Help me figure out what I did wrong

[FortCluck]

i have the incubator in a back bedroom that we don’t use. I keep the door shut and I turned theA/C vent in that room off. It stays 75-80 degrees and like I said my hygrometer was reading around 65% in that room. Does that have anything to do with it?

No the room doesn’t matter the incubator humidity does. I wouldn’t have shut the air vent though. You want the room to stay at a stable temp

 

[WGregge]

Hm

No the room doesn’t matter the incubator humidity does. I wouldn’t have shut the air vent though. You want the room to stay at a stable temp

Hmmm okay. Kind of at a loss then because it really seems as though my humidity was too high. I will try dry hatching this next go around and see what happens. I’m not ready to give up yet... although it was very disheartening

 

[FortCluck]

Hm

Hmmm okay. Kind of at a loss then because it really seems as though my humidity was too high. I will try dry hatching this next go around and see what happens. I’m not ready to give up yet... although it was very disheartening

My first hatch I had 9 chicks fully formed die and a ton didn’t have absorbed yolks when hatched... I’m still hatching 11 months later so just try again.

Join the hatch-a-longs too. They’re in my signature

 

[WGregge]

My first hatch I had 9 chicks fully formed die and a ton didn’t have absorbed yolks when hatched... I’m still hatching 11 months later so just try again.

Join the hatch-a-longs too. They’re in my signature

Thanks for your help! I have been posting in the July one

 

[FortCluck]

Thanks for your help! I have been posting in the July one

I didn’t see you for some reason!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I keep my eggs upright and some I don't turn for 3 days, I've had good luck with it. Until lately, and I solely blame that on the postal system. The eggs have been shaken, tossed, smashed as bad as they can be without destroying the whole box. Ever since this covid cr** the postal system has been a NIGHTMARE! Try again, but try to find eggs closer to you. Most all of my eggs were scrambled except for the Ebay lady that I paid extra for 1 day shipping, it cost a lot but almost every egg hatched.

 

[LynnaePB]

It sounds like you did everything well to me. I do pay more attention to how the air cells are looking than trying to aim for a specific humidity. I also have the nurture right 360 and dry hatching usually works well for me. If humidity gets a bit low (under 25%) and the air cells are on the larger side already I'll add some water in the A port.

I've never waited a full 48 hours (too impatient) but I have gone up to 36 hours of resting upright before setting and do find that on average the eggs that I let rest for at least 24 hours do a bit better than eggs that are not rested or only rested for a little while. The one exception I'll make is if the weather has been very hot I may avoid resting for more than an hour or two in fear of cooling an embryo that may have been developing already during transport. I try to avoid ordering eggs during hot weather though, some of my worst hatches from shipped eggs were during hot weather.

I have turned eggs from day 1, waited 2-3 days, and waited up to 5 days with shipped eggs. I find I am most successful with 2-3 days of not turning. 5 days was my least favorite because although I did get a lot more to develop their blood vessels didn't spread around the egg properly and around 2/3rds died on day 19 before even trying to internally pip. I try to have the eggs incubating upright until I start turning (I have another incubator for this that holds the eggs upright).

In a lot of ways shipped eggs are just tough and its really hard to say what the best approach is. I've heard plenty of people using the nurture right having success just putting the eggs in soon after they arrive and laying them on their sides and turning right away.

I find malpositions are rather common with shipped eggs and for this reason I avoid hatching upright. I've had too many pip on the wrong ends or in odd positions to feel comfortable hatching upright personally. I do know a lot of people have good luck with it though.

Honestly I've noticed with shipped eggs sometimes odd things just happen to the white/albumen. I've had a lot more sticky albumen in shipped eggs than in local eggs. Although I haven't experienced watery albumen like you did the fact that they were shipped makes me wonder if you just had bad luck due to the shipping.

Going dry next hatch sounds like a good idea and watching the air cells carefully and adjusting humidity based on that. I hope you have better luck next time, it's always so hard losing them during hatching.

 

[WGregge]

It sounds like you did everything well to me. I do pay more attention to how the air cells are looking than trying to aim for a specific humidity. I also have the nurture right 360 and dry hatching usually works well for me. If humidity gets a bit low (under 25%) and the air cells are on the larger side already I'll add some water in the A port.

I've never waited a full 48 hours (too impatient) but I have gone up to 36 hours of resting upright before setting and do find that on average the eggs that I let rest for at least 24 hours do a bit better than eggs that are not rested or only rested for a little while. The one exception I'll make is if the weather has been very hot I may avoid resting for more than an hour or two in fear of cooling an embryo that may have been developing already during transport. I try to avoid ordering eggs during hot weather though, some of my worst hatches from shipped eggs were during hot weather.

I have turned eggs from day 1, waited 2-3 days, and waited up to 5 days with shipped eggs. I find I am most successful with 2-3 days of not turning. 5 days was my least favorite because although I did get a lot more to develop their blood vessels didn't spread around the egg properly and around 2/3rds died on day 19 before even trying to internally pip. I try to have the eggs incubating upright until I start turning (I have another incubator for this that holds the eggs upright).

