Poor hatch rates-What am I doing wrong?

[chickengeorgeto]

If 50 is way to dry what do you incubate at??..... Are you in extremely high elevations??

I am a poor person to ask but I do use a forced air incubator and I try to run it at 65% the first 17 or 18 days then ramp up the humidity to 75 or even 80% the last 4 days.
(a wet bulb temperature reading of 83 to 85 degrees) Your results may vary. Don't forget to use distilled water on your wet bulb thermometer. Also styrofoam incubators hold in wetness better than some other materials. My incubator has 3 levels of eggs plus a hatcher down below and a 5 gallons plus water reservoir.. Yours is likely only one level of eggs and you probably need to squirt additional water in the top of your incubator every day or two.

Also I reside in the Tennessee Valley, a wet environment @ about 750 feet above sea level. I will say this, If everything goes well my chicks hatch almost as quick as popcorn pops. One way I think that you can gauge your level of humidity (IMHO) is to observe the empty eggshells, they should all be cut almost 1/2 in two @ the Equator, which in my book is the sign of a fast and healthy hatch without any (or many) shell fragments sticking to the chicks. This is in line with the wee eggtooth on the chicks' upper bill scoring the eggshell from the inside with the chick's head correctly positioned beneath or under the chick's right wing. This all happens while the chick spins and kicks like the Dickens to help part the cut eggshell. This kicking and spinning action IMHO is closely associated with other chicks peeping or calling out to the remaining hatchlings. IMHO chicks who seem to drown while still in the egg are too weak to hatch.

I have posted this before but I highly recommend the book "A Guide to Better Hatching" by Janet Stromberg. This book has an excellent chapter on why your eggs failed to develop and hatch.

 

[Bonniebooboo]

I got a rooster this spring and he favored 5 hens which he bred and never tried breeding the others. I got a second rooster and the jealousy began.The second rooster, chased most of them and bred ones the first rooster didn't. He then made sneak attacks on some of the 1st roos favored hens and bred them or at least tried and got attacked. He has become quite wise to avoid the older rooster and still get the job done. Of course I have one hen that is excellent at getting away and never getting bred. she has never given me a fertile egg. but lays regular, so I can't complain there. So possibly Your Rooster just isn't breeding them all only his Favs.

 

[BYC910]

I am a poor person to ask but I do use a forced air incubator and I try to run it at 65% the first 17 or 18 days then ramp up the humidity to 75 or even 80% the last 4 days.
(a wet bulb temperature reading of 83 to 85 degrees) Your results may vary. Don't forget to use distilled water on your wet bulb thermometer. Also styrofoam incubators hold in wetness better than some other materials. My incubator has 3 levels of eggs plus a hatcher down below and a 5 gallons plus water reservoir.. Yours is likely only one level of eggs and you probably need to squirt additional water in the top of your incubator every day or two.

Also I reside in the Tennessee Valley, a wet environment @ about 750 feet above sea level. I will say this, If everything goes well my chicks hatch almost as quick as popcorn pops. One way I think that you can gauge your level of humidity (IMHO) is to observe the empty eggshells, they should all be cut almost 1/2 in two @ the Equator, which in my book is the sign of a fast and healthy hatch without any (or many) shell fragments sticking to the chicks. This is in line with the wee eggtooth on the chicks' upper bill scoring the eggshell from the inside with the chick's head correctly positioned beneath or under the chick's right wing. This all happens while the chick spins and kicks like the Dickens to help part the cut eggshell. This kicking and spinning action IMHO is closely associated with other chicks peeping or calling out to the remaining hatchlings. IMHO chicks who seem to drown while still in the egg are too weak to hatch.

I have posted this before but I highly recommend the book "A Guide to Better Hatching" by Janet Stromberg. This book has an excellent chapter on why your eggs failed to develop and hatch.

All very interesting. I may try running at your higher humidity and check out the book . Must look like rain in that incubator . What is your hatch rate ? Do you candle ? Mark air cell development ? Or do you just wait and see what pops ? Sounds like you use a QGF cabinet . Have you ever used a Styrofoam incubator ? If so how would you compare the two ? If I run humidity that high in a Styrofoam incubator I might as well not even set eggs .What works in the Tennessee river valley may not work in the high altitudes of Colorado . And more questions what is the environment in which you are running at 65 % humidity ? What is the ambient temperature and humidity are they constant ?All these things make a difference in how you incubate . For instance while one thinks they are running at 99.5 degrees constantly . If room temperature rises say five degrees which will also raise humidity slightly. Incubator temperatures can rise to say 102 if there for two or three hours unnoticed it will kill fertile eggs and they will appear to be infertile when candled . Veining will not occur and if not cracked open to investigate by a trained eye then you really don't know if were fertile or not . You only know there was no development . It is near impossible to run wet bulb in a Styrofoam forced air incubator with a turner . No room .So to Lomine I would say use an accurate bulb thermometer make sure the temperature at the top of your tallest eggs is 99.5 degrees check and mark egg cell growth and continue to search for just the right humidity using air cell growth as your guide .Make sure your not getting temperature spikes . Also consider this quail eggs being lower in the incubator than chicken eggs . If your using the digital on board thermometer set at the same temperature your chicken eggs may be to hot .

