Incubating eggs in the classroom- 13 of 22 eggs alive...does this look normal?? Help!

[laurenk16]

I am incubating eggs in my 6th-grade classroom. Today is day 13 and we candled the eggs. We started with 22 eggs. 9 of them were either not fertilized or died as a fetus. Is this normal? I am using a new incubator that I bought this year- Nurture Right 360. Last year we used an old styrofoam incubator that had a lot of issues and we had 0 eggs hatch, so I am really hoping for success this year! I included a video below of what the 13 eggs look like- does all look good? Thank you!!

Video of one of the chicks moving around in the egg:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10THhBxmbeFm3NGwqFdPiVI4bij1Sl97d/view?usp=sharing

 

[nuthatched]

That's quite a bit to loose but it's not unusual. Have you calibrated your incubator? Where did you get the eggs?

 

[laurenk16]

That's quite a bit to loose but it's not unusual. Have you calibrated your incubator? Where did you get the eggs?

The eggs are from the University of Illinois 4-H office. They do an embryology program every year and we pick the eggs up from their office.

 

[Justso]

Hi LK16,
I don't think that would be outrageous. Fertility, handling, age of the egg- you don't have much control over that.
Video looked good!
I just finished my first hatch this year and lost a bunch at 8-12 days incubation. Very surprising!
I'm going to watch my humidity early on next time, I suspect it was too low.
Keep us posted on your hatch.

 

[Iluveggers]

Hi! I am incubating eggs with my class right now also! Started with 18, lost a quitter & pulled 4 infertiles. Would love to hear more about what you are doing with your class!

If you are interested, I post some of our pics and activities/data on this thread!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-long-support-and-advice-appreciated.1516422/

 

[stealthmayhem]

Dumb question.......but is that 25% humidity?

 

[Iluveggers]

Dumb question.......but is that 25% humidity?

Looks like it. If so, @laurenk16 you might want to bump it up to 40-45%

 

[citymeetscountry]

Dumb question.......but is that 25% humidity?

Good catch. I’m hoping it’s bc they had just taken the egg out and not what it stays at when it’s actually covering the eggs. I know mine would drop and then raise back up shortly after putting an egg back

 

[junior67]

Dumb question.......but is that 25% humidity?

It probably is but because he is candling she has opened the incubator which drops the humidity way down and takes a bit for it to go back up. so most likely that isn't what she is incubating them at.

 

[stealthmayhem]

That is what I was thinking as well, but I just wanted to make sure. But, where I live humidity is 68% on average, so I try to incubate at about 55%.