no visible air sac

[foggyforkfarm]

When putting my last batch of eggs into the Hatcher I noticed that none of them have visible air sacs when candled. Its just solid black. So far we have had one chick hatch successfully and then another pipped and started zipping and then stopped and died. I ran my incubator at 55-60% humidity during hatching which is what the pamphlet said. I'm assuming that because my humidity was so high during incubation that I have very little to no air sac which is killing my hatch rate? Last hatch was same way. 5 chicks pipped and hatched and the other 31 did nothing.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sounds reasonable. Did you ever see air cells during incubation? You ran it at 55-60 throughout incubation? Recommended reading: Dry incubation, Hatching 101. I like to mark my air cells at least on day 7, 14, and 18.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Sounds reasonable. Did you ever see air cells during incubation? You ran it at 55-60 throughout incubation? Recommended reading: Dry incubation, Hatching 101. I like to mark my air cells at least on day 7, 14, and 18.

x's 2. I did dry hatch for my last one and love it. As long as my bator will hold above 25% I will run dry days 1-17. I also prefer my humidity to be up around 75% for lockdown and hatch. I watch my air cells closely during incubation to guide me and I also mark my air cells on days 7/14/18.

I am doing the Easter hatch and since it's still winter weather and dryer than the Sahara in here, (wood pellet stove for heating) I'm going to have to add water just to get it to the 30% for days 1-17. Hopefully by lockdown it'll be less dry and I won't have probs getting it up to my preferred range.

 

[foggyforkfarm]

The ones I have in now I am keeping at 30% humidity. I can't completely dry hatch because the humidity in my house is so low.

When I candle during incubation what I see is a dark semi circle forming at the large end of the egg and then it eventually grown so big the whole egg I'd filled. No definite air sac that I could see.

 

[foggyforkfarm]

Yes I ran 55-60% days 1-18 and 65% last three days. That's what the incubators Manuel said. So, I followed it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Unfortunately, the hatching manuals are not keeping up with the times! Many people who have hatched many batches of eggs are finding that their hatch rates are markedly improved when they do what's called a dry hatch. Go to the learning center and read "hatching 101" before attempting to incubate eggs again. You'll find lots of information that will help you to have a successful hatch.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes I ran 55-60% days 1-18 and 65% last three days. That's what the incubators Manuel said. So, I followed it.

I really hate the manufaturer's instructions. I wish they would just say, ask someone else, because they mess people up so bad. When you are just starting out with your first hatch, you have no idea why you are controlling humidity, what the importance of it is, and here's these 'instructions' throwing out a number or a how much to fill your water wells with as though that's the answer for everyone. These "instructions" don't take into consideration the myriad of factors that affect your humidty and the needs of the eggs. I swear, I'm going to write my own article on the importance of humidity.

Humidity is all about letting the proper amount of moisture leave the egg. This allows your air cells to grow. There is no "magic number". This is my philosophy. Pick a number from 30-50. Start your hatch at that percentage of humidity and then check your air cells for proper growth. If you candle, especially days 7 and 14 you can alter the humidity percentage in time to average out what your air cells need by lockdown at day 18 to increase the chances for your chicks to hatch properly.


By comparing your egg's air cells to one of the many egg charts you can be guided to what your eggs humidity needs are.
If your air cells are too small, this means that your humidity is too high and it is not letting the moisture leave the egg. This can cause chicks to drown at hatch time. If the air cell is too small you need to decrease the humidity so the egg will loose enough moisture and the air cells can grow.
If your air cells are growing too big, too fast, this means your humidity is too low and allowing too much moisture loss. This can cause the membrane to shrink wrap the chick suffocating it or keeping it from being able to move to pip and hatch. If the air cells are too big you need increase your humidity in order to slow/stop moisture loss and let your chicks developement stage catch up to the air cell growth.

It is my belief that if new hatchers monitored their air cells it would point them in the right direction to learning what humidity ranges work for them and their eggs.

 

[foggyforkfarm]

I just set more eggs on march third so I will definitely monitor the air sacs. I wish I could upload some pictures of the egg that just hatched. It didnt have an air pocket like my some in my first batch did.

 

[lizcasee]

This is my first time incubating and I have 7 bantam eggs in the incubator. It's day 11, the instructions said 55% humidity but the air sacks are too small, closer to what it should be for day 7, maybe even a bit smaller. Can I still save them by lowering the humidity, or is it probably too late?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

This is my first time incubating and I have 7 bantam eggs in the incubator. It's day 11, the instructions said 55% humidity but the air sacks are too small, closer to what it should be for day 7, maybe even a bit smaller. Can I still save them by lowering the humidity, or is it probably too late?

You have plenty of time yet to average things out. Just lower the humidity, maybe even run dry for a day or two. If the bator will hold a range above 25% w/no water, I'd run dry for the remainder of the hatch as long as the cells don't start getting too large. By lowering the humidity or running dry this should let enough moisture out for the air cells to catch up to the developement of the chick. Good job monitoring the cells and catching it when it can be helped.

Personally I think 55% is too high during the first 17 days. I run dry unless it's below 25% then I try to get it averaged about 30%.