In a lot of ways shipped eggs are just tough and its really hard to say what the best approach is. I've heard plenty of people using the nurture right having success just putting the eggs in soon after they arrive and laying them on their sides and turning right away.

I find malpositions are rather common with shipped eggs and for this reason I avoid hatching upright. I've had too many pip on the wrong ends or in odd positions to feel comfortable hatching upright personally. I do know a lot of people have good luck with it though.

Honestly I've noticed with shipped eggs sometimes odd things just happen to the white/albumen. I've had a lot more sticky albumen in shipped eggs than in local eggs. Although I haven't experienced watery albumen like you did the fact that they were shipped makes me wonder if you just had bad luck due to the shipping.

Going dry next hatch sounds like a good idea and watching the air cells carefully and adjusting humidity based on that. I hope you have better luck next time, it's always so hard losing them during hatching.

thanks so much, this is solid advice. I had already ordered some more shipped eggs and they will be here end of this week. I kinda jumped the gun thinking I’d have success with this hatch. But I also want to breed a couple breeds next year and can’t find them locally at all so this is really my only option if I want breeders for next year. If these don’t turn out well I may just have to buy chicks early next year.

this go around I will let rest 24-48 hrs, incubate upright for 2-3 days with no turning, then lay on their sides for the remainder. I plan to dry hatch as my other nurture right is currently staying steady around 35-37 with no water. I’ll watch the air cells closely as well. Then I guess I will up humidity on day 18 to around 55? Maybe I will have better luck! I sure hope so!

 

[LynnaePB]

thanks so much, this is solid advice. I had already ordered some more shipped eggs and they will be here end of this week. I kinda jumped the gun thinking I’d have success with this hatch. But I also want to breed a couple breeds next year and can’t find them locally at all so this is really my only option if I want breeders for next year. If these don’t turn out well I may just have to buy chicks early next year.

this go around I will let rest 24-48 hrs, incubate upright for 2-3 days with no turning, then lay on their sides for the remainder. I plan to dry hatch as my other nurture right is currently staying steady around 35-37 with no water. I’ll watch the air cells closely as well. Then I guess I will up humidity on day 18 to around 55? Maybe I will have better luck! I sure hope so!

Sounds like a good plan to me! I certainly know the pain of shipped eggs, my entire silkie flock was started from shipped eggs from over 8 different breeders. I consider myself very fortunate to have got at least a couple from even the worst hatches. It's just really hit and miss, my best hatch was 7/8 shipped eggs and the 8th egg probably shouldn't have been incubated anyway because it was super narrow.

I've recently started upping the humidity when I see signs of an internal pip (usually day 19) but I put the eggs into hatching position on day 17-18 to give them some extra time to orient themselves (I still end up with plenty of malpositions from the shipped eggs though). I aim for 60-70% but I would expect 55 would likely be just fine. I keep mine a little higher as I am a notorious meddler. I've definitely upped my hatch rate with the shipped eggs by helping when needed though and I think knowing how to help properly is an invaluable skill if you are going to be hatching frequently especially in the case of shipped eggs.

Good luck, I hope this next batch goes much better and you get off to a good start with the breeds you are hoping for!

 

[WGregge]

Sounds like a good plan to me! I certainly know the pain of shipped eggs, my entire silkie flock was started from shipped eggs from over 8 different breeders. I consider myself very fortunate to have got at least a couple from even the worst hatches. It's just really hit and miss, my best hatch was 7/8 shipped eggs and the 8th egg probably shouldn't have been incubated anyway because it was super narrow.

I've recently started upping the humidity when I see signs of an internal pip (usually day 19) but I put the eggs into hatching position on day 17-18 to give them some extra time to orient themselves (I still end up with plenty of malpositions from the shipped eggs though). I aim for 60-70% but I would expect 55 would likely be just fine. I keep mine a little higher as I am a notorious meddler. I've definitely upped my hatch rate with the shipped eggs by helping when needed though and I think knowing how to help properly is an invaluable skill if you are going to be hatching frequently especially in the case of shipped eggs.

Good luck, I hope this next batch goes much better and you get off to a good start with the breeds you are hoping for!

Thank you! Yes the helping part of so nerve wracking! I might’ve been able to help the one but I found it too late, it pipped and did that sometime during the night and I woke up to it. I’ve watched several videos and read about helping, but i think it’s one of those things you kinda gotta just experience and do at some point to really learn and understand it. I’ve got the basics down and know kind of when and how much to help. I studied and now work in the wildlife field so I definitely know it’s best to let nature takes its course as much as possible before helping. But also have to remember this isn’t really “nature” when your using shipped eggs in an incubator lol. But all I can do is learn from this situation and move forward. I’ve been pretty down about it but I’m not giving up.