help on incubation please

[ChasSquirrel]

I am so happy to hear that your pheasants are hatching! I just set 17 Red Goldens on May 1st. I hatched the daddy, Ceasar, on May 18, 2012 so i don't know if he is old enough yet but he sure is gorgeous.

 

[hairdye]

ok so now im panacking, its 20 hrs since the first egg shell had a small hole in it and nothing has changed. I cant hear any cheeping either, ive read loads but it must not be sinking in. When is it past the deadline where the chic needs help. If i fail at this late stage i will be gutted, one other thing this morning is i can see another egg thats pipped a tiny hole in the shell but the other eggs show no signs of anything.
ideas please

 

[hairdye]

ok i couldnt wait, opened the incubator and the chick that pipped yesterday has died in the egg. why would it die when it had made a hole in the shell ? im worried about the other one now, i can hear it cheeping but its still only got the one hole like it was yesterday .............
dont think this hatch is going too well.

 

[hairdye]

ok back again, broke the dead chick out of the shell and i cannot understand why its died. It was perfectly formed but still had the yolk sack attached but was stone cold dead. i have read loads but it still doesnt help me, if they need to absorb the yolk sack before the hatch why would it die when it had mad its first hole in the shell. im gutted at the moment as i dont want the other to die the same way .
not keen on this incubating thing, it was okay until the hatch but its put me off now.
The chick thats hatching out now must have been like that for 18hrs at least i bet this one will die as well.

 

[subhanalah]

Typically what you are describing happens due to temperature fluctuations during incubation or too high humidity during hatching.

 

[hairdye]

ok sad news, all died. Not sure what happened at all with the hatch, 3 had pipped two from yesterday that died for whatever reason and then 1 had pipped overnight but its beak was sort of stuck on the outside through the small hole it made and that had died but i think its because t could move with its beak being stuck to the egg.
They were all perfectly formed but only 3 had tried to hatch the others were formed but no pipping just dead.
Could the humidity have been to high or two low???
I think the incubator is rubbish as well its a janoel or something like that and i think the humidity must have been way out.
So many questions as to what went wrong.
Should i use another humidity tester instead of the one built in.
cheers

 

[hairdye]

ok here goes.
Just put two different temperature and humidity readers in the incubator to see if i can find out what went wrong.
The incubator isnt set up to hatch just for testing. Anyway the incubator reads 37.5 deg c and 58%humidity which is similar to what it was when the eggs were in (humidity wasnt that high)
now i have two thermometers in there which read in and out door temp plus humidity. You would think as they are in the machine the in and out should be the same, well there not.
first one reads 36.2 deg c (out) 37 deg c (in) and 64% humidity. The second one reads 36.6 deg c (out) and 36 deg c (in) 60% humidity. . All 3 are giving different readings how do i find what the actual temp and humidity are . This is turning into a nightmare and i dont want to put more eggs in until i can solve the issue.
As i said earlier the incubator is a janoel 48 egg.
Any help or ideas.
cheers

 

[ChasSquirrel]

I am so sorry to hear that all the chicks died. There are many reasons why they didn't hatch so I wouldn't want to speculate as to what happened. Maybe someone else here with more experience with pheasants can help. I've only hatched pheasants once and I guess I got lucky. I used the Little Giant 42 egg incubator we get here at Tractor Supply stores.
Don't give up...
Shirley
aka....chassquirrel

 

[pheasantfrenzie]

Sorry you had such a problem but ringnecks are very touchy.
From reading everything you wrote and from my experience I would say it's because you kept checking them and it sounds like your temp and humidity were fine. It also sounds like your chicks were shrink wrapped from the temps moving all around and they couldn't get themselves out. Next time you hatch if you ever see that you can carefully help the chick out of the shell but you have to do it very slow and only a little at a time and watch for the veins but that is the last resort because you can also make them bleed to death if you don't know what you are doing.
If you are thinking about hatching I would either buy a good one or make your own and reference from GQF that is how I made mine but a larger window on the front to watch my eggs so I wouldn't have to disturb them.
Hopefully you keep trying because it is so rewarding but can also be very heartbreaking.