Shipped eggs dying during lockdown?

[cmom]

I bought mine from GQF. Everything is old like me. I have had my incubators for a long time. I started with one styrofoam, then another and another and so on. Then I bought a cabinet then another cabinet then another. I changed the thermostats in all of them and put a clear door on one, the one I kept. To me the older incubators like I have, are larger than the newer ones. I have actual trays in mine where the newer units the racks slide directly into the rails instead of the racks in the trays then put in. The hatching tray in mine is metal and now they are made of the something like corrugated plastic, like the material some signs are made of. My cabinet is wood but the newer cabinets are made from a different material.

 

[fire370]

I bought mine from GQF. Everything is old like me.

I have not tried the GCF electronic control center. It very well maybe better then the IW Advanced.

 

[cmom]

It's good to know how it worked for you. It would be interesting to compare different thermostats. Please post some pictures of your units.

 

[fire370]

It's good to know how it worked for you. It would be interesting to compare different thermostats. Please post some pictures of your units.

I’ll see if I can dig some up. If not, I’ll take some pics when I’m out in the shop tomorrow.

 

[cmom]

I put a wafer in a homemade styrofoam hatcher made from a cooler and it works great.

 

[b2c2chicks]

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/

Yes, I trace them. Out of the 48 shipped eggs so far, I’ve had MANY wonky air cells, jiggly, or completely detached. Some form saddles halfway through but end up correcting themselves. We might try weighing next time. And yes, so far I’ve been using a basal body thermometer which goes to the hundredth, and a digital cooking thermometer. They both seemed to fall right together and line up with the incubator reading.

 

[b2c2chicks]

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)
View attachment 1641568

It’s circulated. It’s a gqf sportsman. And up until this 4th hatch I had been placing them into the styrofoam 1588 as a hatcher. I thought that could be something to do with it, because that’s when they seem to perish. So we calibrated it with all of the other instruments, and the temp was almost a degree lower than its reading. We fixed that after hatch #2. Hatch #3 did better with 5 out of the 9 set...but still not as good as what I expected. Maybe thats all I can hope for with shipped eggs? But again, 3 fully formed chicks in shell that made it to lockdown and never pipped internally.

 

[cmom]

A degree difference in temperature shouldn't kill the chicks. If the temperature runs a little high, they usually hatch a day or two early and if a little low they may hatch a day or two late. I would check your hygrometer. You may have seen the pictures I posted in an earlier post. I use my cabinet for incubating and hatch in my styrofoams. They are all old like me. There have been times when I couldn't get the humidity down low enough during incubation and I put a Damp Rid (in it's container) in the water pan. Do you have some eggs from your own birds you can put in to hatch. Next month I'll be loading up my incubator.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-during-lockdown.1287628/page-3#post-20854088

 

[b2c2chicks]

I actually borrowed that idea from you of using a separate hatcher (saw it in the threads a while back lol). I have checked the hygrometer numerous times, the salt test varies between 1% and 3%.

If it’s worth noting, last night 5 have hatched out of 9 of batch #4. I noticed a consistency going on: chicks seemed to have rough navels, ones that haven’t healed well, or maybe a protrusion. They didn’t hatch early (all 5 were well into day 21). And they all have a thick white goop attaching them to the shell/hanging off of them. The other hatches have had a few of these as well. One even died with what I thought was prolapsed intestines but instead it was probably the umbilicus in a dark skinned chick.

Would some kind of bacteria be present from the breeder? Or does this sound like another hazard of shipping? It explains the unabsorbed yolk sacs on all batches despite humidity changes. Surely 30-35% humidity isn’t still too high?

 

[cmom]

In my opinion 40% and lower on the humidity is good. I try to keep my humidity around 30/35%. Shipped eggs are a gamble. I usually take pictures of the boxes before I ship the eggs. When they have reached their destination the boxes were partially crunched. Luckily no eggs were broken. I don't send out the boxes that way. The postal service isn't very careful when handling no matter what kind of special handling instructions you put on the boxes.