I have Chicken that are upside down in the eggs! What is going wrong?

[AZHotChicks]

I have been incubating eggs and having quite a few hatching from the small end of the egg. Several eggs that did not hatch I did post mortems on the egg and found full developed chicks with their heads pointed back to the small end of the egg.

I let my eggs sit for 24 hours with the big end up before putting in the incubator big end up. The incubator is a Genesis 1588 with he 1611 egg turner. Temp is set at 95.5 degrees.

Not sure if the egg turner need adjusting or they are growing too fast and getting to large for the egg???

I've had this problem with several breeds, my own eggs, and shipped eggs so its not the chickens.

It seems like maybe 25% of chicks of the are either pipping from the wrong egg or egging stuck all together.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[chickencrazy999]

Hmm it's most likely to do with the incubator or the turning of the eggs

 

[kriswiles]

I agree with chickencrazy999 that it could be the turner or perhaps the air cell isn't settled at the large end of the egg when place in the incubator. Hopefully they'll be ok.

 

[AZHotChicks]

Hmm it's most likely to do with the incubator or the turning of the eggs

The angle that the egg turner goes to seems pretty steep to me....anyone know if the 1611 is adjustable?

 

[1muttsfan]

Since eggs under a broody hatch while laying on their side, the angle is not likely to be much of an issue. Have you looked through the Hatching 101 article in the Learning Center? That has some good references. Shipped eggs can be a special problem.

 

[purplesquirrel]

Yeh they must be something with the incubator, have you tried googling reviews of the model?
Secondly, for emergencies, there are a couple good videos on youtube of how to help a chick get out the wrong end.x

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I think that it would be very rare for a chick to hatch from the wrong end of an egg. The air cell is on the big end, and on or about the 19th or 20th day of incubation the chicks' neck muscles contracts and its head comes out from under its wing and the chick pierces the air cell with its bill and then takes its first breath of air. While it is not rare for chicks to have their head at the wrong end of the egg at piping time it is rare for a chick so positioned in the egg to hatch.

If the chick has its head under its right wing at piping everything should go well. If the chicks' head is under its left wing, or between its legs at this time the chick will almost surely die while piping. I don't know the reason for chicks that try to pip when they are out of place but it could be the incubator's or the hatcher's temperature setting. To hot a setting will yield chicks that are overly large and this could be the reason that your chicks are having trouble moving about in the egg and/or getting into the correct position before piping.

 

[dickhorstman]

Improper turning can cause the chick to pip the wrong end. I would try turning them by hand.

 

[rancher hicks]

One of the things I do using the same incu and turner is to open the incu and turn the eggs a quarter turn a few times a day for the first week. I think this helps some, rather than the just rocking back and forth of the turner.

As far as storing eggs? I had read an article in the Practical Poultry magazine and it seems in the UK they store their eggs pointy side up. So I did an experiment of my own. Storing eggs from three different breeds half large side up and half pointy end up.

And equal number of each breed did not hatch. It made no difference which end was up when storing. Of course you must keep in mind that they weren't stored for more than three or four day.

I have eggs in now, so I'll have to check, eggs that do not hatch when it's over on the 5 th of April.

 

[rancher hicks]

I just had a thought. How is your humidity settings? The PP mag article suggested 35% through to day 16 then up to 55% to day 19 and then up to 65% through to hatch. Anyone who has the 1588 disagree with that?

I only ask because my hatches could be better. My Marans are the hardest. My Dels the easiest. My last hatch was not good but I figure eggs got too cold before collection and 12 were shipped.