Please help me: Every chick dying during lockdown

[mustangsaguaro]

My first hatch of this season was horrible too. I ended up having 10 chicks that hatched and 6 died. I also had about 10 eggs w/ fully developed embryo's that ended up drowning. I found out later that the first 18 days my humidity was too high. Someone recommend I do the following w/ humidity. It worked like a charm for my last hatch. Had 23 hatch out of 34 that made it to lockdown. My humidity was doing weird things the last few days and that is why I think the few that died was because the humidity got to high. Anyways I use a forced air Hovabator. I use an egg o meter to monitor the temp of the eggs during the incubation process. Some people use a digital thermometer w/ a probe on the end of it then get a water weasel/water wiggler/water snake and put the probe in that. That acts like what the egg o meter does. And it doesn't matter if you have a forced or still air if using the water wiggler or egg o meter your temp should read 99.5. My temps usually range from 99-100 using that method. Anyways, w/ the humidity this is what I used for the last hatch I had and had the 23 that did hatch

Day 1-18: 38-42% (I compromised and had it at 40%)
Day 19: 50-52% (again compromised and had it at 50%)
Day 20: 55-58% (I kept it at about 55%)
Day 21: 60-62% (I kept it at about 60%)

Once chicks start hatching they will automatically raise the humidity. So if I felt the humidity was getting to high I removed the little red tabs that are in the top of the incubator to try to bring it down.

I'm not saying this is the right or wrong way to do it. This is just what I did and found that it worked very well for me. Hopefully you will find something that works for you.

 

[spatulagirl]

Will taking apart the eggs help me figure out what went wrong? What am I looking for?

17 were shipped eggs and 27 were eggs I picked up. I went into lockdown with almost 30 eggs with viable babies in them, all moving around. This happens every time I have tried to hatch, whether shipped or local.

 

[spatulagirl]

I am thinking I definitely need more Thermometers/hydgrometers. I am going to pull it out and do the salt test here shortly and am ordering that egg-o-meter thing and a few others before I attempt hatch #5 with my eggs.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I run my humidity at 35% during incubation and about 60% during the last three days (lockdown, and DO NOT open 'bator).

 

[mustangsaguaro]

I am thinking I definitely need more Thermometers/hydgrometers. I am going to pull it out and do the salt test here shortly and am ordering that egg-o-meter thing and a few others before I attempt hatch #5 with my eggs.

Just a suggestion. I would not get yourself more thermo/hygros. When I first started doing this a few years ago I had like 2 or 3 of each in the incubator and all read different temps. You will just confuse yourself more. This last hatch I used the egg o meter and it worked great. Prior to that I was using the water weasel/water wiggler method and it worked just as good as the egg o meter. I would only use one hygro and one thermometer like the egg o or water weasel. But for the hygro you want to calibrate it first. After you calibrate it you will know how much it is off by.

 

[mondotomhead]

Just a suggestion. I would not get yourself more thermo/hygros. When I first started doing this a few years ago I had like 2 or 3 of each in the incubator and all read different temps. You will just confuse yourself more. This last hatch I used the egg o meter and it worked great. Prior to that I was using the water weasel/water wiggler method and it worked just as good as the egg o meter. I would only use one hygro and one thermometer like the egg o or water weasel. But for the hygro you want to calibrate it first. After you calibrate it you will know how much it is off by.

I agree with mustang - Calibrate your hygrometer. Mine was off 6% and I knew that because of this test...

http://www.ehow.com/how_2362421_calibrate-hygrometer.html

Good luck. I'm so, so sorry about your hatches.

 

[spatulagirl]

ok. I ordered the egg o meter and will calibrate my hygrometer this afternoon.

I will clean it out and keep running it to monitor the humidity while I figure out my next move. I am really stubborn and don't want this thing to beat me.

If it is too humid, I shouldn't add any water for the next batch and will slowly increase the humidity the last few days to 60% tops with sponges and jars placed under holes, right?

 

[mondotomhead]

ok. I ordered the egg o meter and will calibrate my hygrometer this afternoon.

I will clean it out and keep running it to monitor the humidity while I figure out my next move. I am really stubborn and don't want this thing to beat me.

If it is too humid, I shouldn't add any water for the next batch and will slowly increase the humidity the last few days to 60% tops with sponges and jars placed under holes, right?

I only use ONE sponge. I'm concerned out your "sponges and jars" that you mentioned. It sound like way to much. My incubator is a Little Giant with the water fills at the bottom sort of in the shape of an "H". I filled these with water for day 1-18. On lockdown day I wet ONE sponge and put it in a far corner. (I needed to re-wet this sponge twice before all my chicks hatched which too a good 3 days.) If the humidity got a little to high I lifted the cover for just a few seconds, maybe 10.

Also, like another poster I kept my hatched chicks in the incubator until I was sure all that was going to hatch did hatch. Sure they knock around the other eggs but that didn't hurt anything. I got 10 out of 11 eggs to hatch. The 11th had never even formed a chick - Thank god!

 

[spatulagirl]

I was just reading the LG tips and tricks thread and someone mentioned two jars with sponges peeking out of them during lockdown. The jars with sponges are positioned in the two far corners away from the plug and wet through the tiny little holes there. I might try that method for lockdown. That is what I meant by sponges and jars. One might very well be enough. This person lives in Florida and uses two and seems to have a very high hatch rate.

So I think my plan right now is:

- use egg-o-meter for a few days to a week to monitor temp (ordered)
- calibrate hygrometer (calibrating right now)
- monitor humidity completely dry while monitoring heat
- add my own eggs next week
- try dry hatching them
- add the sponge/jar thing to the incubator during lockdown
-slowly increase humidity over the three days of lockdown

I am debating whether to even open the incubator to turn them now. I read some people slowly roll the LG to turn the eggs without touching them.

I didn't open the incubator at all with hatch #2 and one of the chicks ended up dying from an infected navel. I was told I should have pulled her out. It is very difficult when you are told conflicting advice and having no clue which advice to follow! LOL

 

[mondotomhead]

I didn't open the incubator at all with hatch #2 and one of the chicks ended up dying from an infected navel. I was told I should have pulled her out. It is very difficult when you are told conflicting advice and having no clue which advice to follow! LOL

I understand completely. It can get totally confusing. If funny though that when you are looking at at the eggs and wondering what you should do some of this advice does pop into your head! I think once you find out what your hygrometer is reading (the salt test) you will have a successful hatch this time.