Can anyone please tell me a thread or a site that I might find out the reasons and or causes why fully developed chicks dont hatch....I set 12 eggs on the first day of Sept. every thing was going great candled at 7,14 days and on the 14th day took out 4 clear eggs pitched them the rest were doing great..humidity and temps great...took out turner 18th day...raised humidity to 65 did not (really did not) open bator again untill first 2 chicks hatched and dried then quickly removed and into brooder..watched and waited for 1,2,3,4 more days which would have made it a total of 25 days and nothing not another pipe, noise or movement so I reached in and grabbed 1 egg and candled it looked good but no movement..finally I gave up on day 28 and cracked open one of the eggs my heart was pounding that it would be alive and I just killed it...but it was dead fully formed but dead it was moist but not a lot of fluid even looked like it had absorbed most of the yolk..and I did another and the same and another a total of 6 more eggs that were fully formed but dead in the shell...I was sick..the other 4 did not fully develop . I just dont want to make the same mistakes if thats what happened. I did wait to remove the chicks that hatched and dried till the temp and humidity were a little higher so I wouldnt make it drop too much I think it was like 101 and 68 but it never went over that the entire incubation time. Thank you I can always count on my BYC buddies to help this ole dummy out.
There is a sticky at the top of this section with a bunch of links in it to threads about different aspects of incubating. If you haven't already, i would think you would find a lot of helpful information there. I'm sorry i don't actually have any personal experience to help you with, but i hope you find what you need, and i'm really sorry about the ones you lost. That must be very difficult.
Have you tried looking through here ? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48726 This is the Sticky at the top of the Incubating & Hatching Eggs section Edit: Posted the same time as PunpkinPeep.
Yes Tyvm for replying I have read those and it really didnt give me specific reasons just what can happen if temp to high or too low or humidity too high or too low in my situation I really dont think that was my problem I stayed home the whole 21 days and monitored the temp and humidity all the time unless I had a spike or drop while I was sleeping which was only 3-4 hours a night for 24 days I was too worried to sleep..its like waiting on your first grandchild to be born you just cant sleep it just last alot longer lol But I will go back and read them again see if I missed something I have also read through 100's of posts hoping I would come across one that had the same problem but no luck so far. Thanks again
I have read that you can leave chicks in bator for 24 hrs or more to which I did. so not to have to much of swing in humitity by opening bator. when a chick hatched it swung up to 101 and dropped back down to 67 to 68 while it was drying, which is where I had it the whole time during hatching I set 5 eggs 4 hatched one was infertile. I'm never going to help out a chick due to the fact they will be weak and get beat up on.
My guess is that you DID open the incubator. To take out those two chicks and put them in the brooder. You really are not supposed to do that. I learned the hard way. Leave everyone in there at least 36 hours if there are still eggs in there. Once you open that incubator, there is a good chance the rest of the chicks will not hatch because their membrane dries out and they can't get through. When the first chick hatches out, start counting hours. Usually within two days they rest either hatch or they are not going to. I will finally open the incubator after 36-48 hours to get the other chicks out. By 48 hours my chicks are not doing so well and I need to get them out of there. I don't just close the bator then. I check each egg by candling to see if it is alive. I also listen to it and feel it to see if there is movement. If there is, then chances are it is alive and you are going to have to help it out because it is not going to get out of there on its own or let it go. I am also learning that the majority of times that a chick doesn't hatch out when other chicks have means that the chick isn't healthy and will not thrive. I still help them out, but never expect them to live. And those I don't baby. I figure if I helped it out then it needs to live on its own without help anymore from me.
I too have been trying to read up on the reasoning for a full grown chix not to break out of its shell so I was told to put in a very warm wet sponge and I got 2 more with my help they wre very dry and the temp was 99-100 and humidity was 73-78 but none since and I am waiting ,hatch day was the 10 . now I am just waiting.
We open our bator and remove chicks and have not lost the others by doing so.. I never leave mine 36 hours they are out within 24 hours eating and drinking. Are you using a still air or forced air? Are the plugs removed? Sounds more like an oxygen issue than a humidity issue although I consider 65% a bit low for where I hatch..71-73% gives me very good results.
Opening the bator is not going to cause a chick to die in the shell before hatch. It will cause problems after pipping with sticking in the egg and being unable to turn to zip. But if it never pipped, then opening the bator had nothing to do with it. What kind of chicks were they? Some have lethal genes that kill them before hatching. I have had the same thing happen, with the same procedure as a good hatch. Sometimes you just can't tell. Were the eggs shipped? I have had some do that with shipped eggs, as well as some that don't form at all. I had some with saddled air cells that formed right up till days before the hatch, then die. Lots of possibilities, but sometimes impossible to know, usually not your fault.
Thank you all for your wisdom and advice. first of all to rustysmom it was 24 hrs later when I opened the bator to remove the chicks and I raised the humidity in the room when I did so. The humidity or temp did not drop so I dont think that was the problem I have always taken my chicks out once they are dried and usually within 48hrs after hatch never had a problem like this. I use little giant forced air they were silkies and lakenvelders,they were shipped and allowed to rest before placing them in the bator...but I did candle them and they were viable and movement noted...these chicks were fully formed in the shell and were not at all dried out when I opened them no blood nothing immediately noticeable to be out of the ordinary they just never piped. Sissy please if you find info on this will you please share it. Good luck with your hatch hugs and good vibes your way. Oh yes and the plugs were out because once the two chicks hatch the humidity started going up once I took the plugs out it stablized no spike so they didnt drowned. ???? just dont know why? The saddled air cells may be a possibility but I am not familiar with those so dont know what i am looking for ,but it really sounds like it could be these chicks were fully formed, thats probably why I am taking it so hard, it has been really bugging me, the hatch was set for Sept 21 the first two chicks hatched on the 21st and within 1 hour of each other..I will keep the warm sponge advice in mind..ty Im here for knowledge and Boy am I getting it. Thank you Thank you all so much.