Help! Only 1 out of 25 eggs hatched!

[ChristinLewin]

I am not an expert and am working on my first hatch with shipped eggs. They have not hatched yet. However, I’m going into lockdown in a day and a half approximately 10 eggs out of 15. (One yolker, 3 blood rings; don’t wanna assume all are okay tomorrow night.. not counting the three that were already questionable when I got them) Anyway, so far so good, so things I did was allow to rest blunt end up for about a day. All air cells were only a little jiggly. Have an Inkbird thermostat and three digital thermometer/hygrometer combos, one of which tells the day’s high and lows. I decided to keep them upright ... ish in the incubator, like happens at hatcheries and large cabinet incubators. I have a wedge glued to the middle of a cut up egg carton and tilt them at roughly 45 degree angles three times a day. I’ve read some scientific abstract somewhere that ideal tilt needs to be 45 (+\- 5 degrees). Anything more or less will result in a smaller hatch. Obviously a million things can happen between right now and day 21, but so far things appear on track.

One thing I didn’t do was outline the air cells in pencil as they went along. I feel it is important to inspect the air cells on shipped eggs right from the start.

How’s your hatch??

 

[ChristinLewin]

Also I hate to say it but I think it's a bit cruel to keep trying to hatch without figuring out what the problem is first.
I don't know what your area is like but it's probable that you could find at least some of those rare breed chicks/eggs within driving distance, which should eliminate your problems, if your control groups have verified that there isn't anything wrong with your incubator.

I’ve never lost a chicken hatched on my own property, and I add 3-5 minimum control eggs each time. It’s not the incubator

 

[ChristinLewin]

I didn't read this whole thread but do you think the eggs are getting too hot during shipping? Especially if they are coming from the south, I would think they might either start growing then dying prior to delivery or actually get cooked in the truck. I think you would have better luck waiting until fall.

That is a fair analysis. I’ve gotten shipped eggs from CA, FL, LA, and MI

 

[ChristinLewin]

Get a good broody hen like a silkie or Orpington. My silkies have 100% hatch rates

Did that, too

 

[Sonya9]

I didn't read this whole thread but do you think the eggs are getting too hot during shipping? Especially if they are coming from the south, I would think they might either start growing then dying prior to delivery or actually get cooked in the truck. I think you would have better luck waiting until fall.

I recently read an article on incubation temps and it said in the first days of incubation the cells will grow at 80 (?) degrees or higher, if the temp drops they stop developing but then restart when heat returns.

That suggests that warm temps during shipping shouldn't be killing any embryos unless it went on for several days.

 

[Lizmom]

Find one good industry-standard source of instructions on hatching, and follow it precisely. Try to use a really reliable source from a university or from the manufacturer of your incubator. Don't ever use an odd-ball technique again. If a flaky technique were worthwhile, the researchers at universities would be recommending it, and it would become part of the industry-standard. Texas Agricultural Extension Service has a wonderful booklet on incubating and hatching, which is free to download.

The standard is "turning the eggs is most important the first week". That's it! That's how to do it. Don't play around with any other idea!

Also, if you're turning manually, be sure to do it an odd number of times each day, so the eggs don't spend two nights in a row on the same side.

 

[ladybrasa]

How’s your hatch??

Ehhh, still happening. One group yesterday was day 21 and tomorrow is supposed to be day 21 for the other group. I’m having problems keeping humidity up to where I want and this may be contributing to why two of the first batch are either dead or not pipped yet (probably dead). I don’t know. Humidity was in the low 30s first 18ish days, but couldn’t get over low 50s for lockdown. Sponges didn’t work! Maybe got the wrong kind? They were dry even though they were sitting in water to soak up!! a washcloth soaked in hot water jacks it up to 70%, but I have to keep going in after several hours to refresh. I had one pip barrow end on Thursday and a bulb blow and humidity around 50%, while I was at work. This one has passed. If I had been home I might have been able to do something. Another egg hasn’t done anything and I can’t make out any movement or noises. I don’t know if maybe internal pipping went awry because of humidity or something else. I do have four healthy chicks though! So of this group, got 9 eggs, 8 fertile, have 4 chicks, so 50% hatch rate. This is what I was expecting. Just sucks I may have lost two.

