help ! 5 chickens dead and 3 lived.... why?

[happyfamilies]

hi. we have been incubating 24 eggs. 2nd time weve done this. kids are chuffed. we haven't had a real good success. we bought a janoel 39 egg auto turner incubator off ebay. 3 hatched last time out of 11. this time out of 24 we have 5 dead before they pipped. still hadn't absorbed their fluid, and 3 hatched!! could this be to do with the temp flutaction in the garage? We have the incubator in the garage. nights get a little colder (10 degrees) but day is around 25-30. temp on incubator read at 37.5 and we put another thermos in and it read 36degrees so we upped it to 38.5 . been adding water as per instructions. I am soo perplexed why we aren't get a good hatch rate !!!! can anyone suggest??

 

[ChickenLeg]

Always use incubators in an environment where the temperature is constant. Preferably not real cold either. In my opinion table top incubators arent meant for cold areas at all. Mine dont even like it in the basement with constant temps in low 60s. I always hatch in normal room temp ranging from 68-72 degrees F, this has been my best hatch rates.

 

[happyfamilies]

Thanks so much! next lot i'll do inside.

 

[oregonkat]

hi. we have been incubating 24 eggs. 2nd time weve done this. kids are chuffed. we haven't had a real good success. we bought a janoel 39 egg auto turner incubator off ebay. 3 hatched last time out of 11. this time out of 24 we have 5 dead before they pipped. still hadn't absorbed their fluid, and 3 hatched!! could this be to do with the temp flutaction in the garage? We have the incubator in the garage. nights get a little colder (10 degrees) but day is around 25-30. temp on incubator read at 37.5 and we put another thermos in and it read 36degrees so we upped it to 38.5 . been adding water as per instructions. I am soo perplexed why we aren't get a good hatch rate !!!! can anyone suggest??

Get yourself an independent, calibrated (by you) hygrometer. Too high humidity makes it very difficult for the egg to lose the moisture that it must lose to make room for the developing chick. The instruments on the table top incubators are usually wrong and the fact that you were incubating in a potentially colder environment also might cause trouble. Does your incubator have a fan? Make sure your temps are within the parameters of those needed for your type of incubator. With calibrated instruments you will know exactly what is going on in the bator. Try making sure that your humidity ranges between 30 - 40% until lockdown and then dont raise the humidity until you get your first external pip.

 

[aart]

Test/calibrate therms and hygros before starting a hatch.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

 

[happyfamilies]

Thanks so much. Will investiagte my thermo. We bought a digital hygrometer which is 2 degreees diff to incubator read out. The incubator has a fan yes.