Incubating help

[smck]

I don't know what is going wrong with my hatches, all of the hatches have had dried membranes and I have had to assist hatching. I had all but given up trying to hatch Araucana's because I had spent a fortune on hatching eggs and they would all die either just before or during hatch.

I finally bought my own Araucana Hen's & Roo, I have just attempted my first hatch with their eggs. I have one chick out of 3 that hatched but I had to help, unfortunately I didn't get to the other two in time and the third I just made it. She is a bit tired but otherwise ok.

I have 2 Thermometer/hygrometers through the vent of the incubator plus the incubators own readings. they are all slightly different by between .1 - .4 but all sitting between 70 and 75 %. Temp I have to keep at 39c because any lower the development is delayed this is a common prob with the Janoel48 the one I have, so the machine will read 39c but my separate thermometer's read 37.5 and 37.9.

I am really gutted over one of the chicks from this morning because I knew from looking through the window that the chick had pipped over 24 hours before last night, I told myself everything was fine and the chick would be out by morning. This morning by the time I got into the egg she was taking long slow gasps and less then a minute later she died. Their was no blood in her veins and her yolk sac was fully absorbed, they all were, so they were all more than ready but their membranes were dried preventing them from progressing. The last one had a dried membrane but had only just finished absorbing its yolk sac I suspect as its umbilical was still open so I left her attached to her shell and wrapped her, then placed her back in the incubator and about an hour later she broke free exhausted but ok.

I have just spent the last week collecting my Araucana eggs to put in the incubator after these had hatched. It is 7 days on Sunday and I have 15 eggs but I'm hesitant to place them in now because I have constantly had a humidity problem.

The obvious things I don't open the bator unless it is over 21 days and clearly something wrong excluding one time when a shipped egg pipped at the wrong end and I had a twin egg hatching. This was quite a while ago and the only times I have so it doesn't explain every other time.

I maintain the humidity and use a tube to pump water in instead of opening if it needs water which sometimes it decreases to 65% slowly on day 21 so I will start pumping some in to get it back to 70%.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I have started to think that a styrofoam bator may be better but then I've no read they ant great at holding humidity.

What Bators do you all use and have had no prob with?

.

 

[kuchchicks]

If they are that dry it really sounds like a humidity problem being too low. Have you calibrated your hygrometer? I do incubate "dry" (30%-35% during incubation) and then 75% during lock down. And I am a meddler, I do assist if they look like they are in trouble. With my humidity being up that high during lock down I have never had an issue with it coming back up when I close the bator back up; However I don't leave it wide open. I open a crack, quickly grab a chick/egg and close it right back up.

I have the Hova Bator 1588 Genesis which is a stryo bator and I love it. It is so easy to use and have had great success.

 

[WVduckchick]

Agree with kuchchicks. Too dry membranes are likely too low humidity. So you never open the bator till day 21? Which means you never candle the eggs to check progress or development? Whereabouts are you located? Local humidity levels play a part in determining what humidity levels work best for you. Its easiest to figure out if your humidity levels are correct by candling at least on day 7 and 14, and checking the size of the air cells. On day 7, if they are too small, you can increase the humidity. If they are too small, you decrease. This gives you time to figure it out before its too late.

Since you have already collected the next batch, I would still set them. You are on the right track by asking for help, so you will be successful if you keep trying!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I don't know what is going wrong with my hatches, all of the hatches have had dried membranes and I have had to assist hatching. I had all but given up trying to hatch Araucana's because I had spent a fortune on hatching eggs and they would all die either just before or during hatch.

I finally bought my own Araucana Hen's & Roo, I have just attempted my first hatch with their eggs. I have one chick out of 3 that hatched but I had to help, unfortunately I didn't get to the other two in time and the third I just made it. She is a bit tired but otherwise ok.

I have 2 Thermometer/hygrometers through the vent of the incubator plus the incubators own readings. they are all slightly different by between .1 - .4 but all sitting between 70 and 75 %. Temp I have to keep at 39c because any lower the development is delayed this is a common prob with the Janoel48 the one I have, so the machine will read 39c but my separate thermometer's read 37.5 and 37.9.

I am really gutted over one of the chicks from this morning because I knew from looking through the window that the chick had pipped over 24 hours before last night, I told myself everything was fine and the chick would be out by morning. This morning by the time I got into the egg she was taking long slow gasps and less then a minute later she died. Their was no blood in her veins and her yolk sac was fully absorbed, they all were, so they were all more than ready but their membranes were dried preventing them from progressing. The last one had a dried membrane but had only just finished absorbing its yolk sac I suspect as its umbilical was still open so I left her attached to her shell and wrapped her, then placed her back in the incubator and about an hour later she broke free exhausted but ok.

I have just spent the last week collecting my Araucana eggs to put in the incubator after these had hatched. It is 7 days on Sunday and I have 15 eggs but I'm hesitant to place them in now because I have constantly had a humidity problem.

