Lost Over Half of Incubated Eggs, First Time Incubator

[MamuchkaJ]

I’ve had chickens for three years, this past summer we let two broody hens raise chicks, but I recently bought an incubator and decided to hatch chicks that way. It’s just a small 12 egg incubator. We started out with 12 eggs and immediately found out through candling that one wasn’t fertile. A few days later we discovered one more that had died early. The other ten seemed to be developing just fine when we canceled them on Day 7. We added water to the well every day (but not necessarily the same time every day ) and watched the humidity as the instructional booklet said to keep it at 50%. We went away for Thanksgiving for a day and a half, but added water right before we left and right after we got back and the humidity hadn’t seemed to fluctuate that much (when we left it was 50%, when we got back it was 52%) However, the next time we candled the eggs, on Day 14, we seemed to have lost over half of them. Only five eggs were left that looked to be viable. These five ended up hatching without any problem and the chicks are beautiful and healthy, but I’m not sure what happened with the others. The only thing I can think is the humidity either got too low or too high during the day and a half that we weren’t at the house. We are going to try again with the incubator since five out of twelve eggs is pretty disappointing. Any ideas what went wrong?

 

[wolfwalker]

I can think of dozens off the top of my head.

A few questions to help narrow it down.

What brand Incubator are you using?

Are these eggs from your flock or shipped?

If from your flock, did you check fertility?

I normally check fertility from the pen on all eggs for seven days before incubating. I have found out in one pen that only two hens were fertile as he was ignoring the others.

Did you verify the temp and humidity controller of your incubator with another known thermometer / hygrometer?

Where is the incubator located?
What is the surrounding air temp throughout the day/night?
Is there any chance sunlight could have landed on the incubator?

I once lost 40 some day 16 eggs due to taking the sun screen out of the windows to clean the glass and had them off for 2 hours. The incubator quickly heated up to lethal temps.

What breed were you attempting to hatch?

Some breeds sadly have issues with lethal genes or inbreeding.

 

[MamuchkaJ]

The brand of the incubator is Kebonnixs. I bought it off of Amazon after reading the reviews. I did not verify the temp/humidity. What sort of thermometer/hygrometer would you use?
The eggs are from our flock, they are various breeds, some from TSC, some that were given to us by a friend (Barred Rock, Lace Wyandotte, Cinnamon Queen, Rhode Island Red, Isa Brown, Easter Egger). We checked for fertility for a week ahead of time, but an egg may have been put in from one of our older hens that the roosters ignore. The incubator is located on our kitchen counter. It is not near a window, but is situated next to the door leading into our attached garage, which is heated, but still cooler than the rest of the house.

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I use a govee bluetooth hygrometer found here. They're about 15 dollars. There is a new and improved version it looks like for 35 that I have no experience with.

Search how to salt and temperature check them for accuracy (both mine were dead on) These little units are egg sized. I just toss one in an egg spot and let it run.

 

[NatJ]

The only thing I can think is the humidity either got too low or too high during the day and a half that we weren’t at the house.

My guess would be temperature, not humidity, killed them during the time you were away.
Wrong temperature kills much faster than wrong humidity.

For humidity, as long as the eggs lose the correct amount of total moisture by hatch day, they are usually fine. Day-to-day fluctuations are not a big deal, until the point where eggs are actually hatching.

I don't think there is any way for the humidity in the incubator to kill them within that length of time, at that point in incubation.

 

[wolfwalker]

The incubator is located on our kitchen counter. It is not near a window, but is situated next to the door leading into our attached garage, which is heated, but still cooler than the rest of the house.

The very act of cooking and off gassing of pans and food is enough to kill embryo's. Especially if you use Teflon coated pans, which is what non stick pans are. Teflon kills poultry. Also I agree temperature fluctuations did not help