Incubation question?

[nao57]

So something weird happened with my incubator.

I had 24 khaki campbell eggs in there. At day 20, I'd already eliminated a few and 18 were viable and doing well with veins and life signs. I could see beautiful veins and artery whatever pulsing etc.

Then a family member decides to screw around in the freezer looking for something that happened to be under the incubator. The thoughtless one, didn't even notice that he'd disturbed the incubator. I literally heard him cursing from fumbling things and messing it up, and that's when I got worried.

So I kept going but it looks like at that time I no longer could see anything going in the eggs.

But its also true that I wonder if the rotation schedule I was using on the eggs was working right.

It could have been either, or as the culprit.

Its very frustrating that I think all of the eggs are dead. I'm at day 30 now. I can't see any life signs and things look dark. And the egg shells seem lighter than they should be. (This is why I think there's probably no life.)

Anyway, I wondered and wanted to ask what would be a hatch rate for a well regulated incubator but that didn't have any egg rotation but just had them on their sides the same way from beginning to end, the whole time? (This didn't happen, but if something didn't work right with the rotation then I'm honestly considering trying this if the hatch rate is decent.)

But the thoughtless one in the family unfortunately has alcoholism going on and literally every time he's around I have trouble in one form or another. Its not the first time he's wrecked my projects. But unfortunately my dad won't kick him out, even though I've received hundreds of dollars of damage from him, this year alone. His previous mishap was wrecking my garden by dumping car oil and car parts in it.

Well sorry for venting...

But I'm trying to figure out if him screwing around in that freezer wrecked the eggs...which were fine until right then. Or if I wasn't turning them right. But if I wasn't turning them right then wouldn't they have expired before about day 20?

Sorry I don't have pics.

And also I wondered if eggs in the last part of the incubation phase (day 20 to Day 28- or end), if eggs stop or quit life at that phase, is it more likely from different causes than from the previous phases of (day 1 to Day 19-ish)? (The answer to this could change everything.)

Thanks.

Also, hope you encourage your family members to stay away from heavy liquor. I can see my siblings brain cells literally wilting away from one day to the next. He's now got the mind of a 10 year old, though that is from a mix of things and not just alcohol. If this scares you, its meant to.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

I can't answer your hatching question, but I do want to offer some support. I grew up with an alcoholic step-dad and I can relate to your problems. Hang in there, life will not always be this way for you. I promise, it will get better!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So something weird happened with my incubator.

I had 24 khaki campbell eggs in there. At day 20, I'd already eliminated a few and 18 were viable and doing well with veins and life signs. I could see beautiful veins and artery whatever pulsing etc.

Then a family member decides to screw around in the freezer looking for something that happened to be under the incubator. The thoughtless one, didn't even notice that he'd disturbed the incubator. I literally heard him cursing from fumbling things and messing it up, and that's when I got worried.

So I kept going but it looks like at that time I no longer could see anything going in the eggs.

But its also true that I wonder if the rotation schedule I was using on the eggs was working right.

It could have been either, or as the culprit.

Its very frustrating that I think all of the eggs are dead. I'm at day 30 now. I can't see any life signs and things look dark. And the egg shells seem lighter than they should be. (This is why I think there's probably no life.)

Anyway, I wondered and wanted to ask what would be a hatch rate for a well regulated incubator but that didn't have any egg rotation but just had them on their sides the same way from beginning to end, the whole time? (This didn't happen, but if something didn't work right with the rotation then I'm honestly considering trying this if the hatch rate is decent.)

But the thoughtless one in the family unfortunately has alcoholism going on and literally every time he's around I have trouble in one form or another. Its not the first time he's wrecked my projects. But unfortunately my dad won't kick him out, even though I've received hundreds of dollars of damage from him, this year alone. His previous mishap was wrecking my garden by dumping car oil and car parts in it.

Well sorry for venting...

But I'm trying to figure out if him screwing around in that freezer wrecked the eggs...which were fine until right then. Or if I wasn't turning them right. But if I wasn't turning them right then wouldn't they have expired before about day 20?

Sorry I don't have pics.

And also I wondered if eggs in the last part of the incubation phase (day 20 to Day 28- or end), if eggs stop or quit life at that phase, is it more likely from different causes than from the previous phases of (day 1 to Day 19-ish)? (The answer to this could change everything.)

Thanks.

Also, hope you encourage your family members to stay away from heavy liquor. I can see my siblings brain cells literally wilting away from one day to the next. He's now got the mind of a 10 year old, though that is from a mix of things and not just alcohol. If this scares you, its meant to.

Hello. Sorry about the failure.
Is it possible the incubator got unplugged for a time?
How are you measuring temperature?
By rotating, are you referring to turning the eggs or rotating them to different places in the incubator in case of warm and cool spots?
Are you turning by hand or automatic turner?
Improper turning can cause embryo death any time after day 3 but is more likely toward the end of incubation.

 

[nao57]

Hello. Sorry about the failure.
Is it possible the incubator got unplugged for a time?
How are you measuring temperature?
By rotating, are you referring to turning the eggs or rotating them to different places in the incubator in case of warm and cool spots?
Are you turning by hand or automatic turner?
Improper turning can cause embryo death any time after day 3 but is more likely toward the end of incubation.

Not unplugged. Watched it religiously...

Except when the aforementioned other guy was messing around in the freezer. He both unplugged and bumped things around several times. Heard him cursing over fumbling things even; which was how I came in and caught it.

The incubator has a temperature gauge and a humidity gauge that were doing OK.

I've ordered a machine turner, but I'd been turning by hand. So that's why I wonder if it wil work to not turn them. If turning is more likely near the end to cause death, it seems like it may be worth trying something with no turning at all? If improper turning can damage them, maybe it would be more worth it to have a slightly less numbers hatch, but have a guaranteed hatch, since I don't have a lot of experience in turning?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If the eggs are laying on their side, just number the sides 1 and 2 or X and O, or 1,2,3 and turn them to a different side as frequently as possible. The more turning the better. You can slow down the turning the last week but it really won't hurt to turn even though it won't be necessary. I've forgotten that a hatch was imminent and had chicks hatch in the energized turner but they ended up OK.
While the following is about chicken eggs, the same information holds true for all species.
https://www.pasreform.com/en/knowledge/10/the-biology-behind-egg-turning