Fully developed chick did not hatch - Help!

[seminolewind]

Leave them all alone for now. Tomorrow, you may want to sneak a hand in and grab an egg and candle it to see if there's life inside. Chances are that you're chicks are late due to temps.

Don't pip them. It's dangerous to the chick.

Just curious, 5 hatched already. Were all the eggs kept in the same spot the whole time-like outer eggs staying outer, and inners staying inner? Those 5 may have been in a warmer spot. Even with fans.

 

[ket806]

Leave them all alone for now.  Tomorrow, you may want to sneak a hand in and grab an egg and candle it to see if there's life inside.  Chances are that you're chicks are late due to temps.

Don't pip them.  It's dangerous to the chick.

Just curious, 5 hatched already.  Were all the eggs kept in the same spot the whole time-like outer eggs staying outer, and inners staying inner?  Those 5 may have been in a warmer spot.  Even with fans.

I

 

[ket806]

Leave them all alone for now.  Tomorrow, you may want to sneak a hand in and grab an egg and candle it to see if there's life inside.  Chances are that you're chicks are late due to temps.

Don't pip them.  It's dangerous to the chick.

Just curious, 5 hatched already.  Were all the eggs kept in the same spot the whole time-like outer eggs staying outer, and inners staying inner?  Those 5 may have been in a warmer spot.  Even with fans.

Yes i kept them all in the same place as when thry were set in the automatic turner. I have 10 hatched out now all from different spots of the bator. The ones that hatches are just mixes from my friends chickens the others are shipped eggs. I did candle the remaining of the 16 shipped and 10 have fully developed chicks in them 4 were half developed and 2 had no life. I did not check for any movement when candling as I wanted to hurry and get them back in the bator. I was going to wait until Saturday and see if any thing will happen before I do anything(Sunday will be day 26)

 

[seminolewind]

What I've learned to do over the years is rotate the outer eggs in and the inner eggs out, I move some every day because no matter what bator I've had-fan, no fan, cheap, expensive, there were always different temperature pockets within the bator, and shifting them around kept their hatches close together.

 

[Smidoid]

I'm looking through this thread for answers and I'm coming to a similar conclusion.

My first 'bator (home made affair) hatched a couple of chicks more by luck that good judgement as I think many were affected by my less-than-perfect handling (allowing bacteria in).

The second design which is far smarter - with a variable speed fan - and, although it has a few "hot and cold" spots, the variance is barely 1/3 of degree centigrade.

The lovely lady I got the first batch from was so disappointed at the results, she supplied me another six eggs - two of which were destroyed by the postie probably playing football with the container. The other four developed - at a registered 50% humidity to day 18 when I raised it to 65-70% relative as suggested most places.

Horror of horrors - day 21 came and went so by today (22) I checked on one for an eggtopsy and things didn't look good. Something was swimming in there and it didn't look alive. A float test suggests that the eggs have not lost sufficient weight (something I won't miss next time!)

Sure enough a well-developed chick was present - dead, I think - but with a small portion of yolk sac still unabsorbed. (I've opened live eggs by mistake before and watched the poor critter gasp a few breaths before bleeding out - and yes, I do feel bad about that.)

Given this and some of the research I've done elsewhere, I'm starting to think that a weight check is just as important as a candle on days 7 and 14 just to make sure the humidity isn't off. I'm getting all my eggs by post so it's anyone's guess what the altitude difference is.

It seems to me (and opinions are welcome) that we should put more store in the relative weight loss than we do in the actual relative humidity. Although that said, I've also been told (!?) that if the humidity is too low, that can allow bacteria to breed.

Weighing a single egg is impractical for most of us (me included) as my scale is only accurate to about 10g (about 1/2oz) so I'd submit that we average out 6-12 [or a random 6 from 12 if you have that many] and hope the porosity of the bunch averages out to gauge the correct progress.

Anyone?

 

[seminolewind]

Smidoid, I do think egg weights work better. Especially when humidity and osmosis are not the same at high altitudes and low altitudes. And porousity? I know there's a percentage of weight loss chart somewhere around here.

 

[Smidoid]

Found this:

Species

Incubation Period (Days)​

Ideal Weight Loss Over Incubation Period​

Approximate

Humidity
Incubation Temperature​

Turn Angle​

Chicken

21​

13%​

40 to 50%​

37.5°C​

90°​

Runner Duck

28.5​

14-15%​

35 to 40%​

37.3°C​

90°​

Call Duck

26​

13%​

35 to 40%​

37.3°C​

90°​

Geese

28 to 35
Depending on breed
13%​

35 to 40%​

37.2°C​

180°​

Ostrich

40-43​

12-15%​

20 to 40%​

36.4°C​

90°​

Here: http://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/weight-loss-method-forl-incubation

Which seems to make a lot of sense - particularly as I've just lost another Silkie at 22 days because it was unable to free itself and looks like it bled out. That really sucks. Of the remaining two, one is cheeping and the other is silent. No pip on either and it's 24 hours past due now - or more as I've lost track of time.

Temperature has been right on the nail throughout but although the humidity registered at 50% the entire time, it looks from examining the dead chicks they were (are) just too big to free themselves.

 

[hokankai]

Fully formed chicks that are large and wet result from too high humidity during days 1-18. The chicks have edema and are large and unable to maneuver inside the shell.

I'm tracking my first hatch via the weight method using a jewelry scale and a spreadsheet. Tomorrow is the next weigh day for me (day 14) and we'll see how things are going. Temps have been holding and humidity has been between 35-50. So far all eggs are viable and growing.

 

[Smidoid]

Based upon what Hokankai has said, I've prepared a couple of charts for myself - which I hope others might find useful. You'll note that a weight chart using an imperial scale is dreadfully difficult since 1oz is such a coarse measurement (on an average 2oz egg).

Clearly it's better not to have chicks with oedema - which is what has happened to me despite following the instructions to the letter; it's an emotionally crushing position to find yourself with chicks that simply can't hatch.

For this reason, I've prepared a gram chart from 30 -> 70 grams which should cover most chickens and this can track a single egg. I'm assuming here that your scale is accurate to +/- 1gram or better as you can see, the eggs only lose a very small amount (as little as 3g) even after two weeks!

For those working in Oz, it's better to have a clutch of eggs and measure the whole lot. The second chart works for 12 eggs - but note that small eggs may only lose about an ounce (that's the whole dozen of them) over a two week period so it's far easier and more accurate to work in grams.

 

[ket806]

What I've learned to do over the years is rotate the outer eggs in and the inner eggs out, I move some every day because no matter what bator I've had-fan, no fan, cheap, expensive, there were always different temperature pockets within the bator, and shifting them around kept their hatches close together.

Thanks so much for all your info!


Well I have only had one other baby chick hatch. I had to completely help him hatch he was zipped for almost over 72 hrs. I was scared to help him so I continued to give him sugar water and wetting the membrane. I finally broke down and said heck with it I'll help him out. So I did and he is chirping and moving plenty now. The only problems are he seems to be dry but not fluffy all his feathers are clumped together. Also his feet seem diformed and he can't stand. It also looks as though he doesn't have enough feathers? It also has a crooked beak.... What should I do??!!!!! Can I do anything to help it??!!

Edited to add photos: