Is this the best I can expect?

[maureen9962]

Out of 36 eggs 1 pipped and did not make it out, 2 undeveloped past 14 days, 6 fully developed never pipped. The rest hatched about 1 day early. I am mainly concerned with the 6 that were fully developed but never pipped. Incubator ran at 100. The humidity was over 70% when the hatch started and would go up as more hatched. I have heard 70-90% was a good hatch rate at the best of circumstances. Never have had them fully develop and not pip though.

 

[lwarctic]

If these are shipped eggs I think you did very well. Sounds like your humidity was a little high if you ran it that high throughout the whole hatch. I should be around 40% and then up to around 65% - 70% at lockdown. (last three days).

 

[FenDruadin]

That's not a bad rate at all, especially for a first time. I like my hatches to be 85-90%, but it's taken time to formalize the program that works for me.

For eggs that fully develop but never pip, my guess is the most common cause is under-developed air cells. In my opinion, many people run their humidity too high for their situation, and never realize it because even with an under-developed air cell, most eggs will still hatch. But some will not, because they can't lift their little bills high enough into the air cell to breathe, and they end up drowning.

If you candled right before lockdown, do you remember how large the air cell was? For best results, it should take up about 1/3 of the volume of the egg--that will look LARGE if you've only ever seen underdeveloped cells. If it was smaller than that, then your average humidity was too high.

I run my humidity SUPER low--in the teens and twenties--right up until lockdown. Of course, I'm in the humid south so I need a lower humidity than someone in a drier area. But if your cells were underdeveloped, then I recommend you try lowering the humidity some for your next incubation and see if you get better results.

Still, congrats on the 75%--that's really very good. It's about what my first hatch was, too, and I was pretty happy with it.

And, as someone already said, if they were shipped eggs then WOW--that's a terrific rate! And for that reason, I don't even bother with shipped eggs, lol.

Congrats!