Incubating problems.

[fancysilkie]

I'm having a bad time with my incubator. I recently put about a 24 in it and I only was able to hatch 3. I've had the same problem before. I've come to realize that the best way to hatch chicks is with a broody chicken, but what if I don't have one? I keep trying, but every time I get about 2 and recently I tried again with 6 and this time I only got one. I kept an eye on them, did everything I know to do with the chicks and when I candled them, everything was developing well. After I had one hatch, I waited and waited, but nothing. After about a week, I saw that all of the other 5 died. Is there something wrong? Do I need to get a new incubator?

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

what incubator do you have? Does it have a fan?

 

[9farmgirl9]

I had the same problem. I put in 24. 3 hatched urly 2 of them weren't done developing. So now i have one chick and its a girl. Im still waitin on the others(its only 4 days over) and right now my guinea eggs should hatch but so far one is right now and its 3 days urly. I named the chick that made it dumplin.

What type of incubator are you using and what was the humidity? Which wayd you put the eggs in big or little end? There are so many things that could go wrong... How long did you have them out to candle and how often? Did you stop turning on day 18?

OH! and did you crack the eggs open to see what happened?

 

[kickenChickens]

I wont presume I know exactly what's wrong so I'll just tell you what I do as my hatch rate is around 88 to 93 percent. I keep my temp at 99.5F (still air) and have 2 thermometers to ensure I've got the right number. I don't mess with the humidity until day 18(usually around 50ish%). I candle day 3, 9, and 14. Once on lock down I only open the bator to add more water. Nothing special really but maybe you missed something.