Is it better to lockdown early or late?

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks for all your help!

You are quite welcome.

 

[bwhitley4936]

We have 4 peeping little fuzz balls! Last one hatched around 2 this morning. When I candled the remaining 2 I couldn't see any signs of movement, so I tried the float test. Both floated with just the top 10% of the fat end out of the water, but no movement

I very carefully poked a small hole and the air cells and peeked in to look for movement....both had already died. I couldn't help but to explore more to see if I could see a problem. Both had absorbed the yolk and both had what appeared to be misshapen heads. They were flat on one side. Any ideas as to what may have caused this?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We have 4 peeping little fuzz balls! Last one hatched around 2 this morning. When I candled the remaining 2 I couldn't see any signs of movement, so I tried the float test. Both floated with just the top 10% of the fat end out of the water, but no movement

I very carefully poked a small hole and the air cells and peeked in to look for movement....both had already died. I couldn't help but to explore more to see if I could see a problem. Both had absorbed the yolk and both had what appeared to be misshapen heads. They were flat on one side. Any ideas as to what may have caused this?

Conrats on the four, sorry about the two. What breed were they?? Anyway they could have been a breed with a vaulted head? If not it sounds developmental.

 

[bwhitley4936]

My hens are what tractor supply calls "red variety" and I have 1 black Australorp rooster and 1 barred rock rooster.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My hens are what tractor supply calls "red variety" and I have 1 black Australorp rooster and 1 barred rock rooster.

Well, then it shouldn't be that. Might be possible it appears flatter on one side as the chick has been laying on that side since death. I'm assuming they had the proper turning and everythin.

 

[bwhitley4936]

They were turned a minimum of 3 times a day, more like 5-7 the majority of the days. After one of the first chicks hatched it knocked over my digital thermometer I had been keeping an eye on, then laid it's cold little wet self on the thermostat probe causing the temperature to spike significantly for a short period of time...like up to 107° for maybe 10 minutes at the most? Could that have possibly killed those two? There were 2 other hatchers that were still unpipped in the shell at that time too and are ok. Maybe those two were in a place in the bator that received more heat than the other two (during the temp spike...every time I turned the eggs I used an infrared thermometer to test shell temps and make sure everyone was receiving equal heat)? Or maybe they were just too genetically weak to hatch and I should quit beating myself up over it One of my hens set on a clutch of 9 eggs, and only hatched 4...so statistically I did a better job then her! Haha! As a first timer, I have learned a TON and could not have done it without this forum!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

They were turned a minimum of 3 times a day, more like 5-7 the majority of the days. After one of the first chicks hatched it knocked over my digital thermometer I had been keeping an eye on, then laid it's cold little wet self on the thermostat probe causing the temperature to spike significantly for a short period of time...like up to 107° for maybe 10 minutes at the most? Could that have possibly killed those two? There were 2 other hatchers that were still unpipped in the shell at that time too and are ok. Maybe those two were in a place in the bator that received more heat than the other two (during the temp spike...every time I turned the eggs I used an infrared thermometer to test shell temps and make sure everyone was receiving equal heat)? Or maybe they were just too genetically weak to hatch and I should quit beating myself up over it

One of my hens set on a clutch of 9 eggs, and only hatched 4...so statistically I did a better job then her! Haha! As a first timer, I have learned a TON and could not have done it without this forum!

Definitely stop beating yourself up. I have only had 1 100% hatch and that was my last one. The two before that I had three in each (3/17 & 3/36) that made it to lockdown and didn't make it out. Chances are they were too weak to make it or some unseeable problem. You did much better than my first ever hatch. (1 out of 16 survivors).

I didn't joing BYC until after that. I have had awesome hatches ever since.....lol And each one has gotten better and better.