Help! Only half hatching?!

[MommyRooster89]

We were gifted an auto turner 48 egg incubator for Christmas and decided to try it out with our mixed babies.

48 in, candeling showed 47 fertile. 23 hatched perfectly, 5 quitters after zipping or pipping. The rest..nothing (waited unti day 25).
I checked on them often and thought maybe it was the changes in temp and humidity.

Cleaned it out thoroughly and a week later we started another 48. This time I decided not to candle at all, our rooster is active lol. So we didn't count our chicks before they hatched. I just moved them onto the rack and out of the turners per normal and waited.
We had 25 hatch perfectly (peeked at them only three times for like ten seconds each) and I waited until day 23 to remove them and I found 4 quitters (pipped or zipped).

Why are only half of them hatching?! And UGH the smell of dead chicks...horrible!
Any guesses or advice on how to fix this?

 

[Erka97]

How is your humidity in there while they're developing?
All of my worst hatches were most likely due to humidity being too high; most of them would develop to the end and then die instead of hatching.
I hatch "dry" now, candling every night, and I get about 90% hatching.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We were gifted an auto turner 48 egg incubator for Christmas and decided to try it out with our mixed babies.

48 in, candeling showed 47 fertile. 23 hatched perfectly, 5 quitters after zipping or pipping. The rest..nothing (waited unti day 25).
I checked on them often and thought maybe it was the changes in temp and humidity.

Cleaned it out thoroughly and a week later we started another 48. This time I decided not to candle at all, our rooster is active lol. So we didn't count our chicks before they hatched. I just moved them onto the rack and out of the turners per normal and waited.
We had 25 hatch perfectly (peeked at them only three times for like ten seconds each) and I waited until day 23 to remove them and I found 4 quitters (pipped or zipped).

Why are only half of them hatching?! And UGH the smell of dead chicks...horrible!
Any guesses or advice on how to fix this?

My question would also be what was your humidity the first 17 days. And checking on them does not compromise anything. I hand turn and candle almost daily. Eggs under a hen are left for periods while the hen goes to eat and poo. Newer incubators actually have cool down periods to mimick this.
I would also ask if you have vents open.

How is your humidity in there while they're developing?
All of my worst hatches were most likely due to humidity being too high; most of them would develop to the end and then die instead of hatching.
I hatch "dry" now, candling every night, and I get about 90% hatching.

I swear by low incubation, or "dry" as it is often called for people that are not in high elevations. Many people loose many chicks to high incubation humidity. So much misleading info circulating.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

And

 

[MommyRooster89]

How is your humidity in there while they're developing?
All of my worst hatches were most likely due to humidity being too high; most of them would develop to the end and then die instead of hatching.
I hatch "dry" now, candling every night, and I get about 90% hatching.

It's usually around 78%
Hatch dry?!
A problem I saw with the ones giving up was that their membrane was like leather so that terrifies me.

 

[MommyRooster89]

Our incubator. Don't mind the chick dust. Its not in use so I don't care.

 

[MommyRooster89]

I swear by low incubation, or "dry" as it is often called for people that are not in high elevations. Many people loose many chicks to high incubation humidity. So much misleading info circulating.

Cause everything we found online told us to keep it around 65-75%

After about 60 chicks this year (all fathered by our barred rock but mothered by five different breeds) we're done. But next year we plan on hatching some true breeds and I would hate to have these odds then.

Thanks

 

[AmyLynn2374]

It's usually around 78%
Hatch dry?!
A problem I saw with the ones giving up was that their membrane was like leather so that terrifies me.

You don't want to hatch dry. You need at least 65% higher if you are opening the incubator during hatch.

Our incubator. Don't mind the chick dust. Its not in use so I don't care.

Chick dust is the worst!

Cause everything we found online told us to keep it around 65-75%

After about 60 chicks this year (all fathered by our barred rock but mothered by five different breeds) we're done. But next year we plan on hatching some true breeds and I would hate to have these odds then.

Thanks

If you're talking 65-75% during incubation, (first 17 days) that is extremely high for the average hatcher in a table top incubator. 65-75% for hatch is on target. I'm going to share a humidity article with you. It's for a low humidity incubation method. I swear by this method if you're not in a high elevation and having issues hatching at a higher humidity. I run 30% for incubation with my standard chicken eggs. I adjust according to the air cells. I run 70-75% for hatch.
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 

[AmyLynn2374]

You also want to make sure all thermometers and hygrometers you use are checked for accuracy.