incubator question ???

[tjbuckshotbarn]

I have similar incubators and I am having problems hatching. Most of my eggs mature, but they do not absorb all the yolk. I put them on lock down on day 18. I wait until day 25-26 to try and assist hatch that's when I find the dead embryo. What am I doing wrong. Temp is 98-99. Humidity day 1-17 is 30-40% on lock down I jump to 70%.

 

[toptom]

Can you pause on incubating the eggs? Like 1 day?

 

[Fred's Hens]

I have similar incubators and I am having problems hatching. Most of my eggs mature, but they do not absorb all the yolk. I put them on lock down on day 18. I wait until day 25-26 to try and assist hatch that's when I find the dead embryo. What am I doing wrong. Temp is 98-99. Humidity day 1-17 is 30-40% on lock down I jump to 70%.

Experiment and try different things, if what you're doing now isn't working.

You might increase the incubation temperature. 98-99 may actually be too low depending on the accuracy of your thermometer. Try 99.5 to 100.2 or something similar for a range. Next, try dry incubating. This is called dry because the humidity is kept low, very low during incubation 20-30% by adding no water at all until first pip. This increases drying of the egg reducing the likelihood of squishy chicks.

Finally, make sure your incubator has good a good fresh air supply. From 10-19, the embryos need oxygen to develop and from day 18-21, the chicks need to breathe air. Open your vents. You may need to toss in soaked sponges to ramp up humidity during the hatch. It may be a combination of things that are going wrong, but focus on these areas of modification and see if your results do not improve.

 

[Mommy6]

Mine was doing that too, I first thought it was the motor for the egg turner... then I wondered if maybe I used too warm of water on my sponge. I'm at my wits end with temperatures, lol. I am at the point of waiting it out and seeing what happens. This is my year to get it right

 

[tjbuckshotbarn]

Fred, thank you for that I will make your suggested corrections . I think oxygen was a factor, and the humidity. I will post in a few weeks hopefully with better results. Ice also joined the hatch a long

 

[bullyfarm]

Days 4, 10, and 18, are usually recommended, 18 being the day you take them from the Turner if you use one and our them in "lockdown" I skip day 4 because it's hard for me to see anything through the brown shells that early in development, at least it is for me. I mainly just look for veins and a dark spot where the chick is developing and odd course make sure the air cell is growing

thanks for the info hows the temp holding from before

After day 10, I look for activity, also, check air cell size. Don't let absence of activity worry you, as the chick may be resting when you check it. I will take them out of their cartons on day 14, and assign them each a number. Probably mark air cell sizes and pip location on day 18.

thanks for all the info i will let you know how it goes day 14

 

[bullyfarm]

one was kicking last night looked really cool

 

[blucoondawg]

temp has been holding fine, still have the couple degrees difference on the one side though, I am going to candle sometime this weekend I am on day 7 or 8 now, have to check the calendar, can't remember when I set them for sure

 

[lazy gardener]

Bluecoondawg: I had temp difference in my bator also. Still do, a bit, but was able to partially address it by placing tin foil baffles in front of the light bulbs to direct air flow. Now, all areas are within therapeutic range, but when I rotate eggs, (they're in cartons) I move the cartons around so the eggs from the cool spot rotate to the warm spot, and they all go through this rotation, essentially ending up hitting each cool and each warm spot every other day. I also set my cartons so that they are low towards the bulbs, and high towards the back, away from the bulbs. That places them all so the air flow and temp are best utilized.

I'm guessing that if chicks are not absorbing their yolk, they're not cooking hot enough!

 

[tjbuckshotbarn]

Will starter chicken food keep a laying hen eggs from hatching/ developing? I have some 3-4 month olds still on starter food in with laying hens, so I was wondering if that protein crumble would keep the eggs from hatching if the laying hen aye the same food?