Help! Only 1 out of 25 eggs hatched!

[ladybrasa]

Location has a lot to do with humidity problems in the incubator. For example, If you are in Texas or the Southeastern United States, the a/c is probably running. That dries the room out, but the problem is solvable by turning up the thermostat a bit and running the a/c a bit less.

Thanks for your thoughts. I’m in VA, definitely not high altitude! It has been very hot. Miss the days when I was younger and upper 90s was something to talk about. I live in an old home that does not have central air/AC. Last year I caved and got a one room unit that sits on the floor. The incubator is in this room and I don’t have an option of other locations. It is in the opposite diagonal corner as the AC unit. Also I have had the incubator covered with old towels the whole time. I did take out a spare thermo/hygrometer and put it outside of the bator - it’s been reading about 60%. So yes, drying air, but not very dry (which means it’s way worse outside, yuck!).

So I went to work today -only half day! - and came home to fine one chick had somehow squeezed itself past the wire mesh wall divider and was sitting over top the water wells right under the bulbs. Totally could have drowned or burned!! And the one mosaic egg that was piped appears to have been pecked raw through the pip!! chick is still alive in egg, and appears to be on the end of the wing covering its face. It was also tipped over and knocked around despite having egg cups. I chipped a little bit away from the pip so I could see, then let it be to finish it’s own hatch. Suffice it to say the four that hatched during the day yesterday are evicted!!!

 

[ChristinLewin]

I’m in Central Maryland, so not much elevation

 

[Ruthster55]

How are you regulating the humidity in the incubator? Any way you could put the bator in a slightly more humid spot or ease up on the a/c especially for lockdown? The ambient humidity this time of year in locations like VA and MD should be adequate for hatching. At summer humidity there, you might be able to dry-incubate while the turner is going and only add water while in lockdown.

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Very different situation:

I had a rather disappointing first bator hatch, but I pretty much know that erratic humidity at altitude was the reason. It’s rather dry here at this time. Broody hens have mad skillz compared to me!

I plan to move my incubator to a spot upstairs where it’s a little warmer and there are some houseplants (humidity) for the second try.

 

[ladybrasa]

It was a kind of semi dry hatch. I did add some water when the humidity got to the low 20s. Other than that, averaged low 30s.

At one point, it was registering as 60% outside the bator and 50-55% inside! Far as I could tell the hatching of 7 eggs went okay, but the last mosaic was having a little trouble unzipping and squealing his head off. I helped a little. After he was out, one wing was definitely shrink wrapped to his body, and was tacky elsewhere on his body. He was still peeping his head off. I rinsed him under warm water and freed his wing and he settled down. He’s all dry now, but still has that wet look. I don’t really want to douse him again unless I really have to. Anyway, point being, I guess humidity was acceptable for at least part of the time. Friday and Saturday were overcast rainy days here, so that probably helped a lot!

The room is about 75 degrees, and hit 80 today. Still better than outside!!

As far as the second group of shipped eggs, they consisted of 5+1 Mosaic eggs. One appeared to be a late quitter, but I kept it in anyway. Four hatched. I know the fifth one was alive at some point Friday/Saturday ... now there is no movement at all and a reddish stain/area over half the air cell when I candled just now ... no idea what that means, but pretty sure that egg isn’t gonna hatch. So, 6 fertile shipped eggs, air cells attached. Possibly saddled on some - I wasn’t really sure and didn’t get a reply about it on another thread. 4 hatched so I think that’s a 66% hatch rate? I think that’s good for shipped eggs, and may have been better.

 

[Ruthster55]

It was a kind of semi dry hatch. I did add some water when the humidity got to the low 20s. Other than that, averaged low 30s.

At one point, it was registering as 60% outside the bator and 50-55% inside! Far as I could tell the hatching of 7 eggs went okay, but the last mosaic was having a little trouble unzipping and squealing his head off. I helped a little. After he was out, one wing was definitely shrink wrapped to his body, and was tacky elsewhere on his body. He was still peeping his head off. I rinsed him under warm water and freed his wing and he settled down. He’s all dry now, but still has that wet look. I don’t really want to douse him again unless I really have to. Anyway, point being, I guess humidity was acceptable for at least part of the time. Friday and Saturday were overcast rainy days here, so that probably helped a lot!

The room is about 75 degrees, and hit 80 today. Still better than outside!!

As far as the second group of shipped eggs, they consisted of 5+1 Mosaic eggs. One appeared to be a late quitter, but I kept it in anyway. Four hatched. I know the fifth one was alive at some point Friday/Saturday ... now there is no movement at all and a reddish stain/area over half the air cell when I candled just now ... no idea what that means, but pretty sure that egg isn’t gonna hatch. So, 6 fertile shipped eggs, air cells attached. Possibly saddled on some - I wasn’t really sure and didn’t get a reply about it on another thread. 4 hatched so I think that’s a 66% hatch rate? I think that’s good for shipped eggs, and may have been better.

Improving. Do own, neighbors and barnyard mix eggs before trying to hatch anything rare or shipped.

I would love to have some Brahmas or even Cochins but I don’t want to deal with shipped eggs until I work out the problems in the bator.

 

[muddy75]

Was it @Kiki or @casportpony ?

most likely @Kiki if relating to thermometers and temps and @WVduckchick has humidity article in her signature that is very helpful especially with salt-testing hygrometer
there’s lots of good information in the articles section and can also be helpful to join a hatch-a-long to gain experience and knowledge from others hatching at same time

 

[ladybrasa]

Yeah, I thought about having a few control eggs, but couldn’t come across anyone with purebred eggs (other than silky, but those would be squashed by my other chicks. Also I just don’t think they are that attractive..). Have to be picky to keep space for the chickens I want and not fill with mixes. I AM FAILING AT CHICKEN MATH.

 

[WVduckchick]

I’m in Central Maryland, so not much elevation

Howdy neighbor!
I’m in north western WV.

I skimmed most of the thread, but would also like to point out that some postal hubs are worse than others. Does your mail possibly go through DC? They are horrible on eggs!!!

Thanks for the tag @muddy75
My humidity article is linked in Red below
(Turn phone sideways)

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I can’t remember who’s post I saw that mentioned laying towels over the incubator. I just wanted to add that ventilation is a critical part of hatching that is often overlooked. Please don’t block off the vents!

 

[ChristinLewin]

Improving. Do own, neighbors and barnyard mix eggs before trying to hatch anything rare or shipped.

I would love to have some Brahmas or even Cochins but I don’t want to deal with shipped eggs until I work out the problems in the bator.

100% of my barnyard mix and locally bought eggs hatched so it’s got to be a problem with the shipping process and air cell, IMO

 

[ladybrasa]

My humidity article is linked in Red below
(Turn phone sideways)

Oohhhhh. Turn the phone sideways. I had no idea! Was wondering at the mentions of a signature here and there where those were, or maybe only visible on a computer or something!