Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[CluckNDoodle]

Ok hopefully I can explain this well enough and someone more experienced can help.

I am day 16 today. Noticed yesterday one egg the air cells had drawn down a LOT. So peeked today to mark it. Chick is moving all over and depending on how I move the egg the air cells get "shadowy" looking. But not like shadowing before the chick pips. I tried to take some pics to show it. Could there be fluid in there causing that? All other air cells are normal, adding a pic of one but that is what the rest look like. Also air cell isn't saddled since it looked fine before just started drawing back a lot yesterday and even more today.

Last pic is how rest of the eggs look. Rest are all the same egg. Sometimes shadow is dark so hard to make out definitive air cell.

What have you had the humidity at throughout incubation?
If the membrane detaches from the shell it will still look "shadowy" when rotated and gravity pulls the membrane against the shell again. So that's possibly what you're seeing.
The air cell will draw down significantly as the chick gets into position for hatching. It's early for that but you typically will see the egg rocking the most as the chick rotates, so it's also possible that the chick is getting ready to hatch early.

 

[junior67]

What have you had the humidity at throughout incubation?
If the membrane detaches from the shell it will still look "shadowy" when rotated and gravity pulls the membrane against the shell again. So that's possibly what you're seeing.
The air cell will draw down significantly as the chick gets into position for hatching. It's early for that but you typically will see the egg rocking the most as the chick rotates, so it's also possible that the chick is getting ready to hatch early.

Average humidity has been 42.9. Trying to keep it around 45 but that is best I could get. But would think if humidity issue the other 10 would have a problem.

What would it mean if the membrane detached? I have never had this happen in the 6-7 hatches I have had. Think before yesterday when I candled Fri it was barely drawn down.

I would think maybe hatching early but I can still see space between chick and aircell so doesn't seem ready with that.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Average humidity has been 42.9. Trying to keep it around 45 but that is best I could get. But would think if humidity issue the other 10 would have a problem.

What would it mean if the membrane detached? I have never had this happen in the 6-7 hatches I have had. Think before yesterday when I candled Fri it was barely drawn down.

I would think maybe hatching early but I can still see space between chick and aircell so doesn't seem ready with that.

If it's just the membrane it shouldn't cause any issues at all! It will hatch as usual. It literally just makes that area light up more readily with the flashlight and shouldn't cause any issues with the hatch.

Since you're still seeing movement from the chick, you know it's alive so you can check off that box as well.

If the chick lost too much weight, also causing the membrane to pull away from the shell, then it may have difficulty getting into position for hatch. Similar to a shrink wrapped chick, but this is very unlikely with the rest of the eggs looking normal. If by some chance that egg had a hairline crack, thin shell, or porous shell causing it to lose weight faster, it's possible it could cause too much weight loss, which in turn could make a malposition more likely but when I have an oddball like that, I don't make any changes because you want levels to be optimal for the majority of the hatch. Also, there's a lot of maybes there, lol.

From what I'm seeing, I wouldn't make any changes in what you're doing for now unless you see an internal pip or other signs that it will hatch early, in which case I would put them on lockdown at that point.
Sometimes we don't get to know what's going on in there until hatch day but I really feel like it's most likely to simply be that the membrane detached a bit.
Good luck on your hatch!

 

[junior67]

If it's just the membrane it shouldn't cause any issues at all! It will hatch as usual. It literally just makes that area light up more readily with the flashlight and shouldn't cause any issues with the hatch.

Since you're still seeing movement from the chick, you know it's alive so you can check off that box as well.

If the chick lost too much weight, also causing the membrane to pull away from the shell, then it may have difficulty getting into position for hatch. Similar to a shrink wrapped chick, but this is very unlikely with the rest of the eggs looking normal. If by some chance that egg had a hairline crack, thin shell, or porous shell causing it to lose weight faster, it's possible it could cause too much weight loss, which in turn could make a malposition more likely but when I have an oddball like that, I don't make any changes because you want levels to be optimal for the majority of the hatch. Also, there's a lot of maybes there, lol.

From what I'm seeing, I wouldn't make any changes in what you're doing for now unless you see an internal pip or other signs that it will hatch early, in which case I would put them on lockdown at that point.
Sometimes we don't get to know what's going on in there until hatch day but I really feel like it's most likely to simply be that the membrane detached a bit.
Good luck on your hatch!

Thanks! The draw back yesterday confused me and the hint of shadowing. Then tonight it was so much more and the shadows were different so really threw me off.

Does the normal air cell look like the right size for day 16? Last year I weighed them all, this year I am hatching for someone else so figured would just watch air cells which they always seem small and stress me out. Lol. So far all that made it to lockdown the last 2 batches have hatched fine. So guess I am doing it right. Lol

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thanks! The draw back yesterday confused me and the hint of shadowing. Then tonight it was so much more and the shadows were different so really threw me off.

Does the normal air cell look like the right size for day 16? Last year I weighed them all, this year I am hatching for someone else so figured would just watch air cells which they always seem small and stress me out. Lol. So far all that made it to lockdown the last 2 batches have hatched fine. So guess I am doing it right. Lol

From what I can see it looks fine. Kind of hard to tell from the pictures.

 

[junior67]

From what I can see it looks fine. Kind of hard to tell from the pictures.

I need to mark them but at this point will probably just do it at lockdown. Think they look like my last 2 hatches.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I need to mark them but at this point will probably just do it at lockdown. Think they look like my last 2 hatches.

I hope you have a great hatch!

 

[junior67]

I hope you have a great hatch!

Thanks. So far his fertility rate hasn't been great, but hatch rates amazing. 11/32 developed this time. All 11 still going strong.

The funny thing is the first time he brought brown and green eggs. Zero green ones developed. 2nd time was brown, green and silky. A couple silky and brown eggs developed and no green. This time was the same but mostly silky and green. 10/11 that developed this time are the green eggs.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thanks. So far his fertility rate hasn't been great, but hatch rates amazing. 11/32 developed this time. All 11 still going strong.

The funny thing is the first time he brought brown and green eggs. Zero green ones developed. 2nd time was brown, green and silky. A couple silky and brown eggs developed and no green. This time was the same but mostly silky and green. 10/11 that developed this time are the green eggs.

Interesting, it may have something to do with his flock dynamic. Sometimes a hen doesn't like a roosters attention and will dodge them or roosters will take on "favorites". Lol

 

[junior67]

Ok so I have had issues keeping my temp up at 99.5 the past few intubations I have done. First time thought maybe my govee was off so tried to calibrate it again but still was a tad low this time so I bumped up the incubator temp but then temps were a bit high so figured around 99 was better than 100 or so (it was around 99 last time and they all hatched on time).

My problem is today was lockdown. So got it all set and temp was way down even after giving it time to go back up. So a few hours ago, maybe 4-5 hrs by now, I bumped the temp up .5. Well just checked my govee and it says it is still only 97.3 in there. I know over the summer it dropped during lockdown but not this low. Should I bump it up more or just leave it? I have to run my incubator at 100.5 to get it to be 99.5 (been that way from day 1), but I have it set at 101 right now.... Don't want to delay or kill them from being cold but don't want to cook them either if it is my govee messing up.