High Mortality Rate in Hova Bator

[amast13]

First let me say that I live in Costa Rica and the temperature daily is high 80's into the 90's, night time temps in the 70's and humidity is mostly 60% or more all the time. So I set 42 eggs got to day 18 took the turner out, filled the extra water sections, and closed it up. Next morning had 2 chicks out and another couple on the way. After about 30 hours the first 2 were walking all over the freshly hatched so I opened the top grabbed them and put them in the brooder. Did this again with 1 more a little later in day 20. They are all fine. Now I have lost 8 that came out of the eggs, 5 died in the bator and 3 in the brooder, separated from the bigger older ones in a box with a towel to keep them warm.
Now it is day 22 and I have 2 half way out of the egg, and about 25+ that have no pip, nothing (most of these are colored eggs, I do not have a candler, and a strong flashlight did not work).
So basically I have 3, possibly 5 out of 42 eggs! Not so good, sure I understand there are many reasons this could have happened, so my goal is to eliminate obvious errors for the next batch. Some of the eggs came from a friend, some from my own stock, the 3 that are alive are mixed mine and hers.

My concerns:
I opened the bator to much
I removed hatchling to soon
I didn't remove hatchlings soon enough
Bator is gross, smelly and dirty

Any guidance for the next go would be great!
Thanks

 

[BawGock]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about losing so many chicks right after hatching.

Have you used this incubator before? It sounds to me that there may be something bacterial going on to lose chicks after hatching.
Was it sanitized after its last use?

Even a clean, santitized incubator will stink after a large, drawn out hatch because it is the perfect place for bacteria to grow. moist and warm.

But for chicks to fail so soon after hatching would make me think they were exposed to something during the 21 days in the incubator.

Carolyn

 

[amast13]

Incubator is brand new, so no I did not sanitize first.

 

[DTRM30]

perhaps the ones in the brooder got chilled - 70's is too cold for newly hatched chicks if all you had was a towel for them. They need to be mid 90's for the first week - the gradually lessen the temp by about 5 degrees per week. Not sure of what you have or don't have ...
It's also possible that when you opened the bator - the others became 'shrink wrapped' ...
Another possiblity is that those that didn't pip - may not have been fertile to begin with ?
Did any of the rest hatch ? Sometimes if the temps are running a degree or two cool - they will take a few days longer to hatch.
Otherwise - not sure what to offer - I'm no expert on hatching - just passing along some of what I've read ....

 

[CCourson05]

First- Brooder Deaths

70s are a little harsh on a newborn chick... I would put a 100W light bulb on them at night...

Second- Bator Deaths

Is it possible they got to the water under the trays and drown? Or possibly that they had bad genes...

Third- NO HATCHERS

I feel your humidity would be a MONSTER after you added the water... It should be at 60% at the time of hatch, otherwise, the chicks are endangered to drowning within their shell after they pip the air cell...

I hope it helps, but I don't know anything for sure....