My first shipped egg incubation was a fail

[Silverwulfess]

Had two eggs hatch on day 22. One died, think it was stuck as made a big hole in the end but no zipping as such. It was very active and vocal to start. By time I realised no breathing after humming whether to help and everywhere saying wait 24 hours, it was too late to help it. The second one I assisted as was having difficulties from what I saw had pipped in pointy end. Wasn’t gonna make same mistake twice! Have one seemingly healthy chick.

20 eggs set, 13 made to lockdown, and one chick.

Tapped on eggs and candled both light and water remaining ones today. Nothing. Opened four from little hole in top. One stunk, that got chucked. The other three no sign of life. Opened completely, one yolker (that ones shell was too dark to tell), and fully formed with only a little yolk sack on them. None internally pipped and very much no longer alive.

Temp 37.5 - 38.5 (though some nights I did see it dip to 37.2, will try incubating it in the polystyrene it came in next time).
Humidity 30-35% first 18 days, 60-65% during lockdown
Two different thermometers and a hygrometer to verify but not entirely sure how accurate anything is anymore.

I’m meant to be getting delivery of 37 eggs next week and I feel like I’ll just kill them! Now I’ve got one little lavender chick all on its lonesome we live in a place where the breeds I choose aren’t available for purchase so I have to ship eggs in. It’s a costly exercise it seems if this is the result!

On first glance, do you see anything glaringly wrong? Might autopsy the rest tomorrow when I remove little chick from incubator but only so much one can take in one day.

 

[yakitori]

Definitely check you incubator’s humidity and temp with a calibrated thermometer and hygrometer if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve eliminated possibilities of the incubator being at fault, then it’s most likely the quality if the shipped eggs or the shippung process that is causing your low hatch rates. DonMt give up just yet!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

First, congratulations on the one chick you did hatch. Sadly, a single (or no) hatchlings from shipped eggs isn't unusual. I had a couple of those, myself, this past year.

I'm a hands-on hatcher, and I believe that's what saved the two single hatchlings I had. I, too, waited a bit too long with the first batch and a chick that had internally pipped early but was in a position where candling didn't show the pip died in shell, to my extreme disappointment. It had been wiggling and looking on track to hatch...and didn't.

While artificial incubation is science-based, I believe, based on my own experience, that there is definitely an element of intuition, too. The advice to wait 24 hours after external pipping is generally sound and intended to prevent overenthusiastic (and often, new) hatchers from peeling a hatchling out of its shell before it's ready or actually needs help and potentially having a bad outcome.

With shipped eggs, especially very damaged ones, hatching can be difficult and nuanced - and some of the understanding of the right moment to intervene comes with experience. You can try to do everything correctly and still encounter problems or failed hatches.

Keep learning as much as you can, getting more experience, and remember that each hatch is different - so next time may be a much better hatch. I hope you find that true with your batch!

 

[Silverwulfess]

Definitely check you incubator’s humidity and temp with a calibrated thermometer and hygrometer if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve eliminated possibilities of the incubator being at fault, then it’s most likely the quality if the shipped eggs or the shippung process that is causing your low hatch rates. DonMt give up just yet!

I’ve got a second thermometer on the way which should be here soon. Had a separate mercury thermometer and hygrometer in there but might grab another one too. I just thought since most developed to lockdown that the shipping process must’ve been okay. Is this not the case? Our delivery guy is awesome and was expecting them but shipped sent with no labels on outside to indicate fragile or anything, so don’t know how they were treated before then and seller did ship the cartons so eggs were on their side.

 

[Silverwulfess]

The little stinker has splayed legs, so I’ll grab some small rubber bands and straws to fix that today. Via wing feather sexing, looks like maybe a girl.

 

[Silverwulfess]

First, congratulations on the one chick you did hatch. Sadly, a single (or no) hatchlings from shipped eggs isn't unusual. I had a couple of those, myself, this past year.

