I'm on day 14 and worried/losing eggs

[uktech]

First time hatching.

On day seven I had to remove 2 out of the 14 eggs as they had rings. The rest were all good with clear veins with lively embryos (on the most part) and the air cell was either clearly visible or you could just make it out.

Day 14, today, and I've had to remove 6 eggs for one reason or another.

On the remaining eggs, I see almost complete darkness with a clearly defined air cell that is quite a bit larger than it was 7 days ago and can even make out thicker veins on some.

However, on some of the eggs I took out I can't see any veins but may be wrong... and the embryos floating around freely surrounded by what looks like a cloudy substance. I take it this confirmed as eggs that are no longer viable? a couple of these have a larger air cell than before...

Please help.

 

[Tonyroo]

1st picture looks like a quitter, 2nd one looks kind a normal it should have a larger dark area though. It might also be a quitter.

Use this as a reference: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ion-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs.47879/

 

[esme13]

They could be quitters, I look for movement and Would put a marker on the side the chick is. I lost a lot of eggs during my last hatch. Had quitters at similar times to you. One looked great, than I realize the gains were not insight and the chick wasn’t moving. It didn’t make it. The lively ones float in the egg and moved and the veins were very visible

 

[Tonyroo]

Try not to candle them so much you end up fluctuating the egg temps.

 

[uktech]

1st picture looks like a quitter, 2nd one looks kind a normal it should have a larger dark area though. It might also be a quitter.

Use this as a reference: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ion-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs.47879/

ok so the eggs that remain in the incubator are as described in that link you gave.

The second egg above has the embryo floating around freely surrounded by what looks like dissolved veins...I could be wrong.

Is having a freely moving embryo normal at this stage? By freely moving I mean no matter which way I turn the egg, the embryo floats to the top but again no veins visible and no movement. Granted I did not leave them out too long and don't have past experience with this.

In the 14 days of incubation, I've candled 3 times including today. Decided to put 2 of the questionable ones back in the incubator and take it from there. Somber mood as we weren't expecting to lose so many eggs.

 

[Tonyroo]

Free floater will turn rotten cause its not gonna develop anymore, no veins to keep it stable. Whenever you open the incubator always do a smell test to avoid exploding eggs.

 

[uktech]

Free floater will turn rotten

ok thanks for that. I'm going to remove the two questionable ones

 

[Kiki]

The most important thing to have in your incubator when your incubating eggs is a calibrated thermometer or three and a salt-tested humidity gauge.

Do you have these?

 

[Tonyroo]

I was looking at your original post and realized from your incubator pic your temp looks off. If anything you should maintain 99.5 F = 37.5 C or just maintain at 100.4 F = 38 C. Not all of the incubator space will be that temperature.

You need to use 2 to 3 temperature readers and place it around your sensor to show you what actual temperature is for that space. One for every corner. And figure out where the 99.5 is at in the incubator. I'm assuming it's a digital temperature controller?

 

[uktech]

You need to use 2 to 3 temperature readers

Thanks you're 100% correct and I have 3 in total including the incubator itself, all monitoring temp and humidity. All digital and didn't skimp on them either. The incubator itself is slightly off so it's compensated in it's settings but the actual calibrated temp is steady at 37.2 37.7 celcius plus or minus 0.2.

Regarding the corners, I was concerned about that however the bad eggs were from random spots within the incubator. Something is wrong as so many going bad is not normal from what i read.

One thing I have been unable to control as much as I would like, and that is the humidity. It's fine if i am checking it every hour or two to keep it around 50% - 55% but in the morning when I wake up, it's usually sitting around 20% - 25%. I do top it up just before going to bed but that puts it around 60% - 65% so it can manage through the night. Maybe that's the problem?