 

[chickengeorgeto]

First off, my background relative humidity ranges from 50 to 99% in the Spring time when I try and do all the hatching. According to my Accurite remote thingy, my temperature is currently 70 degrees with a relative humidity of only 90% There is a very good reason that Spring time is associated with baby chicks. Use mother nature to your advantage, don't kick against the pricks of Mother Nature, but try to hatch all your biddies before June.

You should have an area like a room or closet without drafts but with sufficient ventilation and a stable temperature and humidity before setting your eggs. Stay away from appliances, windows and doors. A couple or three days should be spent getting the incubator up to operating ranges BEFORE any eggs are added. This way there are little to no temperature spikes or valleys. Relative humidity is relative to the temperature in the incubator or under the old mother hen. Nowhere is relative humidity a measurement of total dissolved H2O or as Penn & Teller calls it total dissolved Dihydrogen Monoxide. Using real fresh (7 days or newer) eggs I hatch about 85% to 95%. If hatching only one particular hens eggs and I save up 12 to 15 eggs before setting any, my hatch rate of course falls, but on occasion I hit 100% Also expect a lower hatch rate when setting eggs laid by an older hen and especially the eggs fertilized by an older rooster. The same thing applies if the brood fowl are too young. Fertility is greatly influenced by the diet and overall health of the brood fowl. Some of the things people mistakenly feed their hens and roosters is abusive to their birds and these things hurt fertility. Meal worms, vinegar, canned corn, scrambled eggs, and a world of other foods hurt fertility more than they help it. Strong, healthy, vigorous, and slim but not skinny chickens are the better brood fowl. I once bred a yard of chickens that consisted of about 45 blood related hens and one rooster. However the rooster went through a 3 week conditioning period that consisted of a low fat high protein diet with some cardio training thrown in for good measure. Some folks can't see the flowers from staring at weeds. For instance I have had chicks hatched in hay lofts who had to take a 30 foot plunge to get to the ground to follow their mother. If I had my druthers all my biddies would begin life in this way, it seems to get the chicks' juices flowing. I only candle on day 9 or 10. Then at lock down I repeat and remove the clears or quitters. A still air non turning incubator that must be opened at least daily to turn eggs is asking for trouble. Never forget that Mother Nature designed her chicken eggs so that they lay in the nest big end up. Do ye likewise.

 

[WVduckchick]

First off, my background relative humidity ranges from 50 to 99% in the Spring time when I try and do all the hatching. According to my Accurite remote thingy, my temperature is currently 70 degrees with a relative humidity of only 90% There is a very good reason that Spring time is associated with baby chicks. Use mother nature to your advantage, don't kick against the pricks of Mother Nature, but try to hatch all your biddies before June.

You should have an area like a room or closet without drafts but with sufficient ventilation and a stable temperature and humidity before setting your eggs. Stay away from appliances, windows and doors. A couple or three days should be spent getting the incubator up to operating ranges BEFORE any eggs are added. This way there are little to no temperature spikes or valleys. Relative humidity is relative to the temperature in the incubator or under the old mother hen. Nowhere is relative humidity a measurement of total dissolved H2O or as Penn & Teller calls it total dissolved Dihydrogen Monoxide. Using real fresh (7 days or newer) eggs I hatch about 85% to 95%. If hatching only one particular hens eggs and I save up 12 to 15 eggs before setting any, my hatch rate of course falls, but on occasion I hit 100% Also expect a lower hatch rate when setting eggs laid by an older hen and especially the eggs fertilized by an older rooster. The same thing applies if the brood fowl are too young. Fertility is greatly influenced by the diet and overall health of the brood fowl. Some of the things people mistakenly feed their hens and roosters is abusive to their birds and these things hurt fertility. Meal worms, vinegar, canned corn, scrambled eggs, and a world of other foods hurt fertility more than they help it. Strong, healthy, vigorous, and slim but not skinny chickens are the better brood fowl. I once bred a yard of chickens that consisted of about 45 blood related hens and one rooster. However the rooster went through a 3 week conditioning period that consisted of a low fat high protein diet with some cardio training thrown in for good measure. Some folks can't see the flowers from staring at weeds. For instance I have had chicks hatched in hay lofts who had to take a 30 foot plunge to get to the ground to follow their mother. If I had my druthers all my biddies would begin life in this way, it seems to get the chicks' juices flowing. I only candle on day 9 or 10. Then at lock down I repeat and remove the clears or quitters. A still air non turning incubator that must be opened at least daily to turn eggs is asking for trouble. Never forget that Mother Nature designed her chicken eggs so that they lay in the nest big end up. Do ye likewise.

