Internally pipped but no external.

[Pyxis]

Thank y'all!
I have the little giant still air incubator, I've hatched out 1 other batch of chicks a year ago and had 100% hatch rate. After reading reviews about the temp and humidity being off, i decided with this batch being i paid for them and so badly wanted them to all hatch, i bought something seperate to check for humidity and temperature, the incubator itself was way off on temperature but the humidity was pretty accurate, it stayed at 99.5-100 temp and 50-55% humidity from day 1 to 18 and i got it up to 65-75% humidity for lockdown. I just don't know what could have went wrong.

Being a still air, the temperature was low - in a still air, you want it to be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the egg.

The humidity may or may not have been off - for me, that would have been too high, but the best humidity to use can vary by area. For my area, 30% is best. Had you candled to track the growth of the air cell to check the humidity was good?

 

[stm_96]

Being a still air, the temperature was low - in a still air, you want it to be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the egg.

The humidity may or may not have been off - for me, that would have been too high, but the best humidity to use can vary by area. For my area, 30% is best. Had you candled to track the growth of the air cell to check the humidity was good?

Yes the air cells looked really good, everything was looking good at lockdown. When i opened the 2 that were dead this morning, they looked to have died day 19, still kind of small and hadn't even absorbed any of the yolk

 

[Pyxis]

Yes the air cells looked really good, everything was looking good at lockdown. When i opened the 2 that were dead this morning, they looked to have died day 19, still kind of small and hadn't even absorbed any of the yolk

Was there any extra liquid in there with them, or did it look particularly dry, or anything like that?

 

[stm_96]

Was there any extra liquid in there with them, or did it look particularly dry, or anything like that?

There was still some liquid kind of brownish

 

[Pyxis]

There was still some liquid kind of brownish

Hmm. Maybe the humidity was a bit too high? I think if you try again with more bought eggs, I'd weigh them and monitor the weight loss, just to really pin down the best humidity to use. And set the temperature to 101.5 at the top of the eggs

Here's an article I wrote up about incubation that gives a rundown on how to monitor moisture loss through weighing the eggs.

 

[stm_96]

Hmm. Maybe the humidity was a bit too high? I think if you try again with more bought eggs, I'd weigh them and monitor the weight loss, just to really pin down the best humidity to use. And set the temperature to 101.5 at the top of the eggs

Here's an article I wrote up about incubation that gives a rundown on how to monitor moisture loss through weighing the eggs.

I'll definitely do that! Super bummed! But maybe next time will be better. Calling Cackle tomorrow to see if they can get me some chicks asap or either just going to the feed store so the little loner baby won't have to be alone. Thankful at least one hatched.

 

[americanchicks]

So glad you have one little one. Hopefully you can get her some company soon. I feel your pain. I got a half dozen welsh harlequin duck eggs. I was so excited, always wanted WH. Every thing seemed to be going great. About 3 weeks into incubation they started dying one by one. I lost them all. My humidity was set to 55% what it says on the instructions. Found out from this forum that it was too high. I got a separate hydrometer and discovered that my incubators hydrometer was off so the humidity was even higher. I now keep it between 40% and 45% and have not had a problem. Good luck with future hatchings.