First Time Hatch & Egg-topsy: My Story

[ChickenNuggie]

We were given an incubator as a gift since we couldn’t afford to buy one ourselves. It’s not a high-quality incubator, and it appears that we have had problems with keeping temperature and humidity steady. The external temperature read out is Celsius and does not seem to match the thermometer that we put inside with a Fahrenheit reading.

We have had a fairly productive first hatch for beginners despite that. We started with 15 eggs, all with 100% fertility rate after the first candling. However, at the next candling we found 3 quitters. We removed them and continued hatching with the 12 remaining eggs. Candled again on days 15 and 18 and made our best educated guess as to the development. We did our lockdown on day 18, and on day 20 had our first pip and hatch. So exciting!!

By the end of day 21 we had eight total hatches, with one hatching despite not quite being ready. At that point, the incubator was pretty crowded, and chicks were knocking eggs all over the place. I suspect our runt got help with the unzipping. She’s got a little of the cord drying and we’re waiting for it to fall off on its own.

We began having really big problems with temperature regulation and very high humidity rates at this point, with all those hatchlings. I tried really hard to leave everything closed until at least 72 hours after first hatch… but because there was absolutely no room in the incubator with all of the broken egg shells and new chicks - and the incubator was starting to smell HORRIBLY from membrane and fluid from the premature hatch - on day 22 we removed the 8 hatchlings and put them in the brooder.

We had 4 eggs at that point that still had not hatched, and 1 of them had pipped a side pip. 24 hours later, the pip hole was bigger, but there was no unzipping, the membrane was drying out and chick was breathing rapidly, so I decided to assist that hatch since she had no room to move her head. She is now newly hatched, with a slightly enlarged abdomen and cords hanging. We are letting her dry and watching for infection, though I am concerned about the incubator bacteria.

I created artificial pips in the three that had not hatched, and discovered one early quitter that I thought had been developing, and two late stage dead babies. One late stager did not appear to have started absorbing the yolk sac and blood vessels, but the other had. I have attached some early pictures at the beginning of our first hatch, pictures of me assisting the one that has survived with the side pip, and performing the egg-topsies on the others, of our 8 dried in the brooder, and our current assisted hatch drying in the incubator.

Grateful to have had this experience and am glad to have joined this community. Please spam me with all of the feedback on what went wrong or right with my process and helpful tips/products for more successful hatches in the future. Thanks for having me!

 

[pandabunny26]

Wow! That sounds like quite an adventure. Glad most of them survived. I haven't incubated before but it sounds like you handled everything pretty well! How are the babies now?

 

[ChickenNuggie]

Wow! That sounds like quite an adventure. Glad most of them survived. I haven't incubated before but it sounds like you handled everything pretty well! How are the babies now?

They’re in the garage brooder bouncing and resting. I’ve only ever had week old chicks from TSC before, so this is new for me! Keeping the temperature steady is giving me fits!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

The reason for humidify spikes during hatch is the wet chicks
This is completely normal
I myself don’t leave mine in the bator long
I like to remove at least 2 so they don’t get lonely in brooder
Once my babies are up moving around I take them out 4-8 hours usually closer to 4
They fluff up better under the heat and out of the humidity of bator
It and I brings the spikes down a bit
You have beautiful babies
Congrats

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

We were given an incubator as a gift since we couldn’t afford to buy one ourselves. It’s not a high-quality incubator, and it appears that we have had problems with keeping temperature and humidity steady. The external temperature read out is Celsius and does not seem to match the thermometer that we put inside with a Fahrenheit reading.

We have had a fairly productive first hatch for beginners despite that. We started with 15 eggs, all with 100% fertility rate after the first candling. However, at the next candling we found 3 quitters. We removed them and continued hatching with the 12 remaining eggs. Candled again on days 15 and 18 and made our best educated guess as to the development. We did our lockdown on day 18, and on day 20 had our first pip and hatch. So exciting!!

By the end of day 21 we had eight total hatches, with one hatching despite not quite being ready. At that point, the incubator was pretty crowded, and chicks were knocking eggs all over the place. I suspect our runt got help with the unzipping. She’s got a little of the cord drying and we’re waiting for it to fall off on its own.

