Oh snap. Eggs in lockdown, fairly small air cells

[wrestling_mom]

Air cell is a bit small. humidity now is at 25 percent at lockdown. I know humidity should be higher, but with smaller cells,is it safe to raise humidity?

 

[wrestling_mom]

No one has any suggestions???

 

[BayGoose]

Personally, I wouldn't raise the humidity if the air cells are too small. Hopefully they'll have a chance to grow in size. If you see a pip, then raise the humidity.

 

[bwalden]

I agree I would raise it.

 

[BayGoose]

Maybe lightly mist them with warm water. That helps with moisture loss caused by evaporation.

 

[wrestling_mom]

Thank You. My 10 yr old is having his gallbladder out in about 3 and a half hours, and knowing my luck, the fuzzies will start pipping and all today. They aren't "due" til the 7th, but we all know how that goes, lol.

 

[wrestling_mom]

NO external pips, but from looking at cells,I would say ALL pipped and died internally. I am soooooooooooooo sick of every hatch since LASTJuly ending no or only ONE live chicks. I think it's time to seriously evaluate my hens. These are allone year olds, noreason that they shouldn't be able to have healthy chicks. What is the first thing to look for?

 

[mstricer]

Are you adding water throughout your hatch. If so try a dry hatch. What kind of a incubator are you using?

 

[California_chickie]

I would agree-- you should try dry incubating. I've done dry incubation twice, and although the first time completely stressed me out because it was so different & I constantly had to resist the urge to NOT stress about adding water & checking humidity rates, my hatches were much more successful. This thread below, pretty much sums it all up & was soooooo helpful to me. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubation-cheat-sheet ---Renee, the woman who wrote it, was very thorough & helped me through all my anxiousness. She knows what she's doing! If you've got a styrofoam bator, give it a shot.
I'm no expert, but if you've been having bad hatch rates (late stage deaths) I would suspect it's the incubator/incubation technique not necessarily your hens. Maybe with your next hatch use half of your own eggs & the other half from someone else (maybe another BYC'er?)
I hope your sons gallbladder procedure went smoothly, and you get some zips soon!!

 

[wrestling_mom]

Are you adding water throughout your hatch. If so try a dry hatch. What kind of a incubator are you using?

The last SEVEN times,I used the dry hatch method.One chicksurvived each hatch. I have an LG, and have gotten good results in the past, with different parents, which is why i think that a hen/roo switch up might be a logical nec=xt step.