OMG..i feel like a murderer!!! I am done hatching. Update help!!!!

[kvmommy]

Buttt...back to my question. The shrinkwrapped bloody egg...what do I do? Its pulsing like crazy...then noticed my temp had shot up. I'm assuming its panting. Bringing the temp down now.

 

[1muttsfan]

During hatching humidity can shoot up as the chicks hatch, but if you have adequate ventilation it should adjust itself back down without opening the incubator. I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't be better off without hygrometers, they seem to tempt people into doing things that should not be done (a lure to open the incubator during hatching).

If you have purchased an incubator, you will have the best chance of success if you follow the directions for filling the water wells, they have been calculated to provide the correct surface area for the levels of humidity needed during hatching. Home made incubators take a lot of trial and error to figure out at the beginning.

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
Thats a good bator I have one and it keeps the temps great.

Wal Mart sells what you need for humidity. They are by the light bulbs and less then $10. They are will worth it.

 

[blefky]

There's a learning curve with hatching, don't beat yourself up for doing the best that you know - just continue to learn better. When I hatch chicken eggs for the first 18 days I keep the humidity between 35 - 40%, days 18 to hatch I kick it up to about 65%. IMHO, lot's of people incubate at much too high of a humidity level. BYC member, Pete55, has an excellent thread on hatching and I've quoted a small portion below. The thread is a sticky on hatching waterfowl on the "geese" section, but much of the information (NOT the specifics of temps and humidity) can be generalized to other birds. It's a very informative thread.

This quote pertains to the reason for many late stage incubation deaths, it's Pete's assertion that the chick does not literally drown in excess fluid inside the shell (after internal pipping), but that the excess fluid accumulation is internal: and caused by inadequate moisture loss (too high humidity) during incubation.

"It is in this phase of hatching that many chicks die resulting in late ‘dead in shell’. It is a time of great stress and physiological change within the chick’s body. The heart is pumping rapidly due to exertion and trying to compensate for changing blood gases. It is my opinion that inadequate moisture loss during incubation causes the chick and its supporting cardio-vascular system to be overloaded in fluid. With the heart having to pump faster and harder to compensate the chick goes into heart failure. The tissues in the body become swollen with excess fluid (oedema) and the chick weakens. The space for manoeuvring into its hatching position becomes even tighter and the chick’s body is simply too weak to withstand the vital changes required."

I would really recommend Pete's thread to anyone interested in learning to hatch.

Good luck with your little ones -- don't give up!

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
Your first sentence was your mistake. Learn from it - okay: humidity should be about 50-55%, because the first hatchling causes the humidity to rise significantly. If you start with high humidity, it is going to drown the chicks and as time goes on, the humidity diminishes and they appear shrink wrapped. Once your chicks start hatching DO NOT OPEN THE BATOR. When you opened the bator, you let the natural humidity out which is what wrapped them.

I too have made many, many mistakes in hatching. You are not alone. Each hatch is also different. I had to experiment for months before I finally found what worked for me. And 65-70 FOR ME is too high.

I agree with debiraymond.

I do not add any water to my bator until the last 3 days then I only put it up to 50% because I know it will go higher when the chicks hatch.

When you made this bator did you put any holes in it for the humidity to go out?

The chick you are worried about, you just need to leave it in the bator and hope for the best. Give it time, it seems like it's not ready to hatch with all the blood you talked about. Good luck.

 

[kvmommy]

seriously..thank you guys. If without your support i'd probably be done hatching and suffer a nervous breakdown. The first chick I helped died today in my hands...I couldn't cull it. Thats my husbands job and hes at work. He was doing sooo well last night in the brooder. The other egg I helped seems to have died. But I do have a loud boistrous hatching chick from my later hatch. She is zipping as we speak. Note to self: keep my humidity lower, don't open to adjust if it gets too high, don't interfere...interfering can lead to further shrinkwrapping and weak chicks. *its all a learning process. Oh, and these were incubated in my LG, with the wells filled it brings it to 55%...which I thought was too low, now I know its not. The last egg was incubated in my homemade and moved to the LG to hatch. I slipped them in when I refilled the wells. I'm gonna try local eggs next because I have a hard time with shipped eggs and I want to know if its me or the shipping.

 

[mtngrl812]

I don't know what you should do

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I was sooo frustrated with shipped egg, I finally got mad and filled my bator with all my own eggs. 100% hatch. Sometimes shipped eggs hatch ok and sometimes not. I try to buy eggs that as close to me as possible. I am on the west coast, so I try not to buy eggs from NY.....

 

[1muttsfan]

Agree with debbie, shipped eggs can be very unpredictable. My best hatches have been with eggs shipped no further than one state away.