We began having really big problems with temperature regulation and very high humidity rates at this point, with all those hatchlings. I tried really hard to leave everything closed until at least 72 hours after first hatch… but because there was absolutely no room in the incubator with all of the broken egg shells and new chicks - and the incubator was starting to smell HORRIBLY from membrane and fluid from the premature hatch - on day 22 we removed the 8 hatchlings and put them in the brooder.

We had 4 eggs at that point that still had not hatched, and 1 of them had pipped a side pip. 24 hours later, the pip hole was bigger, but there was no unzipping, the membrane was drying out and chick was breathing rapidly, so I decided to assist that hatch since she had no room to move her head. She is now newly hatched, with a slightly enlarged abdomen and cords hanging. We are letting her dry and watching for infection, though I am concerned about the incubator bacteria.

I created artificial pips in the three that had not hatched, and discovered one early quitter that I thought had been developing, and two late stage dead babies. One late stager did not appear to have started absorbing the yolk sac and blood vessels, but the other had. I have attached some early pictures at the beginning of our first hatch, pictures of me assisting the one that has survived with the side pip, and performing the egg-topsies on the others, of our 8 dried in the brooder, and our current assisted hatch drying in the incubator.

Grateful to have had this experience and am glad to have joined this community. Please spam me with all of the feedback on what went wrong or right with my process and helpful tips/products for more successful hatches in the future. Thanks for having me!

Its sad when the babies die early. I hatch hundreds of eggs because I sell them to pay for feed.The enlarged abdomen comes from high humidity but it is also yolk sac being absorbed. The fluid overload can be too hard on a baby's heart. I remove my babies the moment they are completely dry and fluffy to the brooder area. Some still need more sleep and others get to exploring their world. The eggs shells are removed asap. They can get cut on the shells. Bacteria starts growing on the membranous bits. Its a natural process of decay. Having that stuff around for 72 hours is smelly nasty as you have discovered. A chick breathing rapidly and especially if gap mouthed is too hot. I never keep everything enclosed for any length of time after the first hatch. You can also open ports to increase airflow and oxygen content. Even a tiny port open helps. CO2 (respiratory waste product) diffuses out even a tiny port 40% faster than oyxgen. Build up of CO2 is suffocation. Bacteria is going to kill off your hard work and attention you have placed upon these babies. I quickly open, grab what I need to grab and close it up quickly. Never lost a chick to that. If the heat and humidity is too high opening the thing will let extra moisture out and cool it down a little bit. The entire incubator needs a good thorough disinfecting . I'd recommend a mild bleach cleaner that has been rinsed completely and thoroughly many many times so not a bit of a trace is left behind. But it is the cleansing agent and friction which removes surface bacteria. Scrub it, wiping every bit of surface. Include corners and crannies with a Q-tip. I use a brush on grates to get deep into the holes. I also use a fresh new non-skid mat I buy (shelf liner with holes) with each hatch. I buy the big roll at big lots and cut it to size. In prepping for lockdown: The mat goes in on lock down when I remove the turner. I take all my eggs out and place them into a clean box with two hot water bottles wrapped in towels to keep them warm while I prepare for lock down. The eggs are wrapped in a fleece baby blanket on top of the wrapped hot water bottles. I've actually had an early bird hatch as I was preparing for lockdown. That was a surprise! The environment must be kept as clean as possible. And I know my eggs are fine if the brooder needs to rewarm a bit before the eggs are placed back inside. Don't have a hot water bottle? A hand towel in a baggie with hot tap water and wrapped works too. They all must be wrapped whether hot water bottle or makeshift hot water pad.The moment the brooder is up to temp add the eggs back in quickly and close the lid. Everyone alive will still be alive.I hate most incubators. I want what is going to get my babies to me alive. I like the 360 by Harris farms but it's too small for my needs right now so I use it as a very scrubable hatchery instead of an incubator. That keeps the incubator available for who's hatching soon just not quite yet. I love the genesis 1588. I hatch goose eggs in them because they're big enough to handle the big eggs. They have to hatch out in the 1588. Goose eggs have a 46% failure rate at hatching . I do mine after a french study but that incubator is opened at least 5 times a day. I can't seem to maintain the humidity stead but it hasn't affected my 100% success rate yet.I like the 1588 because it recovers the fastest of the models I have tried. I tend to return unstable incubators. When you can manage the funds buy a great baby incubator. You'll love hatching chicks, it gets addicting. Selling my extra babies pays for feed and of course incubators.Many blessings over your flock. I hope you enjoy raising them.