Hard-Knock Hatches

[Egghead_Jr]

Patio and Garden or near the lightbulbs and other home appliance type things.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed, you need to calibrate your thermometer against a good medical grade one. Without calibration, the thermometer is useless. However, I do believe that humidity may be the cause of your late deaths. Are you following the air cell charts? I incubate at 30 - 40%, and use humidity to adjust the air cells. If your chicks are too wet when they get to internal pip stage, they pip the air cell, then drown in all of that extra albumen.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Got a hygrometer today.

Agreed, you need to calibrate your thermometer against a good medical grade one. Without calibration, the thermometer is useless. However, I do believe that humidity may be the cause of your late deaths. Are you following the air cell charts? I incubate at 30 - 40%, and use humidity to adjust the air cells. If your chicks are too wet when they get to internal pip stage, they pip the air cell, then drown in all of that extra albumen.

No, I haven't used that. I may have to look it up next hatch!

 

[Birdinhand]

one thing that puzzled me the first two times is the way the temperature would fluctuate, and then I realized that it fluctuated with the humidity. we talk about humidity being relative to temperature but the opposite can also be true, latent heat of vaporization absorbs a tremendous amount of heat in the evaporation process, when the water dries up, the temperature can spike suddenly. you don't want to try and adjust the humidity by letting it run dry, you want to adjust it by adjusting the surface area for evaporation. having the temp spike too high even briefly can cause mortality to rise precipitously.

bottom line, the issue is either shipping damage to the suspensatory ligaments, fertility, humidity or temperature.

-if you are having mostly clear eggs that don't start then it's either fertility or shipping damage, seems like you have ruled out shipping damage because your own eggs are not hatching, so it seems that at least some of the problem is fertility. maybe it's time for a new rooster or two.
- as for humidity, you must find a reasonably accurate way to monitor it.
-same goes for temperature. temps that are too low or too high can cause the enzymes that regulate growth to cause inconsistent development of the embryo, making it look like everything is hunky dory until the almost fully formed chick fails to hatch. high temps are worst than low, but low can also cause late hatching or even worse, malformed chicks that aren't viable enough to hatch and thrive even though they look like they have made it almost across the finish line.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

This is the first time I have tried hatching eggs in the winter and I am failing miserably. At first I thought it was because shipping killed the eggs, which was partly true. But that was two tries ago. I just recently tried three of my own eggs with the same result. I had one chick. One. Out of fifteen.
The egg-topsy reveals that three eggs died two or three days before the hatch. One died about a week out, and one only made it a few days. The rest were either blood ring or clear. Why such staggered deaths?
Humidity was 40-50 during normal days, and 55-60 during the last three days. Is my humidity detector off? I know the temperature is correct because I used multiple thermometers.

Most failures to hatch occur or start before the eggs are ever put in the incubator or the old hen takes to her nest.

Every thing from poor nutrition of one or both parents to improper storage of the eggs right on through are to blame. These things are the fault of the chickens' keeper, not some poor dumb machine or else a blameless hen. Remember that hens were successfully hatching eggs when our ancestors were swinging from tree limbs by our tails or picking and eating lice off of each others' backs.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Got a hygrometer today.

great, now to calibrate it
which one did you get?

Calibration is a MUST: HOW TO CALIBRATE post #9068

hygro calibration is toward the bottom of that post ask if you need help or dont understand

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

I actually have one hatching. Maybe two. These are from my flock. The hygrometer I got is just analog, but I think the link is for thermometers? Mine is fine. It's the humidity I'm worried about.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

This is day 24, by the way

 

[DwayneNLiz]

ummm, day 24?
your temps have been too low, i would calibrate that thermo too

AND just so you know, look at that thermo -- see how the temps are on the backing plastic not ON the glass of it?? the backing can move and therefore your temps could be off

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

ummm, day 24?
your temps have been too low, i would calibrate that thermo too

AND just so you know, look at that thermo -- see how the temps are on the backing plastic not ON the glass of it?? the backing can move and therefore your temps could be off

Yeah, I know it can move. I calibrated it using a medical thermometer. I can do so again if it will ease your mind... And mine, too.