Horrible hatch - what went wrong???

[chubbydog811]

chubbydog811 wrote:
The battery gets changed when the time on the screen is off, so I know that it has a good battery.

Sorry, should have clarified on this more...When I say "off" I mean there will be a few minute difference between it, and the cell phone time...Not literally "turned off"...

I recalibrated again, and the temp is telling me 98* for that incubator. I stuck a different one in there, and it is telling me close to the same.
I think I will go with the theory of the temps...The "high" on the thermometer said 102*...Last week was very warm, so I can assume it was probably up during the day, and down when I checked it at night/morning.

As far as the eggs -
They are my own eggs. I collected them the same day they were laid, and the only were stored for a day and a half before going into the incubator.
My girls are all very healthy - I hatched and raised them myself, from healthy birds also. Normally I DO NOT help them...I let them deal on their own, and they get out on their own. I have only ever helped maybe 5 chicks total out of the 300 or so chicks I've hatched - they had issue because I made a screw up on the humidity...they shouldnt suffer because I screwed up. I didnt help until I knew they were stuck - there is a difference between helping after pipping and they arent doing anything, and helping after zipping almost all the way, but the membrane has stuck them in the shell. As for the chicks that pipped at the bottom of the shell, I did end up culling them. They were active and alive, but I didnt want the defomed feet passed on. The only reason I "helped" was because I was curious why they did it, and why they werent making progress.

Anyway...Thanks again for the advice...I'll change the batteries again on the therm. as a precation, and clean out everything.

edit to add - Yes, the Gods are probably giving me a little taste of reality after the year and a half of almost all 100% hatch rates lol...They need to make sure I dont get too full of myself

cockyness never solved anything

 

[HappyBeaks]

I will just say this, I totally agree with what Penturner says above.

Please do not ever help chicks hatch. It may seem a kind and compassionate thing to do but in reality it can be cruel to help a chick hatch. Nature has a way of weeding out the weak chicks. From time to time you will see chicks pip the shell and open nearly all the way round and die in the shell. This is because the chick is either very weak or deformed in some way.

Helping these chicks out and then breeding from them will create generations of deformed chicks. Just look at the state of commercially bred intensive bred chickens for further proof of this.

I can say with almost absolute certainty that your eggs where either pre incubated for a few days before you set them, or your temperature was a tad to high. Really sorry to hear about the deformed chicks. but please trust me when I say, never help them hatch. Helping chicks hatch often causes more harm then good, in the long term. Some times if you help them hatch they can also bleed to death. I know how stressful it can be with struggling chicks.

As for the temperature, try using 3 or 4 Probe Thermometers and make sure they are all with in 0.5 of a degree to the correct temperature. using more then one Thermometer will provide greater accuracy over all.

Hope this info helps...