I'm a hands-on hatcher, and I believe that's what saved the two single hatchlings I had. I, too, waited a bit too long with the first batch and a chick that had internally pipped early but was in a position where candling didn't show the pip died in shell, to my extreme disappointment. It had been wiggling and looking on track to hatch...and didn't.

While artificial incubation is science-based, I believe, based on my own experience, that there is definitely an element of intuition, too. The advice to wait 24 hours after external pipping is generally sound and intended to prevent overenthusiastic (and often, new) hatchers from peeling a hatchling out of its shell before it's ready or actually needs help and potentially having a bad outcome.

With shipped eggs, especially very damaged ones, hatching can be difficult and nuanced - and some of the understanding of the right moment to intervene comes with experience. You can try to do everything correctly and still encounter problems or failed hatches.

Keep learning as much as you can, getting more experience, and remember that each hatch is different - so next time may be a much better hatch. I hope you find that true with your batch!

Thank you for your kind words. I really did need to hear that and glad to know sometimes intervening is the right thing. I wanted to give the hatch the best chance possible but I think now I’m better equipped to know for the future.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll include links to two troubleshooting sites. That might help you when you open those other eggs to try to determine what went wrong. As you can see there are a lot of possible things that could cause problems, it is often not easy to know exactly what went wrong. All you can do is the best you can.

Mississippi State Incubation Troubleshooting

http://extension.msstate.edu/content/trouble-shooting-failures-egg-incubation

Illinois Incubation troubleshooting

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html

One general rule is that if the embryo doesn't develop or dies in the first week of incubation it's probably due to something that happened before incubation started. If it dies in the last week of incubation it has something to do with your incubation. That's not always correct, there are exceptions to anything, but maybe something to keep in mind.

If you can find an old medical thermometer I like to use those to calibrate my thermometers. They should already be calibrated in the temperature range we are looking for. Most calibration methods look at freezing and boiling. That's not where we operate. I never trust the thermometers that come with the incubators or any other uncalibrated thermometers. They are not always that accurate.

Is your incubator a forced air (has a fan) or is it a still air? Warm air rises. If it is a forced air the temperature should be the same throughout but in a still air the elevation you take the temperature is extremely important.

You will often see to expect a 50% hatch rate with shipped eggs. I've yet to get close to a 50% rate. I haven't hatched shipped eggs that often but I've had 20%, 33%, and 100% success rate. If you average them out they come pretty close to 50% but not on an individual hatch basis. The 20% and 100% were from the same shipper one year apart.

How the shipper packages them has an important part to play. How and how long they store them before shipping can have an effect. But neither they nor you have any control over how they are handled during shipping. They may get really hot or really cold or be shaken up a lot. Those can have a big impact on how they hatch.

 

[Silverwulfess]

I checked air cells later on, a couple were saddled by then but the rest okay. I rested upright for about six hours but was nervous as we are in summer and the temperature in the house at the time was mid to late 20s so was unsure best course but didn’t want them to start development at that temperature! The incubator is a fan one. I’m definitely going to do thermometer calibrations, multi thermometers and check all areas of the incubator with the thermometer before the next lot.

 

[gimmie birdies]

This red chick "Quazzy" was a splay. I didn't treat the splay though. The other chicks his age at the time, were more active and he could not keep up. so I kept him separate for a while, at 2 weeks old, I got him younger than him chicks. He didn't have to compete with them, and would lay on his tummy to be as tall as they were. Soon he fixed himself. I hope your baby can do the same.

 

[Mrs J]

A good indicator if shipped eggs have been damaged in transit, is the air sacks. The air sack can become detached. Normally if you receive shipped eggs you should stand them pointy end down for everything to move back into place for 24 hours. (Not sure this works myself) I have followed this and still had abnormal air sacks and the embryo has quit. I tend to leave mine standing for 36hrs (I get next day shipping) now at room temp, Once they go into the incubator, temp 37.5, The first 18 days I have 40-45 humidity, lockdown 60-65. My first hatch wasn’t as good as I wished, but I learnt so much, as you will too. Ps..the anxiety of hatching never goes away, it just eases with experience