they both started pecking around the egg 5 hours ago, stopped, and the membrane (or whatever that white is under the shell) had dried out, so I had to break the membrane where the shell was pecked 3/4 of the way around the egg. I separated the egg a bit, but didn't take the chicks out of the egg. I came back 20 mins later, and one chick was stuck to the shell, the other was out. I pulled the stuck chicks bottom shell off. Put it back in, came back 40 mins later, the first chick was almost dry, but the one I removed body had it's head stuck in some kind of goo in the top half of the shell. It was covering it's face and beak. I thought it was dead at first. I decided to go ahead and remove the shell completely from the chick. I then sprayed the rest of the shells with water. Phew, guess humidity was too low, causing the drying membranes and the chick sticking to the shell, but I'd much rather help after they've started to hatch, and the chicks live, than them never hatching at all! I still have the weak chick in the bator... We will see what happens with it!
Not a good sign if it the intestines and not the yolk you are seeing
If I assist, I only remove shell from the top...I let the chick kick off the bottom of the shell because sometimes you can hurt the chick if the umbilical cord is still attached to the shell. Your daughter must be so excited to see all those fluffy chicks
Our weakest chick died last night. I have 13 still alive. They're still hatching!...? They were all put in they same day. The temp was right, did a dry hatch, all I can think of is hot spots in the bator.
Our weakest chick died last night. I have 13 still alive. They're still hatching!...? They were all put in they same day. The temp was right, did a dry hatch, all I can think of is hot spots in the bator.
It is normal for them to hatch over a period of days. If you have still air bator, then there are warmer/cooler spots. And sometimes they just develop faster/slower but so far your hatch is going strong
Help again!! So I decided to open an egg, since I've only had 1 chick in the last 24 hours, and it was well over 12 hrs ago. I opened one, the chick was dead, no eyes, no top beak, and brain poked out. The air sac was gone, and the chick took up the entire egg. Opened another, it stunk, but still had blood vessels in the tiny bit of yolk sac that was unabsorbed. It had busted through the air sac as well and took up the entire egg. Opened another. It had completely absorbed the yolk sac and all vessels, busted through the airsac, and filled its entire shell... What does this sound like? The membrane was still moist, so it wasn't low humidity. Did a dry hatch, so it wasn't high humidity. Temp was 99.5. Power was out 2 hours yesterday, but I wrapped up the bator. This happened last hatch. 12 fully developed chicks died, one was deformed just like this one.
Help again!! So I decided to open an egg, since I've only had 1 chick in the last 24 hours, and it was well over 12 hrs ago. I opened one, the chick was dead, no eyes, no top beak, and brain poked out. The air sac was gone, and the chick took up the entire egg. Opened another, it stunk, but still had blood vessels in the tiny bit of yolk sac that was unabsorbed. It had busted through the air sac as well and took up the entire egg. Opened another. It had completely absorbed the yolk sac and all vessels, busted through the airsac, and filled its entire shell... What does this sound like? The membrane was still moist, so it wasn't low humidity. Did a dry hatch, so it wasn't high humidity. Temp was 99.5. Power was out 2 hours yesterday, but I wrapped up the bator. This happened last hatch. 12 fully developed chicks died, one was deformed just like this one.
Here's a picture you might can tell. All I did was break through the end with the air sac (or where it should have been).
All I removed was the shell and layer stuck to it. As you can see, the chick is completely filling the egg. I ended up opening all 7 of the remaining eggs. All were dead, and 4 were like that one above... No air sac.
Here is the deformed chick.
I had a chick like this with the last batch as well.
Also, 4 eggs were internally pipped, but dead.
Do you candle and keep track of the air sac development through the incubation? Since you did a dry hatch, I would think you would not have an issue with air cell development or size
From what I understand, high humidity can contribute to chick growing too big and air cell being to small, but not sure. If the chick pipped and there is no air cell or it is too small, then it won't have enough air to complete the hatch, which may be what happened with some of yours. The under development is probably just nature...it happens.
Thank you! I do candle and kind of eye judge air sacs. On day 18, before lockdown, I candled, and all air cells seemed pretty normal. Infact, I wondered if some were too big. Maybe that's the ones that ended up hatching, and it was actually the right size! Just a learning process I guess! I know most people probably don't open all unhatched eggs and observe the remains, but until I get good at this, I'm doing so to try to determine the reason of death. Out of 36 eggs, I ended up with 12 live chicks. Last round I had 35 eggs, and 9 chicks lived. I had a little better turn out this time! As long as I continue to improve, it's getting better!
Thank you! I do candle and kind of eye judge air sacs. On day 18, before lockdown, I candled, and all air cells seemed pretty normal. Infact, I wondered if some were too big. Maybe that's the ones that ended up hatching, and it was actually the right size! Just a learning process I guess! I know most people probably don't open all unhatched eggs and observe the remains, but until I get good at this, I'm doing so to try to determine the reason of death. Out of 36 eggs, I ended up with 12 live chicks. Last round I had 35 eggs, and 9 chicks lived. I had a little better turn out this time! As long as I continue to improve, it's getting better!
Setting my own. I have 9 RIR hens and had a RIR roo until 3 weeks ago. I was going to fill up the bator this time (45 eggs) but I found my roo dead in the middle of the pen. not sure what happened to him! All the hens were fine, and as I said, he was in the middle, so nothing got to him. Went ahead and put the eggs I had in the bator. Figured I'd get a roo from either last batch (4 weeks old now) or this batch, but a friend had two rooster he wanted to get rid of. I think they're brahmas. So I put them in with our hens. Our hens plucked all the feathers from their feet and legs after all the feathers were out, they left them alone. I didn't see it until they were covered in blood. I was told to separate them and spray paint the bloody legs so they wouldn't peck at the red, but I left them and observed them and they left them alone! Silly chickens! I guess when spring comes I'll see how chicks turn out with them. Right now my hens have stopped laying.
they both started pecking around the egg 5 hours ago, stopped, and the membrane (or whatever that white is under the shell) had dried out, so I had to break the membrane where the shell was pecked 3/4 of the way around the egg. I separated the egg a bit, but didn't take the chicks out of the egg. I came back 20 mins later, and one chick was stuck to the shell, the other was out. I pulled the stuck chicks bottom shell off. Put it back in, came back 40 mins later, the first chick was almost dry, but the one I removed body had it's head stuck in some kind of goo in the top half of the shell. It was covering it's face and beak. I thought it was dead at first. I decided to go ahead and remove the shell completely from the chick. I then sprayed the rest of the shells with water. Phew, guess humidity was too low, causing the drying membranes and the chick sticking to the shell, but I'd much rather help after they've started to hatch, and the chicks live, than them never hatching at all! I still have the weak chick in the bator... We will see what happens with it!
not sure what happened to him! All the hens were fine, and as I said, he was in the middle, so nothing got to him. Went ahead and put the eggs I had in the bator. Figured I'd get a roo from either last batch (4 weeks old now) or this batch, but a friend had two rooster he wanted to get rid of. I think they're brahmas. So I put them in with our hens. Our hens plucked all the feathers from their feet and legs 
after all the feathers were out, they left them alone. I didn't see it until they were covered in blood. I was told to separate them and spray paint the bloody legs so they wouldn't peck at the red, but I left them and observed them and they left them alone! Silly chickens! I guess when spring comes I'll see how chicks turn out with them. Right now my hens have stopped laying.
