My chicks made it to the end and now they're all dying at piping

[Nichol]

This is my first time incubating chicken eggs, and I've made a number of mistakes but am learning a lot for next time. Of my 10 eggs that I started with, 7 made it to lock down. We had one successfully hatch. Very exciting! Unfortunately, the next 3 that piped have died. All 3 have piped on the bottom of the egg (the side that they're resting on in the incubator). Two of them died before I discovered the pip. Both had an oozy, watery substance coming out of the egg. One was not in the air cell. The other one I found right away and turned it over. This one died when it was almost done zipping the egg. It stopped on the bottom of the egg and then died. What have I done wrong that they're all piping on the wrong side? I want to be sure to fix it before next time.

My humidity has been between 62% and 75%, although it did rise when the first chick hatched.

 

[Poetical Peeps]

It may be that your first chick knocked the other eggs around a little -- that can throw them off kilter quite a bit. It sounds like the chicks drowned. I've lost some like this, too -- so disappointing when you're *so* close.

All you can really do is keep a close watch -- maybe mark the upside of the eggs when you put them in lockdown so you can tell if they've been bumped. If you can find a way to prevent/minimize hatched chicks bumping into your unhatched eggs, you'll probably have better luck next time. Some people don't like to open their incubator much during hatch, because humidity can plummet, but I like to get chicks into the brooder and away from unhatched eggs pretty fast. If you add a little hot water and/or keep a wet washcloth in there, the humidity can usually rebound pretty quickly.

 

[sumi]

It sounds like your chicks drowned. I had that happen once with one egg. It was in the wrong place in the (home made) incubator

Next time try for a 50-55% humidity, then up it a little when they are ready to hatch.