I'm sorry, but you are way, way over-thinking things. All this stuff may be fine for a serious hatching operation to maximize production, but for basic backyard keeping, I think you are getting a bit too technical.

Have you ever watched a broody hen hatch chicks? I had a hen (one of a about 30 just so far, some still sitting) this spring lay beside eggs, not even covering them, with other chicks already hatched, running around taking care of those, while others were hatching. Outside, in a messy brooding box.

Never mind. We all have what works for us, so i don't mean to criticize. Just don't want your info to scare newbies into thinking they are doing everything wrong.

 

[lomine]

Thank you for all the replies everyone. I'll try to answer all the questions that were asked of me.

My hens and rooster are 1 year and 4 months. The cockerel and pullets are 6 months. The boys are a Blue Ameraucana and an EE. The girls are Ameraucana, EE, Wyandotte, Orpington, and Delaware. So I do have some girls with fluffy bottoms. I suppose the boys do too. I'm willing to do a little trimming in the Spring to see if that helps.

My elevation is about 6,800 ft above sea level. The incubator thermometer is on the lid. My lizard thermometer/hygrometer sits on the bottom of the incubator and my third thermometer has it's sensor on a long cord that I position right at egg height. So I'm relatively sure the temperature is consistent throughout the incubator. It is one level. I had one egg that had trouble hatching because the chick's head was stuck under it's wing; mostly those that hatch don't seem to have any trouble getting out of the shells. I haven't used any eggs that were over 10 days old. I candle around day 10 and then at lockdown. There have been a few eggs that were a bit cloudy on day 10 but for the most part those that I think were infertile were clear and glowing. I've never crack one of those open to see if there was development.

I'm a little confused on how changes in the ambient room temperature could cause the incubator temperate to rise above 102 if the room never gets that hot. Wouldn't the incubator heater just turn off?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I run a lower RH for incubation period also; 25% first 18-19 days then up to over 70% for hatch. My hygrometer is calibrated via a salt test. You'd be surprised how far off they can be. If we are to use RH as the sole index then the number you shoot for should be calibrated and the unit we use salt tested to calibrate it. Many use air cell size as indicator of correct humidity, that works great and the correlating RH number is specific to them unless they calibrated their hygrometer. All hygrometers don't read the same unless they are calibrated so take RH values with a grain of salt.

Fertility has been hard to come by for my flock in early spring. Reason being is length of daylight effects the young cocks fertility more than it slows the pullets egg laying. Our hatching is prolonged first waiting for spring eggs then wait for them to be fertile. We must use a light on timer this year if we are ever going to have chicks hatching in March otherwise they are not fertile until end of March with males just turning to cocks.

 

[WVduckchick]

I'm pretty sure I've read that most folks at higher elevation need higher humidity, but don't quote me on that. Do some elevation research (pretty sure there are some good threads here). I like the correlation if you have to bake a cake differently, then you probably need to adjust incubation techniques too.

 

[lomine]

That could certainly be. Higher altitude means less air so I'm sure it changes things. I'll ask in the CO thread. See what the other folks shoot for in terms of humidity.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

That would apply if the eggs were from a flock at sea level. If from an established flock from altitude and your hatching at sea level then lower than normal humidity is required. The reason for this is drier air at elevation and moist air at sea level will change the porosity of egg shells in an established flock at either extreme elevation. The flock compensates low hatchability in the ones that hatch came from correct porosity egg shells which will carry on in next generation raising the hatch rate.

Though it's said higher humidity for high elevations that only remains true if the eggs or flock came from a lower elevation. It corrects itself in few generations. Also the lower oxygen level at high elevations require more ventilation. To achieve that all plugs should be out and a forced air would provide better hatch rates. But again, this will correct itself in an established to high elevation flock. Few generations of low hatch rate will get higher as the eggs and birds become acclimated.