I have a hovabator and it has always worked perfectly for me. I've hatched 3 series of hatches in it with amazing success 100% every time and I used the thermometer that came with it against everything I've read. So for this hatch I went out and bought a very nice thermometer and used it in conjunction with the one that came in the incubator. The new thermometer read 99.5 the entire incubation while the stock one was around 98 (I figured that the stock thermometer was a little off because when I used it chicks always hatched on day 20). Humidity was at 50% during incubation and 65% at lockdown. Before lockdown every egg was alive. My hatch day was set for yesterday at 10 pm but only 2 hatched and one other pipped. The remaining 7 eggs are doing nothing--I dont hear any peeping or see any motion from them. I dont want to break lockdown but I am worried that something has happened. I have 2 EE's left to hatch and 5 JG's. I read somewhere that JG's take longer to hatch...is there any truth to this? I am just wondering if I should keep my hopes up or face the music.
I went home at lunch to check on the eggs. There was one egg that pipped on Wednesday night and was trying to hatch when I left for work (Friday). When I got home it was stuck. The egg membrane was dried to him like glue. I removed the egg and moistened the membrane with a warm, wet paper towel and the chick did his part and hatched. The incubator was at 65% humidity and had not been opened until today to help. How could this happen? Also, I realized I miscalculated and Friday was actually day 23. Not knowing was killing me so candled one and it looked like it quit on day 19, another egg was completely full of chick but no movement. I did an egg-topsy and the membrane also looked dry but inside the membrane there was a considerable amount of fluid. The chick was dead. My findings seem to be conflicting. How could the membrane be dry but have so much fluid inside. Any ideas on what happened and how I can prevent it in the future? The only thing I did differently was try the egg carton method at lockdown. I am so disappointed.
Do you think the egg carton kept the humidity from reaching part of the eggshells? Just a guess; I don't have experience with it, but I would assume that an extra barrier wouldn't help much... Sorry about the hatch...
i've seen a LOT of posts about hatching in an egg carton, and there's a lot of people who prefer the method and have great hatches... some swear by cutting part of the bottom or sides of the carton, others say don't worry about it it doesn't make a difference... so i doubt it is that.. i'm curious if anyone knows about the fluid and the dry membrane though because i had a few like that...
