Low hatch rates, shrink wrapping and unabsorbed yolks

[Our Nook of the Woods]

We’ve been having a heck of a time with our hatches this year and we’ve changed NOTHING. We use the NurtureRight 360 and have 3 of them to doublecheck and compare with external temperature and humidity monitoring. Everything seems on point. We’ve always followed Holldereids methods carefully and until this year, always had great hatches.

Yesterday we had 1 full incubator of ducklings and 1 full incubator of chicks start hatching and every single one was shrink wrapped. None of the ducks had even internally pipped, we had to make air holes and then eventually completely assist. None of the yolks in the ducklings are fully absorbed.

Now I’ve got 1 full incubator left of ducklings with 100% fertility, all developing very well and I’m wondering what I can do to avoid another nightmarish hatch.

Any ideas what the heck could be going on all of a sudden?

 

[hysop]

Wow umm has your breeding stock changed?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Same thing has been happening to a friend's (chicken) hatching
Watching to see what the possibilities are. They're developing; feathered but the yolk is unabsorbed. One did hatch out but with the unabsorbed yolk, passed the next day. Out of 15 only 7 hatched "normal" & survived.

 

[Our Nook of the Woods]

Wow umm has your breeding stock changed?

Obviously not

 

[Our Nook of the Woods]

Wow umm has your breeding stock changed?

Obviously not.

 

[Our Nook of the Woods]

Same thing has been happening to a friend's (chicken) hatching
Watching to see what the possibilities are. They're developing; feathered but the yolk is unabsorbed. One did hatch out but with the unabsorbed yolk, passed the next day. Out of 15 only 7 hatched "normal" & survived.

Yes, nothing we can do about this current hatch, but hoping to glean some sort of new info to try with the next batch.

 

[BelovedBirds]

We’ve been having a heck of a time with our hatches this year and we’ve changed NOTHING. We use the NurtureRight 360 and have 3 of them to doublecheck and compare with external temperature and humidity monitoring. Everything seems on point. We’ve always followed Holldereids methods carefully and until this year, always had great hatches.

Yesterday we had 1 full incubator of ducklings and 1 full incubator of chicks start hatching and every single one was shrink wrapped. None of the ducks had even internally pipped, we had to make air holes and then eventually completely assist. None of the yolks in the ducklings are fully absorbed.

Now I’ve got 1 full incubator left of ducklings with 100% fertility, all developing very well and I’m wondering what I can do to avoid another nightmarish hatch.

Any ideas what the heck could be going on all of a sudden?

If none of the ducklings had internally pipped, why make safety holes? Is it possible that this caused them to shrink wrap?
How did you know they were shrink wrapped, was it when you opened them up fully?
What day are the ducklings on? They take a long time to hatch and need time to fully absorb. What is the situation now? Did they pass away in the shell?

 

[BelovedBirds]

We’ve been having a heck of a time with our hatches this year and we’ve changed NOTHING. We use the NurtureRight 360 and have 3 of them to doublecheck and compare with external temperature and humidity monitoring. Everything seems on point. We’ve always followed Holldereids methods carefully and until this year, always had great hatches.

Yesterday we had 1 full incubator of ducklings and 1 full incubator of chicks start hatching and every single one was shrink wrapped. None of the ducks had even internally pipped, we had to make air holes and then eventually completely assist. None of the yolks in the ducklings are fully absorbed.

Now I’ve got 1 full incubator left of ducklings with 100% fertility, all developing very well and I’m wondering what I can do to avoid another nightmarish hatch.

Any ideas what the heck could be going on all of a sudden?

Next time, have a read of this if you haven't already, its a brilliant guide. Assisted hatching article
What was the humidity for the chicks and ducklings?

 

[Our Nook of the Woods]

If none of the ducklings had internally pipped, why make safety holes? Is it possible that this caused them to shrink wrap?
How did you know they were shrink wrapped, was it when you opened them up fully?
What day are the ducklings on? They take a long time to hatch and need time to fully absorb. What is the situation now? Did they pass away in the shell?

It was Day 29 and we didn’t want them to die in the shell. We suspected shrink wrapping since none had pipped and the chicks (in a separate incubator) were and we’d never had that happen.

We had to help every single one, attempted to just let some stay in, we got 2 weak survivors.

 

[Our Nook of the Woods]

Next time, have a read of this if you haven't already, its a brilliant guide. Assisted hatching article
What was the humidity for the chicks and ducklings?

60% and then 75% for ducks, 55% and then 70% for chicks