- Jul 1, 2011
- 14
- 0
- 22
I'm trying to figure out what happened here but it doesn't seem to make sense. I'll set you up with some background first. I have a Little Giant still air. No accessories, I did my turning by hand. I have done several successful hatches before, including a 100% hatch rate at one time. The temperature was stable up until maybe 3 days before they were due to stop being turned. It went down 5 degrees and it took me a few days to get it right. It never got too hot, just a little cool. I stopped turning them on schedule, and waited.
It was several days after they were due that my one chick finally hatched. Another had pipped, but it did so midway down the egg and presumably drowned. I waited another couple days, and finally a full week after they were due, I turned off the bator and examined the eggs. There were 4 more that had shown signs of life just a few days before they were due.
Upon examination one was mostly yolk, expected as it had looked rather transparent. The second was a fully formed chick who looked as it it needed only to absorb the yolk to hatch. All limbs were present and fully formed, and the shape seemed right. The third egg was the same, a chick who for some reason just never pipped. The fourth looked as if it died about halfway through its growth as it was not yet full sized.
Could that slight variation in temperature have killed them? Could it have been that they were slow developing and I should have turned them longer? Maybe a combination of both? Humidity was constant and raised towards the end. The one chick that hatched is perfectly healthy and growing like a weed. I'm at a loss for why the rest all died.
It was several days after they were due that my one chick finally hatched. Another had pipped, but it did so midway down the egg and presumably drowned. I waited another couple days, and finally a full week after they were due, I turned off the bator and examined the eggs. There were 4 more that had shown signs of life just a few days before they were due.
Upon examination one was mostly yolk, expected as it had looked rather transparent. The second was a fully formed chick who looked as it it needed only to absorb the yolk to hatch. All limbs were present and fully formed, and the shape seemed right. The third egg was the same, a chick who for some reason just never pipped. The fourth looked as if it died about halfway through its growth as it was not yet full sized.
Could that slight variation in temperature have killed them? Could it have been that they were slow developing and I should have turned them longer? Maybe a combination of both? Humidity was constant and raised towards the end. The one chick that hatched is perfectly healthy and growing like a weed. I'm at a loss for why the rest all died.
