High Temp ?

[CT Coop]

So you all helped me greatly last week after I learned my incy was at almost 102 for a week. I dropped and it is reading consistently between 99.5 and 100 now. I candled yesterday and out of 21 shipped eggs, I see movement in 18 of them, so things look great! I understand that this could have sped development, so I'm wondering if I should lock down on day 17 instead of day 18 in case they are a bit early? They are in a cabinet incy, so I need to turn off the turner, turn up humidity and move all to the bottom shelf. Thanks in advance!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It certainly won't hurt anything to put them on lockdown a day early so they can get in position to hatch. Are you familiar with what size the air cell should be at this stage? I might wait until it's actually day 18 to start increasing the humidity just in case the eggs need to lose a little more moisture, unless you see external pips or if the air cell is already large.

 

[CT Coop]

Eggscellent Reply! I looked at photos of the air cell and there is a pretty good variation between eggs...some large and some not so large. I really like the idea of not increasing humidity until day 18. I think next hatch I will start weighing and tracking the air cell size, so I really know what to expect in the future. Thank you!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Eggscellent Reply! I looked at photos of the air cell and there is a pretty good variation between eggs...some large and some not so large. I really like the idea of not increasing humidity until day 18. I think next hatch I will start weighing and tracking the air cell size, so I really know what to expect in the future. Thank you!

You're welcome! Good luck on your hatch!

 

[CT Coop]

I just wanted to provide an update and get some advice again Hatch date was theoretically last Sunday, but I locked down early since I had had 101+ temps for a week. I had 3 hatch successfully early Saturday morning. 2 more late Saturday and a 3rd had pipped on Sunday morning. By Sunday evening the pip had not progressed, so since this was 36 hours after the 1st hatch I decided to help. I kept the egg on a heating pad with a warm moist towel and alternated that with my body heat and worked very slowly as the egg was peeping away. I was successful and the newest little fuzzbutt is running around with the rest. One of the early hatches had curled toes and weak legs. I was able to fix the curled toes with tape, which is now off, but its legs are still weak....meaning it rests a lot and is not as active as the others, but is moving around and eating and drinking.

I know we can't be sure, but were these hatch issues most likely due to the incy issues or that the eggs were shipped so early in the season....or more likely both? Out of 18 eggs only 6 hatched....and these eggs were expensive! So not sure I will try shipped eggs again. It is just really hard to find local eggs of any breed.

I'm thinking of opening the eggs to see how far they had progressed, but never having done that not sure it will give me any answers.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I just wanted to provide an update and get some advice again Hatch date was theoretically last Sunday, but I locked down early since I had had 101+ temps for a week. I had 3 hatch successfully early Saturday morning. 2 more late Saturday and a 3rd had pipped on Sunday morning. By Sunday evening the pip had not progressed, so since this was 36 hours after the 1st hatch I decided to help. I kept the egg on a heating pad with a warm moist towel and alternated that with my body heat and worked very slowly as the egg was peeping away. I was successful and the newest little fuzzbutt is running around with the rest. One of the early hatches had curled toes and weak legs. I was able to fix the curled toes with tape, which is now off, but its legs are still weak....meaning it rests a lot and is not as active as the others, but is moving around and eating and drinking.

I know we can't be sure, but were these hatch issues most likely due to the incy issues or that the eggs were shipped so early in the season....or more likely both? Out of 18 eggs only 6 hatched....and these eggs were expensive! So not sure I will try shipped eggs again. It is just really hard to find local eggs of any breed.

I'm thinking of opening the eggs to see how far they had progressed, but never having done that not sure it will give me any answers.

Congratulations on the bittys that hatched!!

The toes can be from the incubator temps, sometimes from getting stuck in the egg, or it could be due to a nutritional issue in the breeding flock. I would offer the little one some Nutridrench for poultry, or Polyvisol WITHOUT iron which is a liquid baby vitamin that also works well.

Shipped eggs are always a gamble, there's just no way to know what they went through and it's sometimes hard to identify if poor hatch rates are from the shipment or the flock they came from. I do everything I can to drive to pick up my hatching eggs for this very reason. Sometimes that isn't possible though and you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best! One thing I will suggest if you try shipped eggs again, is to try to find a source that is at least a little closer to you. Even if it's more hours than you're willing to drive they still have to pass through a few less hands and hopefully won't be handled as poorly.

 

[CT Coop]

Well, I opened them and it gave me answers...sort of...maybe just more questions...every single one was fully developed, but just weren't able to pip. Really, I shouldn't have done that as now I'm just sad....

 

[CT Coop]

But you are right...very thankful for the 6 bitties I did get!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well, I opened them and it gave me answers...sort of...maybe just more questions...every single one was fully developed, but just weren't able to pip. Really, I shouldn't have done that as now I'm just sad....

I'm sorry for your losses. Were they malpositioned? Were they internally pipped and not externally pipped? Dry membrane or fluid in the air cell? Some of the details can help you to better determine what actually went wrong to prevent it from happening again.

 

[CT Coop]

I'm sorry for your losses. Were they malpositioned? Were they internally pipped and not externally pipped? Dry membrane or fluid in the air cell? Some of the details can help you to better determine what actually went wrong to prevent it from happening again.

I'm not sure how to tell if they were malpositioned, but they were not internally pipped as I had to break the membrane. I will say when I candled at lock down, I did think one was in a funny position as the air cell was kind of crooked, meaning not totally on the large end. I definitely saw movement on more than 6...more like 12. The air cells were dry, but there seemed to be fluid within the membrane...which I don't think is normal. It stayed about 40% or just under for the 1st 18 days...it did drop to about 15% twice, but only for a few hours each time. The last 3 days, it averaged 60%...just couldn't keep it at 65%. Does that help? A few friends have asked me to incubate for them, so I really want to understand this before committing.