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ok.. first.. bacteria can still thrive in the nooks and crannies.. on the back of the fan blades .. pretty much in and little crevasse that you may have missed. We would have that issue in the commercial bators and hatchers when I worked at the hatchery.. so every so often EVERYTHING needs a good disinfecting
Carbon Dioxide Poisoning.. caused when more oxygen is being used/needed than is coming into the bator.. carbon dioxide builds up which is toxic and can cause death
when you first add eggs they don't need as much oxygen as the chicks do once they start developing.. as time gets closer to hatch and the lungs start to develop they need even more.. at hatch when they start to pip.. they need even more .. so if you have a bator with three eggs in it.. it will need less oxygen than a bator filled to the brim
as the chicks breathe they inhale oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide ... just like you or a cow would.. being in a closed environment eventually the oxygen runs out if there isn't enough fresh air coming in to replenish the oxygen that they are using up. This is why I always tell people that vents must be completely OPEN at hatch.. sure you may have chicks hatch out with them closed.. but you run a much higher risk of carbon dioxide building up and killing them if there isn't enough fresh air exchange. Many times if carbon dioxide is an issue you will have a few chicks hatch out.. then a lot of dead in the shell perfectly healthy looking chicks.. that's because the ones which hatched are using up the oxygen.. and the ones which are working hard at hatching just don't have enough entering through the shell (or the pip if they have gotten that far) to sustain them until they can hatch.
"Dead Air" is also an issue.. it's the lack of airflow AROUND the incubator.. carbon dioxide can build up in the space between the bator and the wall.. so the "fresh air" entering the bator is laden with excess carbon dioxide. They discovered that in the commercial industry.. so incubators and hatchers must have plenty of space between the back and wall in commercial hatcheries. In the home this can be an issue with incubators that are against walls.. in closets or other rooms where there isn't enough air flow in the room itself. It can be remedied by the use of fans if space is too limited around the bator itself (narrow dressers or tables which are just wide enough to hold the bator but is up against the wall is also an example)... The main issue with a fan blowing directly behind or onto a bator is that if there are temp fluctuations in the room it can add to those issues.
One other thing to remember is that at hatch .. when the humidity rises (either by your adding water or chicks hatching) is that humid warm air holds LESS oxygen than humid cool air. So the oxygen level of the air actually goes DOWN as you raise the humidity in a hot bator.. one remedy for this is to drop the temp at hatch by 1 to 1.5 degrees when you raise the humidity. It's one of the things I recommend for hatching pretty much any kind of bird.. but especially waterfowl, parrots and turkeys. If you only have a few eggs in a bator.. it's less of an issue than if the bator is filled to capacity.
Luckily I learned from "the best" .. lol.. my ancestors hatched out birds for as long as the history on them goes back (several hundred years according to the family historian).. and they passed down their tricks and tips through the generations.. plus I also had the honor of having Janice Castleberry give me lots of tips and pointers.. she is also one who stressed to me the importance of "dead air" since she had issues with it back when she first started hatching out ratites
as a note: With emu chicks you can tell if carbon dioxide is building up too much at hatch because the chicks will have red around their eyes!..
edited to fix typos.. that's what I get for typing in the dark.. lol
THank you--- great info as always Yinepu!!
Quote: I keep wanting to go back and look at these chicks!! what amazing chicks they make don't they!
Me too!! Like marbling.
Welcome!! Mny of us have hatched a few times, and several have lost count years ago. You're in good hands here. Look above to see Yinepu's write up on problems, and see a number of very good how-to sheets from Chooks chick and Yinepu.Hi everyone!
I'd like to join in if that's okay with everybody! I set my (chicken - silkie!) eggs last night and went looking for a hatch a long thread and got lucky I guess! This seems pretty epic!
I'm a little nervous since this is my second time incubating and my first attempt was REALLY awful all around and I did not hatch one chick. It was admittedly my own fault and I hope I have learned some lessons! THEN to cheer myself up after my failed incubation I bought three frizzle chicks and they all just turned out to be roosters!! I have terrible luck so far with chickens...
I'm trying to stay positive but I am off to a rough start already with this hatch! I bought some blue & buff silkie eggs from a guy in my area (6 of them, super cheap) and they were really, really dirty! I gently scrubbed with them with warm, damp pieces of gauze ( I work in a vet hospital) and then remembered that the eggs are covered in a protective "bloom" so hopefully I didn't scrub too hardI just took off the giant pieces of poop/dirt... THEN I accidentally cracked one of my little eggs trying to set up the bars in my (new!) brinsea eco! I put some nail polish on it and crossed my fingers... I ended up using a egg carton with the bottoms cut out because I couldn't get the bars to set properly for me. I think if I had more eggs I wouldn't have such a problem. Hopefully things are smooth sailing from here on out!
Thanks in advance for letting me join the fun!
Here's a pic of one of my three TSC Speckled Sussex pullets I just received while we wait for our eggs to start developing!
WHO CAN REPOST THESE LINKS?? please. Or are they on the OP?
good morning everyone. Its raining out here today 
I know we need it but boy I'm tired of the mud. I've got eggs in lock down due to hatch wWednesday 
I am so upset. Stupid birds
