully find some cheaps out and others hatching.

 

[MerleMice]

So I got antsy like I knew I would after still no babies this morning. I did a quick candleing of about a half dozen (not ready) before I found one that had internally pipped! About six hours went by and it hadnt done anything, then when I left the house for an hour the thing almost got all the way zipped! Popped itself out around 5:00.

Even if nothing else hatches, I can feel successful because I got one!

 

[MerleMice]

Welp, the hatch was a flop. This is my one and only chick, Nilsson, and his blue feather duster friend.

My initial temps were too low, I'd brought it up to the recommended 102 top of the egg over a period of the first several days. I belive this delayed the hatch, resulting in the eggs lost too much water over this extended period of time.

A couple days after Nilsson hatched, I candled some of the eggs and saw one I thought had internally pipped. It was not the case, and it died. When cleaning out the incubator today, I found one that had pipped upside down and didn't make it as well.

I'm guessing Nilsson made it out okay because it was positioned under the hotter part of the unit so was able to get out in a timely fashion.

I loaded the incubator up with a new batch, albeit a mix of older and younger silkie eggs that I've been hordeing. I don't want to change too many things at once, but I only put in enough eggs to fit under the heating unit, covered the view windows with a towel (not the air holes) for what will hopefully keep my heat a little more even, am keeping significantly more water in it, and am debating about leaving the plug in our out this time.

That's all for now, I will update as I go.

 

[beetandsteet]

@MerleMice so sorry about the bad hatch!

Bad hatches do happen even to the best and most experienced hatchers. I'm glad you understand what went wrong, so you can fix it next time. That is the important thing about a bad hatch: you learn for next time. Make sure to write things down (I'm terrible about this!)--what does and doesn't work for you. Also (I tell this to everyone, but its so important) make sure you have good thermometerS. I put that in bold because one thermometer is never enough, especially in a still air with hot/cold spots--I usually run my LG with at least 3, digital and analog both. Please do update us on your next hatch! Happy hatching!

 

[gpop1]

To only get one hatch from a batch of different type indicates a problem. having one hatch can also gives a lot of information about what happened. Do you know the history of the one that hatched (layed date, stored days, hatch date). If the chick was late then you may be correct about low temp but to loose so many I would be following beetandsteets advice and adding more than one thermometer and I would be keeping a eye on the air sac size of the next batch. If the eggs were shipped then that's a different story as even experienced people can get a horrible hatch rate from shipped eggs.

 

[MerleMice]

Thanks guys! I did have multiple thermometers throughout the incubator and at different levels, and all ranged depending on level and how close to the edges they were, but it was all pretty consistent.

The eggs were a range, fresh ones from my flock (but that I used as sacrifice eggs along the edges), and then some that had been collected over a week from a local (got priotity for the good spot, high fertility but all died/failed to hatch, minus Nilsson).

I had been watching the air cells, but it was new to me, and I think I erred on the side of too much moisture loss. With it being winter here, I know the RH is low so this time I've been keeping water in the bator. Hasn't really gotten above 40%.

 

[MerleMice]

A couple days ago we lost power for 5 to 12 hours. I wasnt home when it happened, but I felt pretty confident the bator did okay, largely because I have had a towel folded and covering the view windows this time. Not the air holes. Chicks are going to be due on a few days, so I did a cursory check today to satisfy my worries and am happy to report things looked well. Much less variance in development then last time, but then I limited eggs to the best/inner rows.

Nilsson is doing well.

 

[beetandsteet]

A couple days ago we lost power for 5 to 12 hours. I wasnt home when it happened, but I felt pretty confident the bator did okay, largely because I have had a towel folded and covering the view windows this time. Not the air holes. Chicks are going to be due on a few days, so I did a cursory check today to satisfy my worries and am happy to report things looked well. Much less variance in development then last time, but then I limited eggs to the best/inner rows.

Nilsson is doing well.

Nilsson is super cute!!! Please keep updating us on how the hatch goes!

 

[MerleMice]

I can hear cheeping!!! Nothing externally pipped yet, but here is to hoping there will be birds come tomorrow!

 

[MerleMice]

Well... It can be said this hatch was better, with 4 chicks out of 20 eggs (some of which were past the 10 day since lay window, so I didn't have high hopes for) Vs 1 out of 40 last time.

They initially went in on the sixth, and the last viable chick came out today, in the 30th (pipped yesterday though). That is a really long hatch...

I put mutt eggs along the outer row, so it could have been too cold and cause for delay. Silkies were inside closest to hearing element, and I think it was still too dry for them, despite being heavy on the water this time. Silkies to hatch/get closest to hatching were one row in from the outer edge.

Order of hatch was mutt, out on its own.
Second was a silkie chick who got halfway zipped before stopping/drying out. Was helped, liquid around it was rather thick, and it had a very small umbilical hernia/unabsorbed yolk the size of my pinkie thumb nail. I do not think it is going to make it, while the section dried up and fell off, it is not very lively.
Third was a mutt, out on its own.
Fourth was a mutt, pipped, stopped, was helped after 24 hours. One of the legs were high up and it was like the foot was wedged Up by the head. I googled and it didn't match the position depicted for a chick to hatch. I think that one is going to be fine, it is drying out in the bator atm.

Candleing some of the duds, a couple of the silkie eggs had this shadow at the point of pipping that matched eggs last hatch the failed due to not being able to get past the inner membrane. There was also one that had internally pipped, looked wet enough, but the membrane had maybe suffocated it? Idk.

All the therms read upper 90s depending on placement, the 102 mark on top of the eggs. RH was low 40s, but it was able to bump it up to low 50s for the hatch.

I think next try I'm going to just try standard sized eggs for uniformity. Maybe with a forced air LG older model I saw on CL for the price of a still air.

So I've read on the forums to rotate eggs in the bator for even incubation. But a friend of mine who has good hatch rates in her Styrofoam says not to do that because consistency is better then to move the eggs from cold to hot spots. What do you guys recommend?