Help me know what I did wrong.

[tfis4life]

I just finished incubating my first set of chicken eggs. There were only 5 to begin with one was infertile and one was an early quitter. That left me with three as we went into "lockdown" I am using a hovabator still air with an automatic egg turner (taken out the last 3 days). On day 20 and one of the three hatched out! I was so excited! Then as the hours dragged on and a day later I hadn't seen or heard anything from the other eggs. I decided to candle them and saw that they had piped internally but nothing externally. I waited a bit longer, and then decided to open part of the shell to see what was going on. Opened at the airsack on both and they looked like they were in the right position. One was a huge air sack and completely dried out outer membrane so I am leaning toward not enough humidity/an over porous egg shell? The other looked like it was a fairly recent demise. It had just the end of its little beak through the inside membrane and looks as though it may have suffocated? The outside membrane was only slightly dried out and I half expected from the look of it to find the chick alive. I had the temp at 100 degrees the whole time and upped the humidity the last 3 days with more water plus a wet sponge in there with the eggs. I live in Utah and it is VERY dry here. Any help would be greatly appreciated so I can do better next time around.

Additional information. Eggs were local and not shipped, and I do not have a hygrometer so I was essentially guessing on that!

 

[deejeff442]

i am toward the end of my 1st hatching. 10 eggs from my coop. 6 eggs in then 3 days later the other 4. so far i have 4 chicks and 2 more poking holes right now. i have a simialar incubator. temp around 99-100.no way to check humidity. even though some said just a little water in there till day 17 i filled it everyday. then took them off the rack and put water soaked kitchen towels down and another one soaked off to the side. i still have a few due tomorrow.but right now all of them are hatching.i am thinking beginner luck?also i know my rooster is fertilizing looking at the hens all missing feathers. maybe you need a better place to get the eggs?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I recommend getting yourself a hygrometer. Humidity is SUPER important when incubating. Too much can drown them, too little can cause them to stick (and when they pip internally the membrane can get stuck to their beaks and suffocate them). Anyway, the air cell is supposed to provide enough air for them to breathe until the pip externally. If they're shrink wrapped, that typically doesn't happen because they can't move.

I tried winging it without a hygrometer for a while, sometimes I'd get lucky and have a decent hatch. Most of the time it was utterly disappointing though. Got myself a hygrometer and my hatch rates are SO much better. Good luck.