Frustrated with incubating! Mysterious Saturday brain buster!

[honeybird farms]

Anybody want to help me solve a mystery???

I just purchased a used GQF cabinet style incubator because the Little Giants just weren't working well (although they did last year...about 85% hatch rate). So...I just finishedy last two hatches from those with poor success - maybe 25%. And two of the chicks had what seems like the lost tendon thing I've read about (not splayed leg - their leg goes all the way off to the side, no weight on it, after a few days it gets red and infected looking and they die despite any type of help I've found to try).
Now, I was so excited to get my first batch from the new bator. Everything looked great - temps stayed exact the entire time (two thermometers), humidity was great (it's auto humidifier with a hygrometer placed), most chicks looked good on lockdown (prob 75% showed possibility).
However, I'm now at day 22 with only one out of 35 hatched (two more weak pips in there maybe). And the one that hatched has the same thing as the others. Very weak, leg is almost by it's head. Looks about to die already (not just normal chick hatching sleepiness).

...To further complicate things, I can probably rule out hen nutrition. I feed free choice layer plus pasture, plus buckets of produce from a store donation...but more importantly these eggs have come from different sources - some were from different flocks on my farm, some from a neighbor and some shipped). I think I can rule out my brooder, chick feed, etc as these were all born with the prob. Must come back to the incubator...but it's been across 3 different ones. The first two hatches were set before I brought the GQF onto the property.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Here are my questions:

- why such a low hatch rate (although I know that day 22 still may hatch)
- why this leg issue? Bacterial, maybe something I'm tracking in? Virus? Can't imagine heat/humidity but maybe?
- any tips for fixing the leg in the one that just hatched now? It's a really nice french black copper maran from great lines.

Thanks for any tips!
Lisa

 

[tracecom]

Is there a common factor that runs through all the poor hatches? Something that you continue to use/do that may be impacting them all? Dirty thermometer, e.g.?

 

[honeybird farms]

Hmm, good point - that's kind of what I'm trying to think about. I recently replaced the thermometer thinking maybe it was off. However, the hygrometer has been in each one. I wash it but maybe not enough. It doesn't visibly look dirty but sometimes invisible thigs can linger.
I'll try replacing both.

Any more ideas?!?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

What did you use for temp/humidity? Do you check your air cells during the incubation to monitor your humidity?

 

[honeybird farms]

I'm in Colorado so I struggle with humidity although my cabinet has an auto fill water bucket. I keep the hygrometer around 45% and then raise to 60% for hatch. Try to get it a little higher after pipping (I add sponges in trays of water to get it higher but it doesn't last long).

Temp stays very steady between 99-100.

I have approx 30-50 eggs in each tray so I don't candle all but I do a selection. Most air sacs look okay. However I noticed in the BCM that many of them looked "broken" - not the normal rounded air sac that I typically see. Instead they had dips and valleys (think like a half circle at the bottom of the air sac circle). I've never seen that before.

I will add that I got a decent hatch rate after all. Probably 85% if you exclude the shipped eggs (which was at maybe 30%).

However, out of all the hatched chicks, I had:
Two wry neck
One with the weird leg that flops up by it's head
One chick that was shrink wrapped but did fine with assistance
One chick that didn't fully hatch but had a goopy glob all over it, this bubbles and dried around the mouth area and I think it suffocated
And about 18 "normal" chicks

Does this seem like an abnormally high amount of problem chicks? Or was I lucky before? The problem chicks all came from different places (one shipped, one mine, and one a friend's)

On the happy side, I got a bunch of wonderful new babies today!!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm in Colorado so I struggle with humidity although my cabinet has an auto fill water bucket. I keep the hygrometer around 45% and then raise to 60% for hatch. Try to get it a little higher after pipping (I add sponges in trays of water to get it higher but it doesn't last long).

Temp stays very steady between 99-100.

I have approx 30-50 eggs in each tray so I don't candle all but I do a selection. Most air sacs look okay. However I noticed in the BCM that many of them looked "broken" - not the normal rounded air sac that I typically see. Instead they had dips and valleys (think like a half circle at the bottom of the air sac circle). I've never seen that before.

I will add that I got a decent hatch rate after all. Probably 85% if you exclude the shipped eggs (which was at maybe 30%).

However, out of all the hatched chicks, I had:
Two wry neck
One with the weird leg that flops up by it's head
One chick that was shrink wrapped but did fine with assistance
One chick that didn't fully hatch but had a goopy glob all over it, this bubbles and dried around the mouth area and I think it suffocated

And about 18 "normal" chicks

Does this seem like an abnormally high amount of problem chicks? Or was I lucky before? The problem chicks all came from different places (one shipped, one mine, and one a friend's)

On the happy side, I got a bunch of wonderful new babies today!!!

It sounds like a high amount of problems to me. I just (last week) hatched 33 (counting one that hatched before it was ready and had a ruptured yolk sac and blood vessels,) and I had 0 occurances of leg or neck problems, and 1 other that had a small amount of yolk left to absorb, but it wasn't ruptured so in time, with being in quarentine, she did absorb it and is fine.
You're incubator is fan forced I am assuming with those temps?

 

[honeybird farms]

Yep, forced air. It's a GQF cabinet style.

Congrats on your babies!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yep, forced air. It's a GQF cabinet style.

Congrats on your babies!

I've only used my little giant and I've found dry incubation is so much more productive with them. Thanks, and congrats on yours as well. I haven't really talked to anyone who's done a dry or low humidity incubation in a cabinet incubator, (I don't think) but I am curious as to how well the method would work in that type of incubator.