Questions for My Next Incubation

[DavidKerk]

I recently incubated chicken eggs is a Little Giant still-air incubator. I had one out of 19 hatch. I opened up one of the non-hatching eggs and there was a dead but fully formed chick. What should I do differently next time to prevent this? Thanks!

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

A fan kit will help your hatch % tremendously.

Also, my first hatch this spring was half full term deaths. My humidity was way up, and found that 25-35% worked great for me. The last 25 eggs I set, 22 or 23 hatched. I only add water on day 18.

Did the air cells look normal or were they small?

 

[mattsinger]

A fan kit will help your hatch % tremendously.

Also, my first hatch this spring was half full term deaths. My humidity was way up, and found that 25-35% worked great for me. The last 25 eggs I set, 22 or 23 hatched. I only add water on day 18.

Did the air cells look normal or were they small?

I jsut had several full term, fully developed deaths. did you leave it at 25 - 35% even through lockdown?

 

[DavidKerk]

No, I got it to 52 percent during lockdown. A little low, but I had all three troughs full of water and also a sponge. Thanks!

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

I jsut had several full term, fully developed deaths.  did you leave it at 25 - 35% even through lockdown?

No, I will bump it up to about 55%-60%.

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

No, I got it to 52 percent during lockdown. A little low, but I had all three troughs full of water and also a sponge. Thanks!

What was the humidity for days 1-18?

 

[DavidKerk]

What was the humidity for days 1-18?

About 30 percent.

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

That seems good to me. It could a number of things, but deaths in the last 3 days is commonly a humidity problem.

Keep track of your air cells, they will tell you if you are high or low. My case was big soggy chicks with small air cells. There wasnt enough evaporation. I lowered my humidity and my cells were right on track.

 

[DavidKerk]

That seems good to me. It could a number of things, but deaths in the last 3 days is commonly a humidity problem.

Keep track of your air cells, they will tell you if you are high or low. My case was big soggy chicks with small air cells. There wasnt enough evaporation. I lowered my humidity and my cells were right on track.

Thanks! I hope that with all these tips my next incubation goes better!