The obvious things I don't open the bator unless it is over 21 days and clearly something wrong excluding one time when a shipped egg pipped at the wrong end and I had a twin egg hatching. This was quite a while ago and the only times I have so it doesn't explain every other time.

I maintain the humidity and use a tube to pump water in instead of opening if it needs water which sometimes it decreases to 65% slowly on day 21 so I will start pumping some in to get it back to 70%.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I have started to think that a styrofoam bator may be better but then I've no read they ant great at holding humidity.

What Bators do you all use and have had no prob with?

.

If they are that dry it really sounds like a humidity problem being too low. Have you calibrated your hygrometer? I do incubate "dry" (30%-35% during incubation) and then 75% during lock down. And I am a meddler, I do assist if they look like they are in trouble. With my humidity being up that high during lock down I have never had an issue with it coming back up when I close the bator back up; However I don't leave it wide open. I open a crack, quickly grab a chick/egg and close it right back up.

I have the Hova Bator 1588 Genesis which is a stryo bator and I love it. It is so easy to use and have had great success.

xs 2 Meddler here too!!!

and

Ok, first let me address the breed. Are you aware that Araucanas carry a lethal gene?? If you breed two tufted Araucanas 25% of the birds will get two copies of the fatal allel and will perish in the shell. 25% will be clean faced and the other 50% will be tufted. If you breed a clean face with a tufted you get 50/50 and no deaths (due to lethal genes). So there is one thing you have to take into consideration.

I have the LG9200 and while it's a little more work maintaining and babysitting it's great when it comes to humidity. I also run a low humidity incubation days 1-17 (between 30-35% preferrably) and up to 75% at hatch. I have between 80-95% hatch rates.

 

[RubyNala97]

I'm so sorry you are having a hard time. I know I get emotionally invested in my eggs and it's so hard to lose a chick so close to hatching. That happened to me once and I was so upset over it. I would recommend re-calibrating your thermometer and hygrometer. I re-checked mine halfway through my current batch because I had a feeling it was off and it was. Also I use a chart each day to log in my temps/humidity, that way I can look for any patterns, either good or bad. Here's a link for the one I use:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/attachments/363
Don't give up. Keep a close eye on temps & humidity each day. Mark the air cells on days 7,14, & 18. This will help you know where humidity needs to be. Also, I use a Brinsea Eco incubator (it is plastic) and I absolutely love it.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm so sorry you are having a hard time. I know I get emotionally invested in my eggs and it's so hard to lose a chick so close to hatching. That happened to me once and I was so upset over it. I would recommend re-calibrating your thermometer and hygrometer. I re-checked mine halfway through my current batch because I had a feeling it was off and it was. Also I use a chart each day to log in my temps/humidity, that way I can look for any patterns, either good or bad. Here's a link for the one I use:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/attachments/363
Don't give up. Keep a close eye on temps & humidity each day. Mark the air cells on days 7,14, & 18. This will help you know where humidity needs to be. Also, I use a Brinsea Eco incubator (it is plastic) and I absolutely love it.

Not too many people that have the Brinsea say they don't like it...lol I've seen a couple people not happy with theirs, but I'd say 2/100 are unsatisfied....lol

 

[WalnutHill]

I sympathise with you. I can hatch bantam eggs, Ameraucana eggs, Easter Eggers, and anything else, but I have been having the same issue with turkeys.

One, my hygrometers were off. Now I just boost the humidity until there is just a little condensation in the corners, and have the vents 1/4 open before external pip, and half open after.

I also have started moving the eggs into lockdown 1-2 days earlier. This seems to help, especially if the incubation humidity was high and the air cells were too small. This hatch, due the 11th, has ideally sized air cells but I will still be locking down tonight or tomorrow.

I also don't raise the humidity for lockdown until I see an internal pip, but before an external pip. To play it safe, I go with 2 days before hatch date or if I see an external pip. Then I add the humidity and make sure the temperature remains on track.

I'm using an old redwood tabletop incubator, it works better than my foam one. It does not hold humidity all that well, so I do need to add water (via a shallow tray full of sponges) on a regular basis. But once an egg starts to expand the pip in preparation of zipping, I do not open it until the hatch is done.

Staggered hatches are a real pain in most incubators because it's hard to keep the humidity up for late hatchers while taking care of on-schedule hatchers. I might start putting them in a closed plastic container with holes in the lid to help maintain humidity when I pull the rest, then build the humidity back up and uncover the containers.

 

[kmartinez]

Not too many people that have the Brinsea say they don't like it...lol I've seen a couple people not happy with theirs, but I'd say 2/100 are unsatisfied....lol

I love the Brinsea, I had a mini, I sold it to compensate for my eco 20. I have to regulate temp and humidity but I love that thing and with the turner, its just a dream. I love it to much LOL the 1st think i hatched with it was turkeys and I have 13 little tykes running around lost the 14th chick 2 days after hatch..