~Graphic pictures~ What did I do wrong???

[Christine21656]

Ok, so today was day 26. Chick 1 hatched on day 20, and chick two on day 22 (at 1am). When the first one hatched, I heard the others peeping, and nothing after that. I kept the temp at 100 (forced air), and the humidity at 60-65% the whole time, since that is mostly what I read... What went wrong? I opened the eggs, and this is what I found...
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GRAPHIC PICTURES
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Egg #1.. It looks like it never pipped, but it was moving when I candled on day 17. It looked like there was a yolk still on the bottom of it, though??

Egg #2... It looked like it started to pip, and got through the membrane, but not the shell.

Egg #3... developed for a little while, then stopped.

 

[BayouPoules]

I would like to see the replies,.

so sorry

 

[smchickfarm]

even though they are graphic , it does help to see them, so that you can see where they stopped.

Just curious, was the membrane shrinkwrapped around chicks #1 and #2? Did you open the incubator at all during lockdown/hatch?

also, I don't know what would have caused #3 to quit so soon. I think sometimes it just happens with no explaination.

Sorry about your loss.

how are the 2 doing that did hatch?

 

[Katy]

It's hard to tell for sure what happened, but with that high of humidity throughout incubation they may have not dried down enough and drowned. I run my humidity at 30% the first 18 days and then bump it up to 60% for the last 3 days.

 

[SunnyDawn]

I agree. From what I've read, humidity that is too high is more often the culprit. How thick are those egg shells? That one looks awfully thick but it's hard to tell from photos. Maybe the hens are getting too much calcium? Still a healthy chick should not have any problem getting through even a thick shell...

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I also agree that your humidity was too high all thru your hatch. Here at my house I run the humidity around 40% the first 18 days and then bump to 65%. I say they drowned. Quitters can happen for 100 different reasons, chicks that look fully developed most likely drown with 65% all thru your incubation.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Hard to say but the unabsorbed yoke makes me think the humidity may have been high or he died before hatch time. The other looks like it absorbed the yoke so drowning is not as likely as just failing to hatch. Your humidity does seem a bit high to me but looking at the eggs makes me think that every egg that would have hatched did so you did fine.

 

[Gypsy07]

If every dead chick had the same amount of development, you'd maybe be able to say it was likely something you did that caused them not to hatch. But these three are all at different stages of development, so there's every chance it wasn't any specific thing you did, it was just one of those things. Were they shipped eggs? How many did you start with? If you got 2/5 on shipped eggs then you did pretty good.

I'd definitely agree with the others that said your humidity was probably higher than would have been ideal. Most people run it between 30 and 45% the first 18 days, then bump it up to between 55-65% for lockdown. There is no one ideal humidity figure, everyone figures out what works best for them through a combination of trial and error and reading and learning more about incubation.

 

[Christine21656]

Thanks for all the replies! So, lower the humidity next time

The shells are pretty thick... definately much thicker than store bought eggs. Store bought eggs seem SO fragile next to these! It didn't seem like they were shrink wrapped, but I have never seen that, so I don't know for sure. The eggs are from my boyfriend, so I'm not sure how gentle he was when he was bringing them in the house, then to me

I did open it quick after lockdown, but that was after the first chick had been in there for 2.5 days, so I quickly got her and the 2nd one out. I ordered a Brinsea today, so I'm going to try again with all of this new knowledge!

ETA: The two that hatched are doing great!

They sure grow fast!

 

[Gypsy07]

Well, at least you got two and not just one. One lonely chickie would have been awful... Glad to hear they're both doing well.

Maybe your boyfriend joggled the eggs a bit but he'd have had to have been really rough to do even half the damage caused by an average trip through the mail system. I think the high humidity was most likely the main factor. Shrinkwrapping is caused by low humidity and some people here say also by detached membranes from rough shipping, so I really don't think your chicks were shrinkwrapped either.

Next time start off with lower humidity. There's no one magic humidity figure that anyone can tell you, but you CAN figure it out if you don't mind taking some time and keeping some notes. Chicken eggs are supposed to lose 11-14% of their weight by lockdown, and the 'correct' humidity is the one that makes them lose that amount of weight.

The way I figure it out is to weigh the eggs before I set them (cheap digital kitchen scales) and write the weight on the shell. Then I do the math and write the weight that they should be after 18 days just underneath that. Then when I candle at 7-10 and at 14-18 days, I quickly weigh them again and see how they're progressing. If they're losing too much weight, I bump the humidity up a bit, if they're not losing enough, I lower it. If you have loads of eggs, you can pick out a few as a random sample, or you can weigh whole trays of eggs and work with average loss. I know it might sound a bit fussy, but I find it really helps me to run successful incubations. Hope that might help you a bit for your next time!

P.S. Brinsea bators are supposed to be GREAT.