School hatch failed--please help us get it right! UPDATE--PICS ADDED!

[silkiechicken]

Looks like they died around day 7, day 12, and day 18.

My best guess is temp was a hair too low if it is a still air.

One thing to check with classroom hatches is room temp at night and on weekends. I had a problem hatching at a school once because for energy conservation, heat was shut off after 6 and on weekends thus at 3 am on cold nights, the bator the classroom was using did not have a big enough heating element to keep the temp at a high enough level. If you have your own bator some day, it is always good to set some on your own in case the class room one does not make it. The variability of the classroom makes hatching a challenge at times.

 

[kupi99]

I am also a classroom teacher hatching chicks.

If your humidty was fine, I agree with silkiechicken, it might be your overnight and weekend temps. See if you can find out what kind of bator you're using.

I use a Little Giant for our eggs. Little Giants are known for having trouble regulating the temp in the incubator if there a alot of temp flucations in the room around them. I use a Little Giant (LG for short), b/c it was what was donated to my school, and we don't have money for a new one.

I try to regulate the temp in my room by setting my classroom theromostat at a constant temp, and then setting the bators temp. I then mummify my classroom theromostat in tape and stick a huge sign over it telling everyone to leave it alone. I tape it up like that so in case anyone messes with it, I can easily tell. What I don't know is whether the school has a system that automatically shuts is down overnight. My school is small, however, and I don't think it does, so this is helpful for my situation.

I would also recommend she gets a therometer that can her the high and low temps. That way she can make sure the temp in the bator is holding steady overnight. You can buy cheap ones at Walmart. I have one for my bator, but I don't recommend it. It always shows crazy overnight highs and lows, but last year I had some chicks hatch, and this year they are developing fine.

This is only my second year hatching in my room, but last year I had 3 out of seven hatch a few days late (a successful hatch, as far as I was concerned). This year 4 out of the six eggs appeared to be developing around day 7 or so. It's about day 16 now, and I candled one yesterday, and it showed progress.

She might also look into the possiblity of putting the bator into a cabinet if temp fluxes are causing the issue. But the cabinet would need to have air flow, so this might not be possible in her classroom.

Good luck! I know how challanging it can be to hatch in a classroom!

 

[silkiechicken]

You might want to forward a link to my "my page" or the sticky at the top of incubation and hatching eggs (the same thing) with pics of what eggs look like though various days of incubation. It may be helpful to see if they are on track.

Best of luck!