HELP!! Eggs in lockdown and have had 2 pip and die, different causes :( Only my second hatch..

[gimmie birdies]

wait till day 23-

This batch I had 6 eggs got 4, one egg fully grown filled whole egg had been tapping no hole, just died on day 21 alive and peeping day 22 am, dead., not too moist not stuck perfect chick. the other quit on day 18 but I think it was because i was trying to candle in lockdown naughty me.

 

[AKyardbirds]

They are so cute! We still havrnt had any more luck. Lost another silkie and have one that pipped i think? Hes broken the shell but not,the membrane its white but a very small hole.. whas best to do for that? Hes been the same since this morning but since the shell is all thats broke i havent thought much about intervening especially given my luck last time.

 

[Farmer Viola]

1. Is it likely that we will have this problem with a lot of the silkies and could it be due to their extended time in the mail and putting them directly in the incubator without allowing them to rest first?

I do not think it is related to the breed, but to shipped eggs in general. If you can find eggs locally, that is going to give you the best hatch rate. Try and expect 50% hatch rate from shipped eggs, if you get more then you are pleasantly surprised


Quote: I believe that what caused it to pip and die with a clear membrane may have been too high humidity.
Here is a link for troubleshooting what went wrong: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html I highly recommend opening the eggs that didnt hatch and taking photos of it. I know that I try and figure out what went wrong for days, weeks afterward, and having photos to reference is better than memory.

Please read the link in my signature "The Dry Incubation Method." I have had the best hatch rates with this method, and following this method, your humidity was much too high. Here is the short version:
Day 1-18: humidity 25-45% do not add any water, allow the natural evaporation of the eggs to create humidity. if it dips below 25%, add 1 tsp of water
some people arbitrarily increase the humidity at day 19; I prefer to wait until the first pip, then:
increase humidity to 55-65%

forced-air (fan): 99.5F ideal temp
still-air (no fan): 101F ideal temp

@ ventilation: what type of incubator is it? I use Farm Innovators styrofoam incubators (holds 41) and I do not use the red vent plugs at all. I removed them and I never put them in.

Quote:
Yes, it is kind of a problem to stagger hatches in that way. I have 2 incubators and I incubate separately if my shipped eggs arrive even ONE day apart. I know that the first eggs set will pip first, and I will have to increase humidity. I prefer to have 2 separate hatches to create the most ideal hatching conditions.



Something else.. I am not sure if your air cells were detached? I have a whole 2nd set of instructions if you get any eggs with detached air cells, I can post if interested

 

[AKyardbirds]

I do not think it is related to the breed, but to shipped eggs in general. If you can find eggs locally, that is going to give you the best hatch rate. Try and expect 50% hatch rate from shipped eggs, if you get more then you are pleasantly surprised


I believe that what caused it to pip and die with a clear membrane may have been too high humidity.
Here is a link for troubleshooting what went wrong: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html I highly recommend opening the eggs that didnt hatch and taking photos of it. I know that I try and figure out what went wrong for days, weeks afterward, and having photos to reference is better than memory.

Please read the link in my signature "The Dry Incubation Method." I have had the best hatch rates with this method, and following this method, your humidity was much too high. Here is the short version:
Day 1-18: humidity 25-45% do not add any water, allow the natural evaporation of the eggs to create humidity. if it dips below 25%, add 1 tsp of water
some people arbitrarily increase the humidity at day 19; I prefer to wait until the first pip, then:
increase humidity to 55-65%

forced-air (fan): 99.5F ideal temp
still-air (no fan): 101F ideal temp

@ ventilation: what type of incubator is it? I use Farm Innovators styrofoam incubators (holds 41) and I do not use the red vent plugs at all. I removed them and I never put them in.


Yes, it is kind of a problem to stagger hatches in that way. I have 2 incubators and I incubate separately if my shipped eggs arrive even ONE day apart. I know that the first eggs set will pip first, and I will have to increase humidity. I prefer to have 2 separate hatches to create the most ideal hatching conditions.



Something else.. I am not sure if your air cells were detached? I have a whole 2nd set of instructions if you get any eggs with detached air cells, I can post if interested

Wow thank you so much. I am not sure about detached air cells? I have read up a bit but not really looked out for it this time, I guess I dropped the ball on that one.

I was talking to my boyfriend about trying dry incubation but hadn't looked it up too much as it's too late with our current hatch. I always wondered why we stressed so much for certain conditions when if it was a chicken she wouldn't be able to do the same thing laying on the eggs.. I will definitely look into it next time because our first two hatches have been a bit disappointing.

We got 4 Bresse the first time and 5 black copper marans out of over 30 eggs! This time (so far) we have 4 Bresse, 1 cream leg bar, and 2 silkies (2 pipped and we are waiting on) and 4 died so far

It is definitely tougher this time because for the first hatch all the ones who didn't make it were strictly because they never developed, so it is a bit more sad knowing they were all in there fully formed so far!

We have a genesis hova bator? The first hatch we turned them 3x daily by hand, but this time we had to go out of town the first full day so we used an automatic turner. IT does have the red plugs, I think for the most part we always had them out

 

[Farmer Viola]

Wow thank you so much. I am not sure about detached air cells? I have read up a bit but not really looked out for it this time, I guess I dropped the ball on that one.

I was talking to my boyfriend about trying dry incubation but hadn't looked it up too much as it's too late with our current hatch. I always wondered why we stressed so much for certain conditions when if it was a chicken she wouldn't be able to do the same thing laying on the eggs.. I will definitely look into it next time because our first two hatches have been a bit disappointing.

