Incubating and Uncharted Territory

[Tlmcq]

Yay, I had two..just posted an update.

I would wait and see a day or so about the one that you think is dead. I read they will not be able to move as much when fill egg up and they rest when working to hatch so it may be tuckered out and resting if it's starting it's pip. Have the 2 hatched? I still got a week to go as mine are duck eggs. And the chicken eggs in there I set a week in after candling the others and pulling out ones not fertilized. I have 4 that are definitely alive right now as they move all over, but one duck egg is questionable. I'm letting it go for now as I'm not positive and I keep checking and it has no off smell yet.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I would wait and see a day or so about the one that you think is dead. I read they will not be able to move as much when fill egg up and they rest when working to hatch so it may be tuckered out and resting if it's starting it's pip. Have the 2 hatched? I still got a week to go as mine are duck eggs. And the chicken eggs in there I set a week in after candling the others and pulling out ones not fertilized. I have 4 that are definitely alive right now as they move all over, but one duck egg is questionable. I'm letting it go for now as I'm not positive and I keep checking and it has no off smell yet.

No, they haven't hatched. Lockdown starts for sure tomorrow..it's day 18. I just set about 15 more eggs. Two Ducks and around 12 chicken and I have about 13 more outside. My layers aren't playing. They have been eating good..lol. I might have to buy another incubator. A better, automatic one. I feel my little janky homemade incubator was better than this little giant one that I bought. I really hope you don't lose anymore I feel bad for having only one left and a maybe. I know they shouldn't be raised alone too.

 

[Tavia Rose]

This baby definitely died. I buried him/her on the outside of my chicken coop. I'm starting to wonder if it's bc these were some of the very first eggs laid by my chickens. Down to 1. And i learned that all the science in the world some factors don't allow for birth but, conditions have to be favorable for a chance.

 

[Tlmcq]

Yes that could be I've heard here that young layers can cause losses. I'm so sorry. That lil one was fully developed too. Poor little guy.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Yes that could be I've heard here that young layers can cause losses. I'm so sorry. That lil one was fully developed too. Poor little guy.

I know. I was so hurt I put him in a plastic bag nd gave him a proper burial. I couldn't leave him out for ants or flies like those few days embryos. But, as of right now 8:50 central time my last one is in the incubator rocking. I just want it to get out and let me do what I do best and thats raise it lol. I found one with a blood ring today in my newest set of eggs. That power outage yesterday really hurt the progress.

 

[Tavia Rose]

The last unexpected baby that I knew nothing about also died today. He popped the internal membrane last night and it was day 18. Today is Day 19 and he tried to pip the shell but it was face down..the water in the bottom part of the incubator may have been too much but that's the only thing that kept my humidity above 60..he didn't get air in time and died. His membrane was pretty wet. His yolk sack wasn't even fully absorbed yet and temp was at 100 all day. I was at work watchin my incubator all day from a webcam. I am highly annoyed and sad again. But kind of at ease bc he wouldn't have to be alone. I have 3 duck eggs and about 11 chicken eggs in my newly incubated set. I had 15 chicken eggs but 4 died the day the power went out. This is probably the last time I will try for a long time. I got an auto Turner this time too..bc i dont wanna risk anything else.

 

[Tlmcq]

I'm so sorry. I have 4 still kicking. 2 chickens due to hatch Thursday and 2 ducks next week. I've lost 9 so far, but believe it was due to improper temp in cheap incubator. Since I have modified it and moved to homemade incubator all but one that wasn't fertilized are still alive as of earlier today. Have had a hiccup with humidity over the weekend so hopefully they will be ok at hatch.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I'm so sorry. I have 4 still kicking. 2 chickens due to hatch Thursday and 2 ducks next week. I've lost 9 so far, but believe it was due to improper temp in cheap incubator. Since I have modified it and moved to homemade incubator all but one that wasn't fertilized are still alive as of earlier today. Have had a hiccup with humidity over the weekend so hopefully they will be ok at hatch.

I'm glad you still have some. I'm excited to see them once they have hatched. I literally haven't been sleeping much at night checking guages every two hours. But, i can sleep now. I have a Turner and I have learned my controls in the cheap little giant incubator lol. We have an old fridge im thinking about turning it into an incubator..please let me know how the hatch goes..I can live through you for a moment lol.

 

[Tlmcq]

The last unexpected baby that I knew nothing about also died today. He popped the internal membrane last night and it was day 18. Today is Day 19 and he tried to pip the shell but it was face down..the water in the bottom part of the incubator may have been too much but that's the only thing that kept my humidity above 60..he didn't get air in time and died. His membrane was pretty wet. His yolk sack wasn't even fully absorbed yet and temp was at 100 all day. I was at work watchin my incubator all day from a webcam. I am highly annoyed and sad again. But kind of at ease bc he wouldn't have to be alone. I have 3 duck eggs and about 11 chicken eggs in my newly incubated set. I had 15 chicken eggs but 4 died the day the power went out. This is probably the last time I will try for a long time. I got an auto Turner this time too..bc i dont wanna risk anything else.[/Q
Is there room in your incubator to place a sponge somewhere? If you wet it and squeeze excess out it can help bring humidity up and won't have to worry about drowning. They can also drown in she'll from too high humidity during incubating. I have had trouble keeping mine up last few days due to weather change. It's evaporating so quickly by morning I have no water left in tray and it's down to 25 to 30%. The water doesn't need to be deep either, it's surface area of water that makes it higher or lower and not depth of water. The bigger the area the higher it'll be and smaller to decrease. My setup is a bit different since it's homemade using the fan and heat/thermostat from a cheap countertop incubator inside a styrofoam cooler. My modified incubator has a water tray but it's very small and evaporates completely dry overnight so I had to add a sponge that just sits on bottom of cooler. I use a regular thermometer over the heat/fan and a digital with hygrometer by eggs. I also have unopened water bottles inside it to take up space, distribute heat, and just in case power goes it'll stay warm a lil better due to the water in bottles being warm too. I am due for my chicken eggs to go into lockdown today, but I candled this morning and I'm gonna wait til tomorrow cuz they don't seem to be ready yet. I'm thinking it's due to a slight drop in temp half way thru incubation. So, I'll lock them down tomorrow morning after I candle again.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I was using paper towels to hold the moisture at first but, it kept dropping at around 50% so I added more warm water to the wells. I watched it stay around 60% all day and thought there's no way this baby could drown in the shell. I'm not sure if it really drowned though, just one of the suspects. The shell was broken on the outside but the beak still was behind the membrane and the membrane looked kind of dry(white) but, it was still wet on the other side. Baby also looked dry at the beak. I just don't know; the temp was a steady 99 in the bottom. Do you think that was too high? I kept it that way because of the other eggs. I live in Texas so it's really hot and humid here but, has been getting cooler in the mornings and overnight (around 60 ). I think it was because it pipped on the bottom of the egg and not the top and there was no room to push more(plus the water in the bottom right at the egg) and it suffocated.