Help please! What is wrong with these chicks that didn't hatch? PICS

[sshannon024]

These were due to hatch yesterday and when they didn't I candled them and then cracked them open to look. I have never had an experience like this where the yolks were med-dark green and extremely large. Any ideas on what causes this? Had other eggs in the bator with these, and they hatched fine. Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Shannon

 

[thechickenchick]

I have never been brave enough to crack mine open! It looks like it stopped developing fairly early on. I know temp spikes can cause them to stop but if you had some that hatched in the same batch

, I don't know.

 

[sarjaysar]

This site doesn't mention anything about the yolk colour etc, but does note about deficiencies in embryo development

http://www.avianweb.com/deadinshell.html

The yolk doesn't look large to me if you look at images at attached link, but colour is odd, I think its changed only because the embryo has died and its starting to decompose?

http://freshpics.blogspot.com/2007/05/stages-of-chick-embryo-development.html

 

[sshannon024]

In the 1st and 3rd pics there is even more yolk under the chick you can't see. The 1st and 3rd pic is 1 chick, and the 2nd pic is another one. When I candled the eggs I did not see any movement, but when I opened them up both chicks were actually still alive and died shortly after. So I don't think the color would be from decomposition, also the other chicks that hatched were the same size as these 2, so I don't think they were developing much slower if any than the others. Its just really strange, I though maybe it was a disease or maybe salomanila, but I really have no clue at all.

 

[emvickrey]

What where your temps and humidity?

I've had them grow all the way until they shoujld have hatched then they died before they even pipped. That really gets me too. I hve no idea why they do that. It happens alot. I can put 12 in the bator, lets say half are fertile, then half of those die early. Then out of the remaining 3 eggs only 1 may hatch while the other 2 die before they pip. Alot of them die with yolk still attatched. I do get more of that but it is very disappointing to wait 3 weeks and watch tems and humidity then get a couple of chicks out of it.

I rigged my incubator with tubes so I can add water without opening the bator. I open a window very quickly to remove the eggs to candle them and I only to that once a week.

That is with this last batch. Before I would open the bator and turn eggs and add water and candle them. The temps would drop. This itme they have stayed up and no lower than 95.5. Although humidity has gotten as low as 31 but I keep it in the 40's most of the time. They're due to hatch on the 30th. We'll see if this way works better.

When I start hatching again later on I will have a turner. I have one I rigged in there now. It's made out of a wire cloths hanger, a piece of wire mesh and the bottome of an egg carton with the bottom of the cups cut out for circulation of air. The hook part is put through the side of the bator and I use it as a handle to turn the eggs. I have the thermometer/hydrometer siting in one of the cups.

 

[sshannon024]

I understand about them having a yolk sac still and dying before hatch, or right after piping. I just don't understand why it is that dark nasty green color, i have never seen that before. The yolh is normally yellow to a orange color, not green.

 

[insiderart]

Those look like they've been dead a while. If they die around day 19-21 they'll look like perfect little wet chicks still, but they aren't green.

 

[walkswithdog]

The green is from dying at 13-15 days and cooking for a bit...

Quiting in that time range up to the day of hatch is usually a combination of temps and ventilation/humidity.

Replace thermometer batteries if yours is digital. Confirm your actual temps if you haven't.

I dry hatch, because the way they say to with the humidity jack up to 85 killed hatches.

I have never not hand turned and get 100% hatches often. Even when staggering hatches. I don't even fiddle with humidity day 1-pip. I often don't fiddle with humidity if at pipping it rises into the 60% range. I DID double my ventilation by adding a second fan. It's a larger incubator than my last. That seems to have prevented cool spots and increased my hatches.

I double check my thermometers against the actual each hatch. I replace all the batteries, because when even one battery goes bad, your temp readings immediately begin to fail. Been there done that. Adjusted for a temp spike that actually didn't exist and nearly killed a hatch.

Now I'll check a spike before I believe a spike.

That last week there are a LOT of changes to an egg/chick and my first thought is always going to be temps. And hot is deadlier than cool. But consistently cool kills. Consider also a cool spot in your bator - were those eggs always in the same place in your bator? If so you may need to be rotating placement or add a fan to remove cool spots.

The whole Sherlock thing for invisible problems can drive you mad. Hang in there you will find the right balance.

 

[sshannon024]

walkswithdog

See thats the thing, when I opened them they were actually still alive! They moved a little and died within the 1st 5 minutes. So they were not already dead or been dead for days. Thats what makes it really wierd to me, and I thought maybe it was a disease or bacteria or something.

 

[MainelySeramas]

Are these your own eggs? OR ones that were shipped to you? What kind of chickens were they?

These chicks look to imature to hatch! You say they were still alive at day 20 and these chicks look like they should have hatched in another week. Also at the time of candleing, they may have been resting, so you would not see any movement.
When you crack the egg open to see if they were alive, you broke the membrane containing the blood vessels, so when you cracked them, the vessels were torn and they bled to death.
I'm not saying that to be mean or that it was your fault, I know because I have done the same thing. Some eggs take a little longer to incubate, depending on temp and humidity.
As far as the egg yolk, thats what it is surpose to look like,until the time the chick starts to absorb it around the day of hatch.
I hope this helps. Thinking of you and your an your loss!