Shipped eggs dying during lockdown?

[fire370]

That can be true!

There was a batch of bad ones shipped out of florida several years ago.

There are others that are very good too. They can be more expensive though. Looking into the specs will tell you for sure.

I just ordered 2 more from Cutlers and we’ll see how they last this go around.

Call me old school, but my favorites are still the GQF dial probes and they are quite accurate. Can use them dry or wet wiggled.

 

[b2c2chicks]

The most common reason for the chicks to be fully developed and not hatch is the humidity. Most often people incubate at too high of humidity. Only the last 3 days does the humidity have to be higher to help the chicks move around in their shell so they can zip. I have bought eggs and I ship eggs. The egg needs to loose moisture while developing. There are many charts on BYC for how much moisture the eggs should loose during incubation. Because of having too high of humidity the chicks drown sometimes before they internally pip or from condensation build up in the air sack and when they internally pip they drown. Shipped eggs are always a gamble. I had 15 sent to me and 3 hatched. They were packed well, but the postal service isn't very gentle with the packages no matter what kind of handling labels you put on the boxes.

That’s what I suspected with the first 3 hatches because it was the tell tale large soggy chicks. So I dropped it from 45% to 35% halfway through the 18 days on the 3rd batch and got 5 out of 12. Had it at 70-75 on lockdown. It turned out better. But now on this 4th hatch going right now I’ve ran 35% the whole 18, got it at 70% right now. Two have hatched on time, one has pipped on the wrong end, and 2 more have pipped as of this morning. The other 4 are silent but it’s still early. Luckily they’re coming out appearing as they should (not overly wet yet not sticky either).

It’s odd because when I candled them at lockdown (and noticed this with the batch #3) it was like they were in different stages of growth development. Some had quite a bit of “clear” space still left, whereas some took up most of their shell space. I wonder if that has anything to do with the hatch rate? Had it been in my styrofoam bator, I would’ve thought hot and cold spots. It’s almost like a temp variation...and if it’s not, it makes me wonder if this is just a common occurrence with shipped eggs??

 

[aart]

Humidity can vary over the first 18 days, so high and low spikes are not as critical as temp skies.
Do you trace your air cells and/or weigh your eggs to track moisture loss?

I have found testing/comparing my thermometers against a human medical thermometer to work the best...tighter tolerance(0.3-0.5°F) close to the range of incubation.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

 

[song of joy]

For shipped eggs, I usually see high mortality early and late in incubation. Early mortality (1-5 days) seems to be associated with scrambled egg contents and/or inability of the blood vessel network to develop properly as it's so fragile and the egg is damaged. Late mortality is the most heart-breaking. In my experience, it seems to be due to the chicks being malpositioned, which is common in shipped eggs (probably due to damage to the egg contents and membranes.

I usually incubate some eggs from my own flock alongside shipped eggs and only notice these problems arising in the shipped eggs. High hatch rates from my flocks' eggs tell me the incubator settings were all OK during incubation.

 

[cmom]

Just my opinion, I think humidity and temperature are of course the most important factors in hatching. I have an old cabinet incubator. Originally it had a wafer thermostat and the temperature would vary around 98ºF to around 101ºF. Several years ago I replaced the wafer with an electronic thermostat. Now it varies less than a half of a degree. My point is I still had successful hatches with the fluctuating temperature. I agree that the humidity can fluctuate too. I do try to keep my incubator under 40% humidity and I have a much better hatch rate. There have been time because I couldn't get the humidity down low enough I put some Damp Rid in my water pan (I put the whole Damp Rid container in the water pan), but I hatched later than I usually do, during our rainy season, so the humidity was high.

 

[cmom]

It’s odd because when I candled them at lockdown (and noticed this with the batch #3) it was like they were in different stages of growth development. Some had quite a bit of “clear” space still left, whereas some took up most of their shell space. I wonder if that has anything to do with the hatch rate? Had it been in my styrofoam bator, I would’ve thought hot and cold spots. It’s almost like a temp variation...and if it’s not, it makes me wonder if this is just a common occurrence with shipped eggs??

Is your incubator still air or circulated air? It does make a difference. Do you have a turner or do you hand turn the eggs?
This egg was marked as a probable quitter. (X)

 

[fire370]

Just my opinion, I think humidity and temperature are of course the most important factors in hatching. I have an old cabinet incubator. Originally it had a wafer thermostat and the temperature would vary around 98ºF to around 101ºF. Several years ago I replaced the wafer with an electronic thermostat. Now it varies less than a half of a degree. My point is I still had successful hatches with the fluctuating temperature. I agree that the humidity can fluctuate too. I do try to keep my incubator under 40% humidity and I have a much better hatch rate. There have been time because I couldn't get the humidity down low enough I put some Damp Rid in my water pan (I put the whole Damp Rid container in the water pan), but I hatched later than I usually do, during our rainy season, so the humidity was high.

Funny. I went from wafers to electronic in my cabinets and have gone back to wafers. I still have the electronics on them to run the turner racks and sanity check for temp. After a few years with the electronic controllers I think I prefer wafers.

 

[cmom]

One time I put 6 eggs in a pulp egg carton. I thought they were quitters because they didn't seem like they were as developed as the other eggs. One morning when I went in to see if any more chicks had hatched, I heard some peeping coming from behind me. I had forgotten about the eggs in the pulp carton and they were hatching. I was so caught up in the moment I didn't take any pictures so when it happened again, I took some.

 

[cmom]

Funny. I went from wafers to electronic in my cabinets and have gone back to wafers. I still have the electronics on them to run the turner racks and sanity check for temp. After a few years with the electronic controllers I think I prefer wafers.

I have had much steadier temperature since converting them to electronic. Do you have GQF? Just curious. Now I'm down to one cabinet but I'm getting old and not sure how much longer I can do it. I am cutting back on my hatching. I use my styrofoam incubators as hatchers. I don't hatch in the incubator. I've had a couple of oops when I marked the wrong date on the calendar.

 

[fire370]

I have had much steadier temperature since converting them to electronic. Do you have GQF? Just curious. Now I'm down to one cabinet but I'm getting old and not sure how much longer I can do it. I am cutting back on my hatching. I use my styrofoam incubators as hatchers. I don't hatch in the incubator. I've had a couple of oops when I marked the wrong date on the calendar.
View attachment 1641598 View attachment 1641602

I made my 3 cabinets but they are real similar to the GQF’s just a little more room and my turners system is pivoted on the sides giving easier access to the trays. I also have 5 dedicated hatchers. I try not to hatch in the cabinets but if everything is full up then I break out the three Genesis 1588’s.

I too have mis-marked the date and had babies unexpectedly in the cabinets.

What controllers did you go with? I changed mine over to the Incubator Warehouse Advanced in Jan of 2014 I believe and went back to wafers last fall. I got bigger swings with the advanced then the wafers.