Half quitters? What went wrong?

[alpinewelsummer]

Hey all! I've been incubating some local Bielefelder hatching eggs in the Nurture Right 360. I have a hygrometer in to make sure the humidity is correct, and while I don't have an extra thermometer in, the temp reading on the incubator itself has held perfectly steady at 99.5. I do know it's working at least, since it dropped a couple degrees when I opened to candle.

When I candled a week ago, after starting with 12 eggs, I only had one quitter that stopped developing early.

When I candled just now, day 14, I suddenly found 4 more that got much further, but also stopped developing!

I've had some humidity fluctuations (dropping from 55ish to 30ish) in the morning hours that I would fix upon waking up. I don't think that would kill any eggs though.

Was it bad genes? Auto turner, steady temp (if the bator is right, which I trust it is since the humidity is accurate), hands-off approach so very little opportunities for introducing bacteria... what on earth happened? The breeder I bought them off said he'd been driving around with his family all day with the eggs in the car... did they just get too jostled around? I did let them set 12+ hours like you would shipped eggs..

I'm just so confused--I got worse luck on this hatch, with a brand spanking new auto-turning incubator, than I did hand-turning a bunch of quail in a slapped together cheapo junk bator.

I'm totally heartbroken. Poor little ones.

 

[Pyxis]

I'd double check the temperature with a thermometer since you haven't done that - better safe than sorry!

What humidity have you been keeping it at? 55%? Are the air cells looking correct? I find that in late quitters humidity is often the issue. For my area, I do 30% humidity. If I go higher than that, the eggs don't lose enough moisture.

If he was driving around with them in a car all day, that might have had a negative impact on them. Also if they were older eggs that had been stored awhile, that could have played a role.

 

[alpinewelsummer]

I'd double check the temperature with a thermometer since you haven't done that - better safe than sorry!

What humidity have you been keeping it at? 55%? Are the air cells looking correct? I find that in late quitters humidity is often the issue. For my area, I do 30% humidity. If I go higher than that, the eggs don't lose enough moisture.

If he was driving around with them in a car all day, that might have had a negative impact on them. Also if they were older eggs that had been stored awhile, that could have played a role.

I try to keep them 50-55%, but there were admittedly some fluctuations either a bit higher or lower now and then. Despite this, all the air cells look perfectly on track. All uniform in size, no itty bitty ones or huge dry looking ones..

Weird detail, the eggs were cold enough to feel a bit of cold coming off of them when the seller handed them to me. I did wonder for a moment if he fridged them. I didn't think much of it at the time but now it worries me.

I'll still definitely grab an extra thermometer to be safe--if anything, I can test the incubator post-hatch to ease my mind. :'(

 

[AprilsZoo]

Hey all! I've been incubating some local Bielefelder hatching eggs in the Nurture Right 360. I have a hygrometer in to make sure the humidity is correct, and while I don't have an extra thermometer in, the temp reading on the incubator itself has held perfectly steady at 99.5. I do know it's working at least, since it dropped a couple degrees when I opened to candle.

Auto turner, steady temp (if the bator is right, which I trust it is since the humidity is accurate), hands-off approach so very little opportunities for introducing bacteria... what on earth happened?

So none of the things you mentioned (bolded and/or underlined) can be used as proof that the ‘bator is keeping proper temps (or humidity, for that matter...)

You’re correct that the temp can be expected to drop a bit when you’ve opened the incubator. But just because you see a drop in the temperature reading, it doesn't mean the reading is accurate.

Also the sensors for temperature and humidity are independent of one another, so you cannot make any assumptions about the thermometer based on the hygrometer. Also, how do you know the humidity reading is accurate?

The breeder I bought them off said he'd been driving around with his family all day with the eggs in the car... did they just get too jostled around? I did let them set 12+ hours like you would shipped eggs..

I expect this is likely to be the explanation. I mean who knows what all happened while the family was motoring about for the day. And what did the breeder mean by “all day”? 4 hours? 6 hours?12 hours?
Were the eggs well-contained, or were they able to roll around a little?
Were they sitting in the warmest part of the car, or in the coldest? Ideally, I’d like to see them kept in a cooler/ice chest (without ice) because it would insulate them from temp changes in the car

I’m sorry you had such a poor turnout.

I certainly think you need to check the temp & humidity using separate meters, but something tells me the bulk of the problem lies with the all-day car trip the eggs took with the breeder’s family.

 

[alpinewelsummer]

So none of the things you mentioned (bolded and/or underlined) can be used as proof that the ‘bator is keeping proper temps (or humidity, for that matter...)

You’re correct that the temp can be expected to drop a bit when you’ve opened the incubator. But just because you see a drop in the temperature reading, it doesn't mean the reading is accurate.

Also the sensors for temperature and humidity are independent of one another, so you cannot make any assumptions about the thermometer based on the hygrometer. Also, how do you know the humidity reading is accurate?

I expect this is likely to be the explanation. I mean who knows what all happened while the family was motoring about for the day. And what did the breeder mean by “all day”? 4 hours? 6 hours?12 hours?
Were the eggs well-contained, or were they able to roll around a little?
Were they sitting in the warmest part of the car, or in the coldest? Ideally, I’d like to see them kept in a cooler/ice chest (without ice) because it would insulate them from temp changes in the car

I’m sorry you had such a poor turnout.

I certainly think you need to check the temp & humidity using separate meters, but something tells me the bulk of the problem lies with the all-day car trip the eggs took with the breeder’s family.

Oh, when I said "I have a hygrometer in", what I should have said was that I have a 2nd, salt-tested hygrometer inside the incubator to confirm the reading on the front. I'm picking up an extra thermometer today to go along with it, but you're right that I should have had one from the start.

By all day I think he meant "since the morning", and it was 2 or 3 by then, so definitely a couple hours drive at least. Personally I would have made an egg delivery my first stop along a drive. If the 2nd thermometer tests right today then this will probably be the explanation, like you said. Thank you for your help!

 

[alpinewelsummer]

Update: after grabbing that extra thermometer and placing it on top of the Nurture right's rotator, so that it would turn and test each side of the incubator.. it held true at 99.5. I guess the car ride with the breeder really must have shook the eggs up that bad. Definitely picking up myself next time.