Puzzling question ???? Any thoughts ?????

[CrownJewelDanes]

Hey Everyone,

I have a question, well a few. I just hatched out some eggs for the first time in years. I had the eggs shipped and needless to say out of 15 ( 12 Lav Orps and 3 extras she threw in we're BCM) . All eggs were viable accept one LO and one BCM. Well in the end the only 2 viable BCM hatched, and a day early at that.

So I cracked them all to see what was in and stage of development etc. most of them quit at a stage when they were around day 14 I think. The chicks still looked like grey little embryos that started to break down and the everything was watery and smelled . They didn't stink until I cracked them open. All were like that but one.

I dry incubated with humidity and raised it at lock down to 60-65%. Temp was consistent between 99-100. My hygrometer doesn't have a decimal point so it only shows whole numbers. We did have a temp spike at around day 14 give or take a day, to 102. Not sure how long it was at that because we woke up and it was at 102. So it could have been several hours to only a few minutes. Not sure why the spike because temps had been holding steady since 2 days before I set them to that point and no spike since.

So my questions are : any thoughts as to why all but 3 quit. Also of the 3 that fully developed when I cracked open the one that didn't hatch it was curled up in such a way that I could tell it didn't even try to pip but had started to absorb the yolk. It looked like it was half way absorbed. Any thoughts on that ?

All in all I'm thrilled that any of them hatched. It was my first time in years and I hadn't done it many times bak then either. My hens did most of the hatching. The eggs were shipped and it was the first run in a homemade incubator. So like I said I'm thrilled with the out come I'm just curious what you all think so I can maybe improve the next hatch. Which BTW I set the same day I cracked open the others lol. Cleaned it out and put more in. Lol. More BCM and some light brahmas this time. I also bought some Lav Orp and BBS Orp chicks locally to keep my 2 company lol.

Rebekah

 

[mstricer]

Your humidity was too high

 

[aoxa]

Your humidity was too high

The OP didn't even mention the humidity they kept it at until lockdown :/

I would think it would be the temperature spike, but what do I know.

 

[CrownJewelDanes]

Sorry, I did a dry incubation at between 35-43% and would let it dry down from time to time to 25% , and then bumpedit up to 60-65% at lock down.


Rebekah

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can read what Mississippi State says about it. They do not mention humidity at the 14 day stage but humidity does get a mention for problems at other stages. I don't know what your humidities were with the dry incubation, but the 60-65% during lockdown does not at all seem high to me. I usually go a tad higher at that stage.

http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/troubleshooting_incubation.pdf

In my last hatch, I had five mailed turkey eggs. All five hatched. I had 30 chicken eggs I picked up from someone local. 16 never even started to develop and only 10 hatched. I'd still recommend picking them up locally if you can instead of shipping them, but just because you can have problems with shipped eggs does not mean you will.

 

[mstricer]

Ooops didn't read it very good. I will go hide now

 

[aoxa]

You can read what Mississippi State says about it. They do not mention humidity at the 14 day stage but humidity does get a mention for problems at other stages. I don't know what your humidities were with the dry incubation, but the 60-65% during lockdown does not at all seem high to me. I usually go a tad higher at that stage.
http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/troubleshooting_incubation.pdf
In my last hatch, I had five mailed turkey eggs. All five hatched. I had 30 chicken eggs I picked up from someone local. 16 never even started to develop and only 10 hatched. I'd still recommend picking them up locally if you can instead of shipping them, but just because you can have problems with shipped eggs does not mean you will.

Her eggs died at day 14 - so I doubt the lockdown % would cause this.

I tried to get 65 - 75% during lockdown. My incubator was off by 10% the entire time. I just got a hydrometer the day before hatch, and it was 10% higher. So my incubator was anywhere from 35 - 55% during the first 18 days. :/ Crap.. I had 1 chick that pipped and died - 28 pipped and hatched - 7 did not pip at all, but died around lockdown time. Maybe a bit before, because the egg wasn't as full as you'd expect.

I really don't know the answer to the OP's question, but I don't think it had to do with Humidity. It sounds like the temperature spike caused it to me. Growing eggs do not take well to temperature spikes, but if it falls they can survive longer than if it spiked. My cat sat on mine around day 10 and dropped it to 94.5 overnight. All still grew after that.

 

[CorinneP]

I don't know for sure of course but it might be more than a coincidence that you think they stopped developing at 14 days and that's when you had your Heat spike . So much can happen .. And even in reverse you can do so much wrong and have a great hatch . I am sorry I am sure you are very disappointed ..

 

[CrownJewelDanes]

I don't know for sure of course but it might be more than a coincidence that you think they stopped developing at 14 days and that's when you had your Heat spike . So much can happen .. And even in reverse you can do so much wrong and have a great hatch .  I am sorry I am sure you are very disappointed ..

Yeah that's what inthought to, it just made me wonder because the 2 hatched and one was fully developed but never pipped. I wondered if a spike in temp can possibly only effect some eggs and not all ??? Hmmmm

But actually I'm not really that disappointed. I knew that it was a gamble with shipping eggs because you never know how well they are going to handle them enroute, combined with the fact that it was the first run on our homemade bator, and I hadn't hatched in a bator in years and didn't know what I was doing anyway back then lol. Not that I know now, I just know a little more lol.


Rebekah

 

[CrownJewelDanes]

Thanks everyone for the thought and opinions.


Rebekah