Please please can anybody help me feel less guilty.

[Dewsetter]

Please please can somebody help me to feel less guilty?

I have a Brinsea Mini eco and originally had 9 chicken eggs in it (all large fowl of different breeds)

My temperature was 37.5 right through and humidity was 45% day 0 to 18 and and 65% day 18 to 21. I move the eggs around the incubator incase there are any colder spots (but I doubt it as the bator is so tiny) and they were turned 3 times daily.

5 pipped and hatched on day 21 to 22 and are all doing great.

The remaining egg didn't hatch so I left it in until day 24 then broke the egg over the air cell. I could see a formed chick inside the egg but no pipping so I ripped away the membrane through the gap and quite a lot of fluid and blood leaked out. I could see what looked to be a fully formed chick. Then it started to move!!! I quickly cupped it in a cloth so it would stand up in the incubator and put it back in but I know it doesn't stand a chance with the amount of blood that came out.

I am absolutely mortified. I feel so guilty. I can't even open the incubator back up to see if it's dead yet as I feel so bad.
I followed the whole hatching process to the letter and really don't see how this could have happened. This is my third hatch with this incubator, the first one were all dead in shell apart from 1 that died at 2 days old, and my second hatch went perfectly with 3 eggs (out of 4) making it to lockdown and hatching healthy chicks.

Can anybody give me any idea of how this could have happened? I can't stop crying.

 

[TaylorHobbyFarms]

You shouldn't feel guilty. You waited until Day 24 and as hard as it is, sometimes it is a good idea to look at unhatched eggs to see what happened. I don't know the farenheit equivalent of 37.5 celsius (if that's what you were saying your temperature was), so I am not sure if your temperature was just right. The humidity sounded good to me. Let's see what some others say.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Don't feel bad, there was no way to know. It's happened to me too. And it was a lavender guinea baby, dang it!

 

[Denninmi]

If its that far overdue, the odds are something is terribly wrong with it anyway, and it probably would not have hatched on its own, or survived if it did. The very late ones usually have major issues.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Absolutely.

Do not feel guilty. It just happens, and most us who have been hatching for a while have had that, or something similar and equally as distressing, happen.

 

[Stingrayg4]

They don't all make it, that's just the way it goes. That one probably wouldn't have hatched or not lived long if it did. Nothing to feel guilty about.

-S

 

[justtoni44]

I have had my experience with goofing up also.....but you waited to 24 hrs ..some would have dumped them by then.
Here's the deal about guilt..first, you don't deserve it..but if it is there it is real.
Truely, when I am in your situation, I try to put a limit on the feeling......like 1 hour.
Helps me..........
There is not enough room for me to share my mess ups..........
starting with trusting my new hydrometer and deciding because it was new, I did not need to calibtrate.
Bad decision............
If it does not make it, it probably was not meant to..............

 

[chicken delighted]

oh i know how you feel. i set 20 eggs only 5 hatch i wait 3 extrea day nothing i could not open the extra eggs i felt so bad , but as everyone has said it not your falt it just happen my frist batch i lost everything

, i had one peeping but i wait over 24 hrs it died in shell i felt i should have done some thing but you know that the strong will surive.and when doing this well that is what we must keep in mind. we need healthy flock to produce healty eggs and chicks. you did the best you could . keep going !!!

your doing great

you have 5 yea!!!!

 

[Flawedatdesign]

Well I say you marked it as a successful hatch and experience. I set 24 eggs out of those 24 eggs 3 hatched completely of those 3 we had to help 2 of them. I used a homemade incubator so it was a trial and error hatch at most. Well as of right now I have 1 chick out of 24 eggs. Should have had 4 but I dropped one egg and chick when I should have not been messing with it in lockdown. 1 hatched just fine. But because I opened the bator and my hygrometers are off I shrink wrapped 2 that we had to help out of the shell. Of those 2 we had one fall out into the water pan in the bator and drown. Then the other I had to put down due to deformities.
Which leaves us with Monster Chick.

Was my hatch rate good No. But all the experience I gained was worth everything. I regret losing chicks and hate the fact I did lose chicks but I now know what not to do. So don't feel guilty just learn from the hatch so you can have even more next hatch.

 

[classicsredone]

I did the same thing last night...and it does feel horrible. I got 3 that hatched out of the 14 that made it to lock down. One zipped and died trying to push out...and another partially zipped and quit. I opened one and thought it was a goner, only to see it twitch and die in front of me. My husband opened the ones that didn't hatch and won't go into detail, but said they were not fully developed. If you kept the humidity and temperature right, did everything else right, there isn't much you can do. Unfortunately some just don't make it. Try to enjoy the little guys that you have, and don't beat yourself up.