I Just finished my first batch of incubated bantam eggs (not shipped) in my new incubator with horrific results. I had 13 live chicks going into lock down and nine died before hatching or while trying to hatch and the four that lived I had to assist.
I know I did things all wrong. It was a gruesome experience and I swear it took 10 years off my life and I'm absolutely sick over it. I think my humidity wasn't high enough during the last three days. What humidity level are other people keeping in their 1588s during the first 18 days and the last three days? Did you open the plug during the last three days or wait until the chicks pipped to open the plug? Maybe it was a ventilation issue? I'm not exactly sure. To be honest I feel like I did so many different things wrong I'm not even sure which of my mistakes to blame. The main issue seemed to be difficulty in pipping internally and difficulty in completing the hatch once pipped. None of them ever rolled their eggs around peeping like other people have described. I had a couple that pipped the internal membrane into the air cell but couldn't get through the outer membrane. One of those was actually breaking bits of the shell off during its struggles even though it still couldn't get its beak through the outer membrane. I had one pip the shell and then die without zipping. It's hard to even talk about it, but I need to know what happened and would appreciate advice, especially from others using the same incubator. Thankfully my four survivors are all healthy and happy, curious and full of life.
