Poor results with first hatching, need advice for next batch

[Delighted]

This is going to be long, because I want to be sure I do things right for the next batch I have in the incubator! I’ll post it over several posts, cuz it takes me awhile to type!

I had a batch of eggs due to hatch about two weeks ago, had put them in the incubator, had read the How To pages, and thought I was ready to go. The incubator always ran low—about 98 degrees. I would turn it up, but it really had a hard time maintaining the 100 degrees. (it’s a cheap thermometer—the one that comes with the ‘bator) The eggs started pipping about day 23, and two chicks hatched. The others didn’t hatch, although one egg had pipped, and it looked like the chick was trying to get out for awhile, then 24 hours went by with no motion.

I went outa town the next day, leaving instructions for my hubby, but the neighbor overruled some of my instructions. (the eggs, and incubator are his, but he works long hours and we take care of the chickens, in return for all the eggs we want—it’s an agreeable arrangement to us, because it doesn’t feel like work)

So we had two little chicks. Hubby and neighbor set up the brooder, a nice wooden box the neighbor had built, and set up the light—which had no way of adjusting the height, to make it warmer or cooler. They also didn’t set up a thermometer to monitor temp. One chick died a few hours before I got home, my hubby said it had been fine when he’d last checked it, and a half hour later, it was dead.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I am new to this, but what I would look into is:

1. Humidity
2. Brooder being too hot/cold

 

[Delighted]

I checked the temp when I got home, and it was about 112 degrees under the light, and there was almost no room for the chicks to get out from under the heat—it was 100 on the “cool” end. Also, hubby had shut down all vents in the room, there was no circulation, but plenty of heat from lamps, because we have turtles in that room, also.

I’m guessing that was why that one died. I drilled holes in the bar the neighbor had built that he hung the light from (this light has no clamp), and raised the light in increments til it could be raised no more. The temp was still about 102 at the hottest part, but 92 degrees at the coolest. I wondered if the lone chick left was going to be okay being by himself. We handled him a lot to give him attention—he got used to us, and didn’t seem afraid, unless we just showed up above his pen and scooped him up! (Most of the time, we approached slowly, put our hand in, let him get used to us, them picked him up)
I never saw him drink, so I took him to his water dish (with the marbles in it), and bent him down to it. The first time, he didn’t drink any more than what was on his beak from my dipping him. He also pecked a lot at many things—his food, the bedding, etc.

The bedding was paper towels covered with pine shavings. (I’m guessing it’s pine shavings—it looks like lumpy sawdust) I had planned on just using the paper towels the first few days, but the neighbor had dumped the pine shavings in on top of the paper towels. It seemed the chick picked up the pine shavings a lot—I couldn’t tell if he was getting food or not.

 

[Delighted]

Note, this didn't take as long-- I pre typed in MS Word! ha!)





When he was 6 days old, that evening, he was a bit sluggish and sleepy, and he was laying in a fallen over position—not up on his feet. I wondered if that might be how real little chick sleep—I haven’t been around such young chicks. But I did rouse him a bit, got him to drink—and he drank a LOT. I let him go back to sleep and next day, he seemed fine when I left the house. I was gone all day—12 hours. When I got home, he was sluggish and sleepy again, so I came here to read. I wasn’t registered, and I knew it would take too long to type out my questions, but found posts where people were asking about their own ailing chicks. What I gleaned out of it was to try making the food into a mash, electrolytes, and yogurt—and the baby vitamins, which I don’t have on hand. (Oh, and that he probably WAS lonely as a single chick—to get a mirror for the time being)

He drank a bit of the electrolyte water, didn’t want the mash or yogurt, but got some of each because I had put it on his beak. He never did rouse well, but when I put him down, he did seem to be sitting more upright. The room was still very warm and no air movement, the brooder temp was about 100 under the light. I’d sat up with him for awhile, but then I didn’t know what else to do, so I prayed for him and went to bed.
He was dead the next morning. Sad, sad, sad!

So I want to be more prepared next time. First of all, that hot light, I’m thinking needs more adjustability. And I’m wondering if the hot stillness of the room was even necessary—hubby had closed down all the vents, and with the turtles, we’d never closed the vents down, just made sure the pens were not in a draft. It’s my younger son’s bedroom, so we needed to make it tolerable for the temperature.

Second, the pine shavings—was it a bit early to put them down? I’m thinking if it was just paper towels, I would be able to see if they are eliminating enough. (From what I read, I have to watch their butts to see if there’s stuff stuck there, too?)

What else?

This current batch in the incubator, the temp is tending to run high—101degrees. I’m checking it 5-6 times a day. When it does run high, I lift the lid a few seconds to get the temp back down, and it stays at 100 for awhile. I did put more water in, this time, not a whole lot more, but more than last time—wondering if that makes a difference on the temp. Any advice there?

Thanks!

 

[Delighted]

jerseygirl1,
Yeah, I'm kinda thinking the same--which is why i put more water in with this batch, but now i wander if it's too much?

 

[j.luetkemeyer]

Late hatches usually mean low temperatures. I have a still air with an auto turner. I keep the top of the eggs at 103. This is because when the egg is fully tilted to either side, the temperature is 1.5 degrees lower. I keep humidity at around 40% the first 10 days then raise to 50-55% until day 18.

 

[Egg_newton]

I have found when I add water to bring up humidity the temps drop and when the water evaporates and humidity drops the temp spikes. I just started a fourth hatch after three pretty unsuccessful ones. I plan on keeping a close eye on humidity and only adding a little bit of water at a time to help control large flucuations. You can follow my log here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3993765#p3993765

 

[jerseygirl1]

I would invest in a hygrometer and check the humidity, I am real new at this, but I just had a crummy hatch, and the humidity was way too high
I should have followed the 30-35 days one thru 17, then 60-65 18 and up
Also, my brooder was way too high at 100 degrees, they were much better at 90-95 at the most.

 

[dieselgrl48]

I always use pine shavings in my brooders.Make sure the chicks are dried good before puttin them in brooder.I use standard to long and tall size rubbermaid totes(depending on # of chicks) for brooder boxes and clamp and wire fixture to top of box temp always seems to be about right.Humidity is the key at hatch time.I add a large sponge and wet it down and fill trays.I bring to humidity up to 65-70 percent.If doing ducks in a still air etc. you can add another sponge.All of my last 4 eggs hatched.I am used to my sportsman but now stuck with 2 LG's now so working constantly on temp and humidity.

 

[Delighted]

yeah, I don't have the humidity checker--is that the hygrometer? Guess I need to get one for this batch. These eggs are in a Hovabator, in an automatic turner, don't know if that makes any difference in the temp reading--the thermometer is on top of the eggs. I'm guess the temp is lower at the bottoms of the eggs.

I just read the egg candling sticky thread, and will candle in a few days--hope I have a strong enough light! LOL! It would be nice to know if the eggs are growing-- the last batch, who knows? hubby threw them away before I got home from my trip to VA. It would have been day 25 from when i set them in the incubator, and the temps were maybe too low. I had asked him to wait to toss them til I got home, but. . .

dieselgrl48, when you use the pine shavings, how do you know if they've pooped and peed? (when there's only one or two chickies)

The light used in the brooder--is is one of those red heat lamps or just a regular lightbulb? and if a reg lightbulb, what wattage?

Does the air in the room have to be still? And vents for A/C shut? (Yeah, we had the A?C on, this IS "Hotlanta" and the pollen was so high we were getting sick, so we shut the windows and turned on the air!)