Fully developed chick did not hatch - Help!

[Bravo]

I had the same thing as you happen. My temps and humidity were ideal during the entire incubation period but I lost 80% of my hatch and almost all were fully formed chicks that never pipped.

The egg membrane looked dry when I cracked the egg open however the chicks were very wet with almost a mucus-like fluid surrounding them. Also the chick occupied the entire air cell--there was no room for the chick to maneuver. I am still lost for answers.

 

[seminolewind]

I would think that humidity was too high somewhere and the chicks didn't lose enough mass to be able to move enough to pip.
I'm also finding that even in these bators with fans, there are still cool pocket and warmer pockets here and there, so I rotate the outer eggs into the middle, etc.
It's awful when we lose them all grown. It's hard to replicate nature. I lost my first whole hatch, have no idea why. Then my 2nd hatch, they nearly all hatched-those were from heavy duty hardy parents that SpeckledHen had. Then I got a second batch from the first person, and I had a good hatch. Go figure.

You can't blame yourself entirely. Some breeds are more hardy. Some postal people love soccer. The weather doesn't help. Even if your eggs come from a different altitude it effects your hatch, as does the age of the eggs. You can try to control the environment you hatch your eggs in, but there's alot you have no control over. I'm sure you'll have great hatches in the future!

BTW, with those incubators that have big windows on top, I loosely lay some bubble wrap on top, making sure vent holes can still vent. That makes alot of difference, the window provides no insulation whatsoever, where as styrofoam is good insulation.

 

[JanieMarie]

My first hatches were in the LG still air and had pretty good hatches. Then I got the 1588 and had alot of chicks die fully formed in the shell. Some that hatched were really wet and alot of fluid in the shells. Temp was always right on in the 1588. I couldn't figure out what was going on. The only difference that I could see was humidity during incubation. In the LG it would hang around 35% or so. In the 1588 I'd have it around 50% or so. I left the plug out all the time too for ventilation. The last hatches I've done I've done the dry incubation and paid real close attention to the air sac so that it got big enough by hatch. I've had much better hatches since I've been using this method. I think I probably drowned alot of chicks!

 

[Bravo]

Thanks for the advice.

My humidity was at the recommended 50% throughout days 1-18 but I am thinking that now it was just too high seeing that so many fully formed chicks had no room to hatch. For my next hatch I am going to try the dry hatch method and am crossing my fingers for better results.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Try 35% for the first 18 days and then 65% the last 3 days. I did my hatch this way and had a nice hatch rate. I did have 2 fully formed chicks die without pipping, but it was most likely my fault as I had to open the bator to help a chick that injured itself hatching. (the others were picking at the poor thing)

 

[halo]

I had a lot of fully formed chicks not hatch when I was keeping the humidity upwards of around 60-70%. I had a real eye opener when I accidently didnt removed eggs at 18 days from my incubator to put them in the hatcher. I was surprised one morning when I found chicks running all over the incubator; the humidity had been kept around 30% and I didnt increase it, because of course I wasnt hatching in there, just incubating. I realized too high humidity is killer to chicks. They will easily drown. I now keep the humidity around 50% to hatch and am doing much much better, usually 90-95% hatches. Oh, I also have the Genesis 1588 and I hatch in a Hova 1602. I would say the vast majority of the time, with a problem of fully formed chicks not hatching, its too much humidity. Dont be afraid to drop it.

 

[jim2057]

Have the same problem you described, many fully formed dead in shell with mucus around them. 3 hatch normally at days 20-21, 8 dead in shell. Using a Genesis 1588 incubator.
Any new ideas? Will try very low humidity, measuring egg weight loss when I get more eggs in the spring.

 

[seminolewind]

I've never thought of it as high humidity = drowning. I think of it as the chick/egg has to lose a certain amount of fluid at the right rate (18 days of low humidity), then has to be mostly prevented from losing any humidity by high humidity outside the egg. I know there's a method that uses egg weight to get the fluid loss right. It's all one of those osmosis things.

I do prevent the eggs from rolling around the last 3 days because I think they need to orient themselves to where to pip. Once I had an egg pip, then it got rolled by other hatchlings, and the chick suffocated because the pip hole ended up on the bottom under the egg.

So I guess my thoughts are that too high humidity the first 18 days will leave a chick too big to move in the egg and pip.
Like Happy Chooks, try lower humidity the first 18 days, I stay around 28-30%. At 18 days, I increase to 68-70%. Works well for me.

Any thoughts?

 

[Pele]

I have more luck with the dry incubation method as well. In fact, I keep my humidity between 20 and 30% to day 18, then raise it to between 40 and 60%. They do marvelously well with that range. It's only when my humidity spikes to 70% by accident that I end up with chicks in the condition you described.

 

[ket806]

Hello I have 23 eggs that are on day 22 that have fully primed chicks in them thy haven't hatched. The other 5 have already hached out. Do I need to keep them in the bator? Or should I do a pip myself on some and see if it helps? What should I do?