I give up :'(

[ma2babygurl13]

Update due to my hatcher going crazy on temp and humidity throughout the day, I decided to open the 3 remaining eggs...it seems they stopped developing at some point. they were feathered and looked like baby chicks, but they were about 1/2 the size of the others that hatched, and they still had a lot of yolk sac left in with them, and they were all 3 dead. Any Ideas on what happened there? Any ideas on what day they probably died on?

 

[walkswithdog]

Without knowing what you did with your problem hatcher - figure it was the hatcher, or the transfer.

But if you're running a STILL air incubator at 100 degrees and not shooting for 102 at the top of the eggs - there's part of your problem. A good liquid thermometer laid on the top of the eggs during incubation should read 102, not 100.

If you ran it at 100 you're running two degrees too cool. Which will absolutely screw your results, yielding slow to hatch, chicks and poults, or no-hatchers, or chicks or poults with foot deformities.

If you're using a separate and unreliable hatcher because you are staggering hatches. Stop it.

Focus on one batch at a time, hatch them IN the incubator (more handling can and does cause problems) until you get good reliable results. Then play with staggering, and a hatcher AFTER you get good at it.

 

[ma2babygurl13]

Quote:
Oh wow didn't know the temp should be that high...guess I'm lucky I got any at all!

The only reason why I did staggered hatches is because I only have 2 hens at the time that were laying, I collected as many eggs as I could and put them in, then collected again, and so on.... How long can Turkey eggs sit at room temperature before they are considered no good?

 

[walkswithdog]

Turkey eggs can sit, like chicken eggs for a couple of weeks without harm(and longer has been done). So save up 10 days to 2 weeks of eggs then set them, rather than staggering.

Staggering when you don't have the whole thing down pat is a good way to have bad hatches.

It's all learning. And no one starts out getting all this stuff right the first time or even first few times.

It actually does take practice, patience and investigation to be done well. And it's an art, not a science so it's even a bit trickier because what works in my part of the world and my house, won't work perfectly in yours because of differing micro-climates.

Hang in there.

 

[ma2babygurl13]

see I was told only to let them sit at the very MOST 7 days so I was scared and only would let them sit 4 before putting them in the incubator. Good to know!

 

[kelliepulido]

Hye Sam Miss prissy on here had eggs that wwere 5-6wks. old and they hatched! ANy ways hang in there and try again.My eggs will be coming next week.

 

[dancingbear]

If you have a way to store them at about 50-55F, rather than room temp, you can keep them quite awhile, that's probably what Miss Prissy did. Maybe she'll pop on here and tell us. I'm not sure what the humidity level would need to be for the storage period.

Make sure you measure the temp at THE TOP of the eggs, not the middle, not the bottom. It makes a huge difference if you measure at the wrong level.

 

[walkswithdog]

Actually in that hatch, Miss Prissy had left the eggs on a counter and forgot them. That's why they were so old and why it was of great interest when they hatched.

 

[Junkmanme]

I read on some website (don't remember for sure, MAYBE GQF Mfg. Co.) that eggs held for a while (more than a few days) before incubating MAY take a little longer to hatch.

i dunno

 

[ma2babygurl13]

well out of these 6 eggs I have one live... So now I sit at a 20% live hatch ratio...2 of 10 eggs. I guess not too bad for my first hatch and I had no clue what I was doing, only what I have learned from here

You guys have been such a GREAT help!!! THANK YOU BYC!!!