We got 4 Bresse the first time and 5 black copper marans out of over 30 eggs! This time (so far) we have 4 Bresse, 1 cream leg bar, and 2 silkies (2 pipped and we are waiting on) and 4 died so far

It is definitely tougher this time because for the first hatch all the ones who didn't make it were strictly because they never developed, so it is a bit more sad knowing they were all in there fully formed so far!

We have a genesis hova bator? The first hatch we turned them 3x daily by hand, but this time we had to go out of town the first full day so we used an automatic turner. IT does have the red plugs, I think for the most part we always had them out

Well, the dry incubation method is information enough... if you do every get detached AC eggs you can pm me, its a whole different can of worms

One thing you could do, sometimes Trader Joe's sells fertile eggs. They're white leghorns, production egg layers, and you could probably sell them on craigslist easily as chicks, since there are specific breeds you're after (me too).

They're white eggs, so candling these vs a tan or brown egg is just, WOW, amazingly different candling experience. The whole egg illuminates red and you can see right through it, all the veins so clearly, when the shell is white. I really wish I set white eggs first, but of course I went straight to brown! They're only $4-5/doz too, so no real loss if they don't develop. Sometimes they have the date written on them, go for the freshest eggs if so!

My thought is that by candling earlier (candle them every day!) and not spending money on them, it can be a learning hatch with less pressure.

I feel the better I understand the whole process, the easier hatching gets. (eg: candle every day so you see the internal pip, and you know when to assist)

 

[rayray983]

The dry hatch method is working for me I breed cockatiels as well and my old home my birds would bathe regularly and go back and set on eggs well since I moved to where I live now they only take extra baths at end of incubating their clutch ironicly day 18 to 21 I at first was wondering why my cockatiels changed their nestin habits and after incubating chicken eggs for the first time and seeing that rh in my home now is 25 to 35% I can understand it and I am more than happy to follow my birds lead and dry hatch right along with them so it my and their opinion to dry hatch haha until I see the humidity in my home go down or see my field bathing more to raise humidity in their nesting box this is how I will do it

 

[chick inn]

Well, the dry incubation method is information enough... if you do every get detached AC eggs you can pm me, its a whole different can of worms

One thing you could do, sometimes Trader Joe's sells fertile eggs. They're white leghorns, production egg layers, and you could probably sell them on craigslist easily as chicks, since there are specific breeds you're after (me too).

They're white eggs, so candling these vs a tan or brown egg is just, WOW, amazingly different candling experience. The whole egg illuminates red and you can see right through it, all the veins so clearly, when the shell is white. I really wish I set white eggs first, but of course I went straight to brown! They're only $4-5/doz too, so no real loss if they don't develop. Sometimes they have the date written on them, go for the freshest eggs if so!

My thought is that by candling earlier (candle them every day!) and not spending money on them, it can be a learning hatch with less pressure.

I feel the better I understand the whole process, the easier hatching gets. (eg: candle every day so you see the internal pip, and you know when to assist)

Hey there- I know this thread is a couple months old now- but I would love to hear more about the detached air cells from shipping.. I received some eggs in the mail late last week, let them rest for a day or two, then put them in my incubator on Sunday in a paper carton with the bottoms cut out so the egg turner wouldn't turn them. I tilted them yesterday to the side. Can these go in the turner now or do I have to keep hand-turning them?

 

[Farmer Viola]

Here is what I do for detached air cells..

- 24 hrs rest upright in carton after arrival
- the next day, begin heating them up slowly over 8hrs so they are warm (85ish) when I put them in
- leave turner unplugged for 2 days, they stay upright during this time
- I do not remove eggs from turner to candle, because I think that my hands could slosh the insides around and pull apart the air cell from the shell (which WILL re-heal itself, if handed properly)
- I candle directly in the incubator with the lid off, I put the flashlight right down on top of them, without taking them out of the incubator
- supposedly it takes 2 weeks for the air cell to re-heal. on day 15 I feel safe removing eggs from incubator to candle & weigh.
however, I NEVER turn them on their sides or upside down during candling because I have seen a healed air cell detach in a late stage (day 18) and kill the chick because I turned it on its side.
- I leave them upright for hatch (not on their sides), I switch to using an egg carton instead of the turner (usually) so there will be some space to walk around when they hatch. holes cut out of the bottom of the carton for air flow.
- I stop turning early, on day 16 instead of 18

hope this helps! I have had great success following these steps... right now I have 14 shipped eggs which arrived detached and 12 of them are developing!

good luck, please update with your progress I will be interested to know

 

[chick inn]

Great to know and thank you for the quick response!!! They are ccl eggs so I probably won't be candleing them too much I also ordered goose eggs though.... I'm thinking I need to build some sort of extension wall for my incubator for them to be able to sit upright...? Should I measure temp at the top of the eggs still, or middle?

 

[Farmer Viola]

Great to know and thank you for the quick response!!! They are ccl eggs so I probably won't be candleing them too much

I also ordered goose eggs though.... I'm thinking I need to build some sort of extension wall for my incubator for them to be able to sit upright...? Should I measure temp at the top of the eggs still, or middle?

Wow I really don't know how to handle that one..
if you build the walls up higher the temperature might go down with a larger area(?) no idea just thinking about it...

and you will have chicken and goose eggs in the same incubator or separate incubators? the temperature at the top of the chicken egg will be about the center of the goose egg, so it would be hotter at the top of the goose egg to have the correct temperature in the chicken egg. I don't know how those 2 eggs can both work..

normally I would say incubate the goose eggs on their sides, but with the detatched air cells surely you will end up with air cells on the side wall of the egg incubating that way..