Help! Float test failed me!

[Innsaei_vi]

My hatch right now is not going well. 5 eggs went on lockdown, one pipped but 24 hours later could not get out. I pulled it out and went at it with qtips and tweeers, to find that it was a very "sticky chick" and needed some assistance getting out. This chick is doing fine. The second chick was the same situation. So now I have 3 remaining eggs and I was worried they wouldn't be able to pip or get out because it's so STICKY?! (Stupid incubator, I'm going to throw it in the trash - so frustrated). So I got out the other 3 eggs to do the float test to see if the embryo was still alive...

NOTHING. I left the eggs individually in the water for almost 2 mins. NO movement, no bobbing. I figured they're dead, right? ... WRONG. I cracked the first one at the top and examined closely and it did indeed look like a dead motionless chick. Then I peeled a piece of shell off which tore the membrane and then THE CHICK STARTED FLOPPING AROUND! well... crap. So I wrapped it loosely in saran wrap and put them all back in the incubator.

What should I do? They're sticky because I did a staggered hatch, so they were 3-4 days behind the batch that just hatched so the were subjected to higher humidity. Is there anything I can do?

Temp is 100.0, humidity is hovering around 65%-70%.

UGHHHH. These eggs were so expensive too...

Thanks for your advice in advance

 

[Pyxis]

What incubator are you using? If the trouble is due to the incubation method, e.g. a staggered hatch, and that's the only trouble it's given you, I don't think I'd be throwing it out.

I never float test. I do not find it to be accurate, as you have experienced, and I don't see a reason for it. What day are these eggs on?

Remove the saran wrap from the one you broke open, that's not going to help anything. Did you get the bleeding to stop? If not, some gentle pressure on the bleeding area applied with a paper towel will hopefully stop it. From there, all there is to do is keep the humidity in the incubator up and wait.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

My hatch right now is not going well. 5 eggs went on lockdown, one pipped but 24 hours later could not get out. I pulled it out and went at it with qtips and tweeers, to find that it was a very "sticky chick" and needed some assistance getting out. This chick is doing fine. The second chick was the same situation. So now I have 3 remaining eggs and I was worried they wouldn't be able to pip or get out because it's so STICKY?! (Stupid incubator, I'm going to throw it in the trash - so frustrated). So I got out the other 3 eggs to do the float test to see if the embryo was still alive...

NOTHING. I left the eggs individually in the water for almost 2 mins. NO movement, no bobbing. I figured they're dead, right? ... WRONG. I cracked the first one at the top and examined closely and it did indeed look like a dead motionless chick. Then I peeled a piece of shell off which tore the membrane and then THE CHICK STARTED FLOPPING AROUND! well... crap. So I wrapped it loosely in saran wrap and put them all back in the incubator.

What should I do? They're sticky because I did a staggered hatch, so they were 3-4 days behind the batch that just hatched so the were subjected to higher humidity. Is there anything I can do?

Temp is 100.0, humidity is hovering around 65%-70%.

UGHHHH. These eggs were so expensive too...

Thanks for your advice in advance

OMG ...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/float-test-live-eggs-interesting-video.1195829/
Read this start to finish, then I will reply..

 

[Innsaei_vi]

What incubator are you using? If the trouble is due to the incubation method, e.g. a staggered hatch, and that's the only trouble it's given you, I don't think I'd be throwing it out.

I never float test. I do not find it to be accurate, as you have experienced, and I don't see a reason for it. What day are these eggs on?

Remove the saran wrap from the one you broke open, that's not going to help anything. Did you get the bleeding to stop? If not, some gentle pressure on the bleeding area applied with a paper towel will hopefully stop it. From there, all there is to do is keep the humidity in the incubator up and wait.

It's a little giant styrofoam one. We have not had a decent hatch rate yet.

The bleeding did stop on that egg, should I really just leave it uncovered? It's so sticky the other two were like glue.

The eggs are on day 22, but the other two hatched on day 19 & 20. Apparently this breed hatches earlier than usual.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

What should I do? They're sticky because I did a staggered hatch, so they were 3-4 days behind the batch that just hatched so the were subjected to higher humidity. Is there anything I can do?

Never stagger. A double edge sword.. sorry..

 

[Lazy Farmer]

It's a little giant styrofoam one. We have not had a decent hatch rate yet.

The meters on my LG's lie. Purchase aux meters.

 

[Pyxis]

Yeah, I've never liked LGs myself. Is it the still air version? If so the hatching time discrepancies are likely being caused by hot and cold spots in the incubator. Best to move eggs around in a still air so that they all get an average amount of warmth. Also, your temp was a bit low, which would also account for the late hatch. In a still air, the temp should be 101.5 measured at the top of the eggs, not 100.

Yes, leave it uncovered. Covering it won't really help with the stickiness. Plus, saran wrap could very likely cut off its oxygen.

The ones that haven't yet hatched, you could put a small safety hole in them at the top of the air cell to see what's going on and provide them air in case they need it. You can read how to do that in this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

What breed are you hatching?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

[QUOTE="Pyxis, post:
The ones that haven't yet hatched, you could put a small safety hole in them at the top of the air cell to see what's going on and provide them air in case they need it. You can read how to do that in this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

What breed are you hatching?[/QUOTE]
Pyxis

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Welcome to Back Yard Chickens!!!
Chicks need.... in fact they require higher humidity the closer that they get to hatching.

Don't get pulled into the trap of everything was better 100 or a 1,000 or even 10,000 years ago and that human knowledge and understanding of the natural world has gone to the dogs in that time. It just AIN'T so. I am sure that there are some wonderfully knowledgeable and honest small breeders out there but they are rarer than most of you think.

A true story from my past. I didn't do this but I knew both of the Gentlemen involved.
A certain friend of mine (friend #!) purchased 1,000 plus hatching eggs from another of my friends (we'll call him friend #2). Now all the chicks of this strain of game fowl should hatch with green legs. However when they hatched all the biddies pipped had yellow shanks.

Friend #1 called up friend #2 to express his dismay. Friend #2 however was a faster thinker and a better talker.

"OH $%&& I am sorry" friend #2 began, "Those chicks momas and papas were given to me by a famous gamefowl breeder and I promised him that I would never allow any of his fowl to leave my farm. I'll be right out there in 3 days with 2,000 fresh hatching eggs to replace the 1,000 that you bought and I'll pick all the yellow legged chicks!"

"Not so fast" friend #1 began, I'm keeping these yellow legged chicks!"

Too many of us are like friend #1 and believe that there is something special about chickens from a "REPUTABLE" breeder that may have been bred, in-bred, bred-in, and in-bred some more for generations as opposed to the fowl from a commercial breeder that was selected from a wider DNA base.

I am not saying that anyone's' birds are inferior or better than anyone else's, but I am saying that most of us do not have enough of the right kind of information to decide who has the best chicks. Caveat Emporium, y'all.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

too much humidity can kill or splay legs or drown them.. incubation wise.. not broody hen anyway..