HELP! What happened to my chicks? Graphic pics included

[Renee572]

Just finished my very first hatch ever. Set 12 mixed eggs, day 7 candling we ended up with 1 infertile and 1 blood ring so those got tossed. Day 14 candling showed all 10 remaining with good growth and some moving. Day 17 candling I thought I had seen all 10 moving and they all looked great so they went into lockdown. Temp was at 100 for the majority of the incubation and humidity was at 40-50% for the first 18 days, then 65% for lockdown except for 2 overnight drops to 62% and 58% the first 2 nights of lockdown. Had our first pip on day 19 at 1030pm, chick was chirping and moving and working on zipping up until 1130am on day 20 when I no longer saw it moving or heard it chirping. Second chick pipped on day 20 at 830pm and hatched by midnight. No other pips so today day 22 I did a water candling and saw absolutely no movement. I really had no idea why my chicks did not make it and I really wanted to know so I did "eggtopsies" on them all. I am not an expert but I think I have an idea of what happened to them. But I would love for someone with more experience to help me out and maybe determine what day if possible these chicks made it to and what they died from so that I can correct anything I did wrong for when I hatch eggs again.

Egg #1 infertile

Egg #2 blood ring day 7

Egg #3


Egg #4 This one was really bloody so I am assuming it may have died before lockdown?


Egg #5 This one was really small so I think it also died early on



Egg #6


Egg #7


Egg #8 hatched


Egg #9 This chick definitely pipped internally... the membrane was so stuck to the chick it took quite a while to get it out.



Egg #10


Egg #11


Egg #12 pipped first, began zipping and then died 13 hours later. I did not do an eggtopsy on it though.

Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00008570/00001/3j

The above link should help you troubleshoot.

One possibility with deaths at various stages is nutritional deficiencies in the breeders.

 

[aart]

I would have waited it out until day 23-24.
Did you start counting days correctly?
If you set eggs at 9am on Monday, Day 1 is 9am on Tuesday.

 

[Renee572]

I would have waited it out until day 23-24.
Did you start counting days correctly?
If you set eggs at 9am on Monday, Day 1 is 9am on Tuesday.

Yes I counted days correctly... set eggs at 8am on November 22nd so day 1 was 8am November 23rd. Not sure what waiting until day 23-24 would have done... I float tested each of them and no movement at all, I candled them with a flashlight and saw no movement and when I opened them they were dead, I'm almost positive my humidity was too low because they were definitely shrink wrapped in their eggs. I just wanted to get someone elses opinion that had more experience then I do.

 

[nab58]

How disappointing! I've never hatched eggs. Hope to in the spring though. Humidity is supposed to be at 75% after lock down, right?

Hope you get some feedback from others with experience. Sorry it didn't work out. I'm not sure I'd have the guts to examine the egg contents.

 

[Canadianislupus]

From what I've read low humidity and not enough oxygen are the biggest cause of chick death after piping. I'm a newbie at this though, with my first eggs incubating currently, so I'm definitely no expert. I'm reading every thread I can on hatch failures to try and prevent issues with mine. I hope your next hatch goes better for you

!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes I counted days correctly... set eggs at 8am on November 22nd so day 1 was 8am November 23rd. Not sure what waiting until day 23-24 would have done... I float tested each of them and no movement at all, I candled them with a flashlight and saw no movement and when I opened them they were dead, I'm almost positive my humidity was too low because they were definitely shrink wrapped in their eggs. I just wanted to get someone elses opinion that had more experience then I do.

I was thinking the same thing, a couple of them definitely looked shrink wrapped which would be a matter of low humidity. They say 65+ at lock down for humidity, I prefer mine well over 70, because I have never calibrated my hygrometer and if it's off 10-15 I know I'm still safe. I did the dry incubation this last time so I was constantly monitoring the air cells to know we were on the right track.

Also, are you relying on just one thermometer and is it calibrated? They looked a bit behind to me, especially if they were still moving at lockdown. I made the mistake of using one non calibrated thermometer for my first hatch...it was brand new....my hatch ended with one hatched (day 24) and survived, one hatched (day 25) and died. I found out after that my thermometer was between 6-7 degrees off. (thermometer was saying warmer than it was.) That one mistake compromised my whole hatch. At lockdown I had 17 movers.

Second hatch I had three thermometers in there! Ended up with 16 at lockdown and 13 that hatched. The last three died at day 20/21. So I am a big one on recommending at least two thermometers.

 

[Renee572]

How disappointing! I've never hatched eggs. Hope to in the spring though. Humidity is supposed to be at 75% after lock down, right?

Hope you get some feedback from others with experience. Sorry it didn't work out. I'm not sure I'd have the guts to examine the egg contents.

