First Time Incubating, only one chick hatched HELP!!

[hildaberg]

Hi all,

this is my first time incubating eggs. I was sure I had everything right, temperature was kept at 37.5 degrees (C), although my humidity was a bit too high and I struggled to get it right. My humidity was at 65-70% which I have heard can cause a late hatch. Which it did, my first baby hatched 3 days ago (Day 25) and I had to help it out of the egg because it hadn't made any progress in over 30 hours. Another egg had pipped but died in the incubator after hatching . So far, none of my other eggs have hatched. I have candelled the rest of the eggs and all seems well, I believe there is still a chick in there but I'm not sure if it's still alive. The chick that survived is in the brooder and hasn't eaten or drank anything on it's own and is also sleeping alot, it hardly opens it's eyes too, I really want this one to survive, what should I do?

UPDATE !!
It's opened one of it's eyes now, the chick will run around a bit and I have helped it drink and eat. It's still cheeping and seems very active but also seems to sleep alot still.

 

[Tonyroo]

Leave it alone, newly hatched chicks requires a lot of rest, the chick doesn't need to eat or drink for 2 days. Have food and water in the brooder when it's ready to eat.

You might need to use your finger and tap on the food bowl or the feed to direct it.

Make sure your brooder temp is at 99 degrees while it's resting.

 

[hildaberg]

Leave it alone, newly hatched chicks requires a lot of rest, the chick doesn't need to eat or drink for 2 days. Have food and water in the brooder when it's ready to eat.

You might need to use your finger and tap on the food bowl or the feed to direct it.

Make sure your brooder temp is at 99 degrees while it's resting.

Thank you!

 

[Tonyroo]

As for your other eggs, it's hard to say what the outcome will be since you didn't provide details of your incubation practices. But if there on day 25, it doesn't look good.

 

[hildaberg]

As for your other eggs, it's hard to say what the outcome will be since you didn't provide details of your incubation practices. But if there on day 25, it doesn't look good.

It's my first time incubating eggs and I had no idea you could actually stall eggs before putting them in an incubator so now it's a staggered hatch with days between each egg. I used an automatic turner and stopped turning when the first eggs I put in reached day 18, this meant that the eggs I put in later weren't turned for 2-5 days which I'm guessing may be the reason they aren't hatching. The humidity was also a tad bit too high which I've heard could cause a late hatch. I also had to open the incubator several times to help assist some chick with hatching which I know can cause shrink wrapping but the humidity never went down each time I opened the incubator so I'm assuming that's not what is causing the others to hatch.

 

[Tonyroo]

Avoid staggered hatches, it's hard to keep all the eggs in the right condition. High humidity for eggs that aren't ready for lockdown causes them to stop developing, between the heavy moisture and pressure inside the incubator.

Always set aside the amount of eggs you want to start with, then put them all at once. Don't turn them on day 1, on day 2 you can turn the 3 times a day. Keep the humidity around 35 to 40%. Then on day 18 bring humidity up to 65 to 70%. No more turning eggs. Just wait and watch for hatches. Always monitor your humidity levels aside from the temperature at 99.5 to 100 degrees.

Oh also, when you restart another hatch you have to sterilize the incubator, just use water and bleach to wipe everything on the inside, then rinse with water and dry.

I hope this can help you get started on a second hatch. Knowing helps for a great hatch.