Incubation issues, help!

[Troubadour05]

A couple months ago I hatched some eggs from my mixed breed laying hens. All were healthy except one had a little trouble at first getting around. She would stand up, walk a few steps, then fall back down on her hocks with her feet out in front of her. I thought that was just an issue with her in particular, and she did grow out of it but eventually died from an unknown cause Now I'm on day 22 of a batch of silkie eggs and 2 out of the 3 have the same problem but can't even stand at all. 1 is in the brooder and the other just hatched last night and is still in the incubator. The healthy one is much bigger and stronger and is also in the brooder. They keep falling over on their backs because their legs are so far in front of then. Is this an incubator issue? I cannot find any info about this. The eggs are from my mom so I know none of her chickens have this issue. I haven't tried any treatment yet other than righting them when they fall over. It's heartbreaking

 

[PD-Riverman]

A couple months ago I hatched some eggs from my mixed breed laying hens. All were healthy except one had a little trouble at first getting around. She would stand up, walk a few steps, then fall back down on her hocks with her feet out in front of her. I thought that was just an issue with her in particular, and she did grow out of it but eventually died from an unknown cause

Now I'm on day 22 of a batch of silkie eggs and 2 out of the 3 have the same problem but can't even stand at all. 1 is in the brooder and the other just hatched last night and is still in the incubator. The healthy one is much bigger and stronger and is also in the brooder. They keep falling over on their backs because their legs are so far in front of then. Is this an incubator issue? I cannot find any info about this. The eggs are from my mom so I know none of her chickens have this issue. I haven't tried any treatment yet other than righting them when they fall over. It's heartbreaking

What kind of incubator you got? What do you keep the temp at? Does the temp go way up and down? How old were the eggs when you started incubating them? What day did these 2 chicks hatch? What day are you on now? If you are in Lock-Down(not opening the incubator) while the eggs are hatching---How do you get chicks out the incubator to put in the brooder without opening the incubator? Any other info might help answer your original question. Good Luck!

 

[Troubadour05]

Its a Hovabator forced air incubator. The temp stays pretty level around 99-100. The eggs were either fresh or a day or two old. The first two hatched early, on day 19, I took them out yesterday morning because after two days in the bator I was afraid they would start getting hungry/thirsty and sure enough when I put them down they went straight to the food. They may have started incubating in the coop under a broody before they were collected and that is why they hatched so early. Would humidity problems cause this? I do have trouble keeping the humidity up for more than 2-3 days, it's pretty dry in my house. Thanks for the reply!

 

[PD-Riverman]

Its a Hovabator forced air incubator. The temp stays pretty level around 99-100. The eggs were either fresh or a day or two old. The first two hatched early, on day 19, I took them out yesterday morning because after two days in the bator I was afraid they would start getting hungry/thirsty and sure enough when I put them down they went straight to the food. They may have started incubating in the coop under a broody before they were collected and that is why they hatched so early. Would humidity problems cause this? I do have trouble keeping the humidity up for more than 2-3 days, it's pretty dry in my house. Thanks for the reply!

The chicks will be fine in the incubator for 3 to 4 days. Sure they will eat and drink as soon as they see food but they got enough food when they hatch to survive a few days. Always collect your eggs Fresh/daily never---not leaving any under a broody hen for 2 or 3 days then mix them with eggs that were not under a broody----this will give you a staggered hatch. Now, not knowing if your thermostat is off or the eggs came from under a broody hen caused them to hatch early---I can not tell you what to do on that. I will say this, if my chicks start hatching on day 19 I slightly lower the temp for the next hatch. I have better luck with my chicks if they start hatching on day 20 and be finished on day 21. With a Hovabator I like to move my eggs that are on the outer area to the middle a couple times during the 18 days of incubating. When I Lock-down on day 18, I will not Open the incubator till day 22 unless all the eggs hatch before then. If I need to add water it is done through a flex straw in the vent holes. Good Luck!!

Back to collecting eggs, Every day I collect eggs---if there is a hen on the nest---I reach under her and get all the eggs(EVERY DAY) Never bypassing a nest. Most of my hens are so use to me doing this---they raise up a little so I can get the eggs. Collecting eggs this way----I never have a problem with a broody hen having a staggered hatch or eggs hatching early in the incubator(from having been under a broody).

 

[Troubadour05]

Thank you!! I will definitely keep all that in mind for the next batch, and I never though of a straw through the vent hole for water. I just rigged up some airline tubing from the fish tank to the top of a water bottle, and it works awesome! As an update, the healthy chick is still very healthy, the 1st hatched of the other two still rests sitting back on its hocks, but is not falling over anymore and stands up to walk around, so an improvement there. The 3rd chick is doing great, it seems to have fixed whatever problem it was having. Thanks again for all the pointers, I'm pretty new to incubating so anything helps!