They say 65% or higher and since mine was at 65% I'm thinking it probably should have been higher. I was a bit scared to open them because I was afraid one would explode but I am in school to become a nurse so not much grosses me out and I REALLY wanted to know why they died so I won't make the same mistakes again if it was something I did wrong.

From what I've read low humidity and not enough oxygen are the biggest cause of chick death after piping. I'm a newbie at this though, with my first eggs incubating currently, so I'm definitely no expert. I'm reading every thread I can on hatch failures to try and prevent issues with mine. I hope your next hatch goes better for you

!

2 of mine definitely died after pipping... 1 was only internally and 1 was after external pip. I hope your hatch goes great, good idea researching failures.

I was thinking the same thing, a couple of them definitely looked shrink wrapped which would be a matter of low humidity. They say 65+ at lock down for humidity, I prefer mine well over 70, because I have never calibrated my hygrometer and if it's off 10-15 I know I'm still safe. I did the dry incubation this last time so I was constantly monitoring the air cells to know we were on the right track.

Also, are you relying on just one thermometer and is it calibrated? They looked a bit behind to me, especially if they were still moving at lockdown. I made the mistake of using one non calibrated thermometer for my first hatch...it was brand new....my hatch ended with one hatched (day 24) and survived, one hatched (day 25) and died. I found out after that my thermometer was between 6-7 degrees off. (thermometer was saying warmer than it was.) That one mistake compromised my whole hatch. At lockdown I had 17 movers.

Second hatch I had three thermometers in there! Ended up with 16 at lockdown and 13 that hatched. The last three died at day 20/21. So I am a big one on recommending at least two thermometers.

Thanks for responding... it's good to know my thoughts are probably right so that I know what I may need to fix for next time. In the beginning I had 2 thermometers... 1 came with the borrowed incubator and I honestly was not sure it was correct. I went and bought a thermometer/hygrometer so it was brand new but I guess it may or may not have been correct. I had them both in at the beginning but the new one would show 100 degrees while the old one showed 102 and it was freaking me out seeing both because every now and then the new one was at 102 so the old one showed 104!! So anyway I ended up taking the old one out and just went by the new one. My air cells looked great at each candle so I would think my humidity was where it should have been during the first 18 days. I candled them midway through day 17 because my days started in the morning since I set them at 8am.... I was pretty sure I saw all 10 moving midway through day 17 and then I put them in lockdown the next morning at 8am. You think they may have been a couple days behind based on their size? So for future... how do you calibrate a thermometer/hygrometer like this?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

They say 65% or higher and since mine was at 65% I'm thinking it probably should have been higher. I was a bit scared to open them because I was afraid one would explode but I am in school to become a nurse so not much grosses me out and I REALLY wanted to know why they died so I won't make the same mistakes again if it was something I did wrong.

2 of mine definitely died after pipping... 1 was only internally and 1 was after external pip. I hope your hatch goes great, good idea researching failures.

Thanks for responding... it's good to know my thoughts are probably right so that I know what I may need to fix for next time. In the beginning I had 2 thermometers... 1 came with the borrowed incubator and I honestly was not sure it was correct. I went and bought a thermometer/hygrometer so it was brand new but I guess it may or may not have been correct. I had them both in at the beginning but the new one would show 100 degrees while the old one showed 102 and it was freaking me out seeing both because every now and then the new one was at 102 so the old one showed 104!! So anyway I ended up taking the old one out and just went by the new one. My air cells looked great at each candle so I would think my humidity was where it should have been during the first 18 days. I candled them midway through day 17 because my days started in the morning since I set them at 8am.... I was pretty sure I saw all 10 moving midway through day 17 and then I put them in lockdown the next morning at 8am. You think they may have been a couple days behind based on their size? So for future... how do you calibrate a thermometer/hygrometer like this?

The only way I know how to "calibrate" a digital is by first calibrating a "normal" (like the mercury/glass) ones in a bowl of ice water and then comparing it to the digital. Just take a bowl with ice in it, add cold water and wait three minutes, put the glass thermometer in and it should read 32 degrees. Then you can put them both in a running incubator, and compare the temps. There is a way to calibrate for hygrometers with a freezer bag and salt, but I'd have to find that one as I have never done it.

 

[Renee572]

The only way I know how to "calibrate" a digital is by first calibrating a "normal" (like the mercury/glass) ones in a bowl of ice water and then comparing it to the digital. Just take a bowl with ice in it, add cold water and wait three minutes, put the glass thermometer in and it should read 32 degrees. Then you can put them both in a running incubator, and compare the temps. There is a way to calibrate for hygrometers with a freezer bag and salt, but I'd have to find that one as I have never done it.

Thanks, the old thermometer is a mercury/glass one. I will give it a try.