i cant seem to hatch anything

[FLURRYOFTEXAS]

i tried to hatch out 35 chicken eggs and all but five didnt make it.. on day 12 everything looked great. but on hatching day not so good 5 didnt make it all the way out of the shell. i peeled the shells out of the last 3 that did make it. the membrane under the shell was very thick and hard to tear.. the rest out the eggs looked like they died a few days before hatching day. i am using the little giant incubators. i have heard this are hard to master..

 

[MjChickens]

It is all in trail and error. You learn as you go. what was your humidity during the last 3 days?

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Little Giants are VERY hard to master. I would never waste my money on one. The hovabator was my first one and I loved it. Now I have a cabinet incubator and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Sounds like you have a humidity problem. Possibly add a fan? Have you done that? They have fans you can add but you almost wonder if it's worth the money to add to that. My friend couldn't give hers away when she got a hovabator. Everyone around had one and were never able to hatch hardly anything.

Add some wet sponges when hatching (before you see pips)and be sure NEVER to open the incubator up. Once you see pips keep it closed at ALL times. That will dry up the egg FAST!

 

[cmom]

I have an LG and have had very good hatches. The only problem I have had with the LG is getting the humidity up during lock down, so I put a wet sponge in which helps.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Cmom...that is great! And are you sure never to open the bator up at lockdown? That and sponges may jsut make the difference

 

[FLURRYOFTEXAS]

ok maybe the humidity is one of the problems

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

It will be interesting to see if that helps out your hatch rate. Will be watching to see! Have you opened your incubator up after pips?

 

[Ceinwyn]

The fact that the most died before lockdown makes me doubt low humidty during lockdown as the cause of death.
Dry membranes are usually not thick and hard to tear when you open the egg.
What was your humidty at during incubation?
Did you examine the embryos?
Where they fully formed? Any deformities?
Did you candle before lockdown?
Are these eggs from your own chickens?
What breed?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=523530
you can find two links here that might help determine what went wrong.
Without knowing what your temperatures and humidity were at during incubation its hard to know what might be wrong.

 

[Chinchilla2]

Flurry,

Back when I was hatching bobwhites (about 10 years or longer ago) I had this happen with a few of my first batches. Being curious as well as more than a little upset, I did some experiments. The cause or causes could be traced to two different problems.

First was humidity. I was a really good momma bird and kept track of humidity. I kept it between 50-55% during incubation and bumped it up to 60%-65% for the hatch (the supposed "correct" levels for quail). The result of this was the late stage in egg death with the thicker membrane. I upped the humidity to 55-60% during incubation and bounced up to 65-70% for hatch. I monitored using both a hydrometer and a wet bulb thermometer (took a small aquarium thermo and some cotton fabric I had laying around since I couldn't find a shoestring). No problem with the second batch.

The second time it happened was with a new incubator I had picked up at a garage sale. The fan was not adequate for the size. Even with humidity being at the right level, the fan wasn't moving the air (and the humidity) around enough. Upgraded the fan and the next batch was fine.

The University of Missouri has a really clear and easy to understand site dealing with incubating and hatching at Small Flock Series: Incubation of Poultry - http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G8353 that might help.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I open it to wet the sponge if I need to and as the chicks hatch I open it to take out the chicks and their shells and put the chicks in their brooder. A broody doesn't go into lock down.
This is some of the chicks from my last hatch. I use my LG as a hatcher but a Sportsman incubator to incubate in.