My Peachicks Of 2014 *** Will Have Lots Of Pictures ***

[3BirdGirlz]

I like it Yoda!

 

[kathye]

I really love seeing the new babies, but can not understand why I can not successfully hatch this year. Last year we did have 2 hatch and raised them to 6mos, before selling them. This year My hen started laying in January, but the eggs were not fertile. I began trying to hatch in Feb. but none have hatched. Most still have yoke in the egg with some development, so I know they are fertile, while one was almost completely developed with a very small amount of yoke left, but still did not hatch. I have kept the temp between 99.5 -100 and humidity around 50. After putting in hatcher on day 26 we do not open it until after hatch date has passed. I am using GOF Hova-Bator incubators. One with turner for 26 days and one as a hatcher. As I said we were able to hatch 2 last year that were strong and healthy, nothing this year. What could be the cause of them dying after a small amount of development? Thanks, Kathye

 

[DylansMom]

I really love seeing the new babies, but can not understand why I can not successfully hatch this year. Last year we did have 2 hatch and raised them to 6mos, before selling them. This year My hen started laying in January, but the eggs were not fertile. I began trying to hatch in Feb. but none have hatched. Most still have yoke in the egg with some development, so I know they are fertile, while one was almost completely developed with a very small amount of yoke left, but still did not hatch. I have kept the temp between 99.5 -100 and humidity around 50. After putting in hatcher on day 26 we do not open it until after hatch date has passed. I am using GOF Hova-Bator incubators. One with turner for 26 days and one as a hatcher. As I said we were able to hatch 2 last year that were strong and healthy, nothing this year. What could be the cause of them dying after a small amount of development? Thanks, Kathye

Hi Kathye, sorry to hear you are having difficulties.

I am by no means an expert at incubating, but perhaps the old "two heads are better than one" saying will hold true. First lets start with the obvious, what are you using to monitor your temps and humidity? Do you have a second therm/hygro. as a fail safe incase the first one/one in the bator is malfunctioning? Did you clean it out and sanitize it with bleach or another sanitizing product before firing it up this year? Bacteria can grow in them during storage and can kill your developing chicks. Where are you located? You must be in a warmer climate than I am for your girls to start laying in Jan. unless there was an artificial light source that may have thrown them off schedule? I would wonder about the males fertility at that time of year if you were up north, but you said they have some development, so they must be fertilized. How about the health of the hens? Do you worm them? Provide plenty of vitamins and sunshine? What is their main feed? I know a certain # of quitters are to be expected, but not as many as you are having. Those are the things that pop into my head right off the bat, maybe someone else can think of a few more possibilities.

 

[kathye]

Thank you for responding. We are in the midlands of SC and yes I had a light in the pen for warmth. I am using a hydrometer from Walmart, but also 2 other thermometers in each. I did use bleach to kill bacteria in both before setting them up. The hen seems as healthy as last year and nothing has changed with her care. I have noticed a sudden increase in temp a few times in the hatcher (a degree or 2)when an egg is placed in it and have had to reduce the temp, but since they are dying so early in development I don't think that is the problem. Not sure why this would happen. It really bothers me that they die. I am a responsible animal owner and try really hard to give the best care. The incubators were new last year.

I think I'll clean the hatcher again after taking out the egg in there now and switch the turner to it and see if I get better results. I advertised for a broody hen near by to let her try, but no success.

 

[casportpony]

I lost a couple of ducklings to E. coli infections that they got in my incubator, probably because I didn't do a good enough job cleaning it. The E. coli was confirmed by necropsies at UC Davis, maybe you could look into that?

Clemson Veterinary Diagnostic Center
500 Clemson Road, PO Box 102406
Columbia, SC 29229 Phone 803-788-2260 Fax 803-788-8058
http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/lab/

Thinking out-loud here, but what if one were to run their incubator with a dish of activated oxine? That's probably what I'm going to do since it is impossible to clean every square inch (electronics, sensors, etc) with bleach.

-Kathy

 

[kathye]

Thank you for the Clemson extension info. We are just outside of Columbia so may take an egg there. Do you remember the cost?

 

[casportpony]

Thank you for the Clemson extension info. We are just outside of Columbia so may take an egg there. Do you remember the cost?

You'd have to call and ask... They're free in CA for CA residents.

-Kathy

 

[kathye]

OK thanks

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Digital thermostats will keep the incubator at a constant temp because it is all electric. If you have a wafer it is a mechanical thermostat that relies on a constant room temperature.

Say you were my DW and you decided to let some good fresh air in the house and left the window open all night. And that the room temp went down twenty degrees and the hatch rate dropped to twenty percent. And you decided to upgrade your incubator to a digital model because it promotes sanity and is a really good idea...

Just sayin'

KS, I'm no electrical engineer here by a long shot. But a wafer thermostat works by a fluid or gas inside the wafer that expands with heat,and contracts with cooler temps. I do not see how a wafer thermostat relies on a constant temperature to work. I have a Humidaire 50 barrel type incubator with a wafer thermostat. Right now because the temps are cooler this incubator is inside my garage which is not heated. This morning while driving to work the car thermometer read 44 degrees,,yet 10 minutes before I left for work, I turned eggs and rotated them and before I opened the door the two digital thermometers read 100.2 and 100.0 respectively. Tonight when I came home the outside temp was 57 degrees and when I did chores,and checked and turned eggs again the temps was both 100.0 this time. Granted,a more stable constant outside temp is the best to keep the incubators controlling temp easier to maintain but a wafer thermostat works no matter what temp it is surrounding the wafer,but you will need to adjust it to get it to be close,then recheck because the inside of the bator temp changes very little.

 

[MinxFox]

I wanted to show the new banner for my website. It is finally being created and here is the new banner for the top of the main pages. The web guy is removing the white cross thing to the right of the bird if it can be removed. Please tell me what you think?

I love it! It looks like a magazine cover.