Of the second group, I have one pip this morning (day early) and I have to go to work. I’m worried about the others and I may have inadvertently endangered them with humidity and opening the bator to try to get humidity stabilized which let it out, but went up again ... viscous cycle. Or maybe fluctuations between 50-70% aren’t that bad???

Kind of stressing. I mean I need more chicks like a hole in the head, but not because I may have contributed to their death ...

 

[Rooapalooza]

I recently read an article on incubation temps and it said in the first days of incubation the cells will grow at 80 (?) degrees or higher, if the temp drops they stop developing but then restart when heat returns.

That suggests that warm temps during shipping shouldn't be killing any embryos unless it went on for several days.

In my area it's been over 100f with high humidity pretty regularly. I saw some story but I can't remember where about how insanely hot it gets in delivery trucks. I'm not sure if eggs are shipped the same way as regular packages, and I'm sure it's not as bad as a parked car. But I left a thermometer in my car one time out of curiosity and it read 157F after about an hour. That's hotter than they use to pasteurize (kill) grocery store eggs.

 

[Sonya9]

In my area it's been over 100f with high humidity pretty regularly. I saw some story but I can't remember where about how insanely hot it gets in delivery trucks. I'm not sure if eggs are shipped the same way as regular packages, and I'm sure it's not as bad as a parked car. But I left a thermometer in my car one time out of curiosity and it read 157F after about an hour. That's hotter than they use to pasteurize (kill) grocery store eggs.

Good point, if the temps were well over 100 degrees for 2-3 days that would be a problem.

 

[Ruthster55]

Ehhh, still happening. One group yesterday was day 21 and tomorrow is supposed to be day 21 for the other group. I’m having problems keeping humidity up to where I want and this may be contributing to why two of the first batch are either dead or not pipped yet (probably dead). I don’t know. Humidity was in the low 30s first 18ish days, but couldn’t get over low 50s for lockdown. Sponges didn’t work! Maybe got the wrong kind? They were dry even though they were sitting in water to soak up!! a washcloth soaked in hot water jacks it up to 70%, but I have to keep going in after several hours to refresh. I had one pip barrow end on Thursday and a bulb blow and humidity around 50%, while I was at work. This one has passed. If I had been home I might have been able to do something. Another egg hasn’t done anything and I can’t make out any movement or noises. I don’t know if maybe internal pipping went awry because of humidity or something else. I do have four healthy chicks though! So of this group, got 9 eggs, 8 fertile, have 4 chicks, so 50% hatch rate. This is what I was expecting. Just sucks I may have lost two.

Of the second group, I have one pip this morning (day early) and I have to go to work. I’m worried about the others and I may have inadvertently endangered them with humidity and opening the bator to try to get humidity stabilized which let it out, but went up again ... viscous cycle. Or maybe fluctuations between 50-70% aren’t that bad???

Kind of stressing. I mean I need more chicks like a hole in the head, but not because I may have contributed to their death ...

Where are you located? By any chance, are you somewhere like Colorado or New Mexico? Anywhere over 4000 feet?

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.

I am doing my first hatch in an incubator and am having trouble getting the humidity above around 53%, even with sponges + an old hand towel + an old shirt. The reason is that the incubator is at an altitude of over 7500 feet and the air is dry. I'm a newbie at this, so I'm not expecting much and am just using eggs from my own flock. My broody hens have done quite well with their hatches mostly running hatch rates better than 60%, with one over 80%.

Chickens compensate for being at altitude by laying eggs with less porous shells. My flock lays eggs that have really chunky eggshells!

This is a really interesting adaptation, but the difference in porosity between flocks in the flatlands versus up in Leadville or Santa Fe (for example) can cause some problems.

It means that someone who lives at altitude can incubate eggs from their own flock or from breeders who live at the same elevation or more...but eggs from chickens that live much lower will not do well at all in the incubator in Leadville, because the air sac will become too large in the dry environment.