During my past two hatches, I have ended up with a number of chicks that never breached their air-cells and which, upon my opening their eggs, I found that they were all dead. I am going to list a summary of the conditions of my past two hatches in hopes that someone will see what went wrong and where. I used a forced-air styrofoam 1588 Genesis Hovabator for both hatches.
For the second to last incubation, the temperature was constantly at 100 degrees except for two brief 102 degree spikes, and I kept the humidity between 30-40% (this is with no water in the trays, and it is impossible to get the humidity lower, since where I live the normal humidity inside and outside the house ranges from 60-90% and sometimes higher), and for lockdown I kept it at a constant 65%. The chicks began hatching on the afternoon/evening of Day 20, and, because I had read not to, I did not open the incubator to get out the ones that hatched. I woke up on Day 21 to find nine chicks out, and the humidity was at 90%. I took out the vent plug and unblocked the hole for the turner cord, but the humidity only fell into the high 80's. There were no others that had pipped or zipped, so, afraid that they would drown, I created a very humid environment, opened the incubator, and removed the hatched chicks. After that, I kept it at 65% for a few more days until I gave up and opened the unhatched eggs. A total of 18 out of 29 eggs hatched, 4 died of identifiable causes, and I found 7 fully-developed dead chicks that had not breached their air-cells or pipped.
The conditions for the last incubation were nearly identical to those listed above, except that on Day 17, there was a six-hour power-outage during the evening, during which time the temperature fell to 82 degrees and the humidity rose to 64% (I covered it with a blanket). I kept the humidity strictly between 60-70% during lockdown (the majority being 65% or between 63-65%). I assumed that the chicks who had never breached their air-cells had drowned because of the 90% humidity spike in the last hatch, so I determined this time to remove each chick and its shell after it hatched. I stayed up the night of Day 20 and, after each chick hatched, I would wait until the humidity rose to 67-68%, and then remove it as planned. The humidity would drop briefly to 63-64%, and then would remain in the 63-65% range. This was often with the vent plug out, and the humidity outside the incubator was much higher than that inside the incubator, and I was not worried about shrink-wrapping any of the chicks since they continued to pip, zip, and hatch without assistance (the humidity never dropped past 62%). Sixteen out of 29 eggs hatched, and, because none of the remaining eggs showed any signs of pipping or hatching, I went to bed. When I got up mid-morning on Day 21, the humidity was at 51%, so I raised it back to 65% and waited another day. There were no pips, and no cheeping, so I turned off the incubator, candled all the eggs, noted that none had broken through to the air cell, and opened them in hopes that some might still be alive (I thought that if I had opened them earlier last time, they might not have died yet). Four of the 13 unhatched were standards, and 9 were bantams (also, I don't know if this means anything, but all the standard eggs in the incubator hatched before the bantam eggs); of the standards, two were almost fully-developed, and had yolk-sacs the size of golf balls, and two had died quite early on; one of the bantams died early on, a few were mostly-developed and had yolk-sacs the size of quarters, and the rest looked pretty much ready to hatch. They were all dead, stiff, and smelled slightly.
I have wondered if some died because of the power-outage, but I thought that they would have survived a lower temperature drop than that from my readings of the accounts of others. I have also wondered if it could be that the higher temperature killed the males (since I have read that males don't tend to survive higher temperatures as well), but I have my doubts about that. I have a feeling that they died during lockdown, but before the others started to hatch, but I am not entirely sure and I can't prove it. I am gentle when I candle on the evening of Day 17, and I try not to jar them, but could I have killed them while candling?
So does anyone have any idea what the problem might be and what I could do to avoid the deaths in future hatches?
(I am sorry it is so much information, and thanks to anyone who read it
)
For the second to last incubation, the temperature was constantly at 100 degrees except for two brief 102 degree spikes, and I kept the humidity between 30-40% (this is with no water in the trays, and it is impossible to get the humidity lower, since where I live the normal humidity inside and outside the house ranges from 60-90% and sometimes higher), and for lockdown I kept it at a constant 65%. The chicks began hatching on the afternoon/evening of Day 20, and, because I had read not to, I did not open the incubator to get out the ones that hatched. I woke up on Day 21 to find nine chicks out, and the humidity was at 90%. I took out the vent plug and unblocked the hole for the turner cord, but the humidity only fell into the high 80's. There were no others that had pipped or zipped, so, afraid that they would drown, I created a very humid environment, opened the incubator, and removed the hatched chicks. After that, I kept it at 65% for a few more days until I gave up and opened the unhatched eggs. A total of 18 out of 29 eggs hatched, 4 died of identifiable causes, and I found 7 fully-developed dead chicks that had not breached their air-cells or pipped.
The conditions for the last incubation were nearly identical to those listed above, except that on Day 17, there was a six-hour power-outage during the evening, during which time the temperature fell to 82 degrees and the humidity rose to 64% (I covered it with a blanket). I kept the humidity strictly between 60-70% during lockdown (the majority being 65% or between 63-65%). I assumed that the chicks who had never breached their air-cells had drowned because of the 90% humidity spike in the last hatch, so I determined this time to remove each chick and its shell after it hatched. I stayed up the night of Day 20 and, after each chick hatched, I would wait until the humidity rose to 67-68%, and then remove it as planned. The humidity would drop briefly to 63-64%, and then would remain in the 63-65% range. This was often with the vent plug out, and the humidity outside the incubator was much higher than that inside the incubator, and I was not worried about shrink-wrapping any of the chicks since they continued to pip, zip, and hatch without assistance (the humidity never dropped past 62%). Sixteen out of 29 eggs hatched, and, because none of the remaining eggs showed any signs of pipping or hatching, I went to bed. When I got up mid-morning on Day 21, the humidity was at 51%, so I raised it back to 65% and waited another day. There were no pips, and no cheeping, so I turned off the incubator, candled all the eggs, noted that none had broken through to the air cell, and opened them in hopes that some might still be alive (I thought that if I had opened them earlier last time, they might not have died yet). Four of the 13 unhatched were standards, and 9 were bantams (also, I don't know if this means anything, but all the standard eggs in the incubator hatched before the bantam eggs); of the standards, two were almost fully-developed, and had yolk-sacs the size of golf balls, and two had died quite early on; one of the bantams died early on, a few were mostly-developed and had yolk-sacs the size of quarters, and the rest looked pretty much ready to hatch. They were all dead, stiff, and smelled slightly.
I have wondered if some died because of the power-outage, but I thought that they would have survived a lower temperature drop than that from my readings of the accounts of others. I have also wondered if it could be that the higher temperature killed the males (since I have read that males don't tend to survive higher temperatures as well), but I have my doubts about that. I have a feeling that they died during lockdown, but before the others started to hatch, but I am not entirely sure and I can't prove it. I am gentle when I candle on the evening of Day 17, and I try not to jar them, but could I have killed them while candling?
So does anyone have any idea what the problem might be and what I could do to avoid the deaths in future hatches?
(I am sorry it is so much information, and thanks to anyone who read it
