I'm trying to figure out why my last batch of chicks didn't fare well during hatch time. Upon eggtopsies, it looked like most chicks were fully formed, but just didn't pip or hatch. So...I was wondering if any one had pics or could tell me what shrink wraped chicks look like? I went with a dry incubation for the most part, and my humidity hovered around 70% during hatch...it looked like there was a membrane withing the membrane around the chicks. I don't know if that is normaly, since I'm kinda new to this. My hatch before was successful, and the only change was a lower humidity during incubation, so I'm guessing that may have been the problem.
Quote:The inner membrane is normal. I had nine chicks do the same on a recent hatch. It looked like they never pipped thru the membrane but were fully formed perfect chicks. I am anxious to see replies too.
Can you answer a bunch of questions for me? Did you have any successful hatching in this batch? For the eggs you opened- They didn't pip at all? No bad smells or icky liquid? Did you have any 'BAD' eggs in the incubator- meaning seeping, bad smelling or exploding? If they didn't pip, they probably died at day 19-20. If they didn't smell bad, or have icky liquid around them- it probably wasn't bacterial contamination. There are a couple of reasons I can think of for a chick to be normal looking, but not pipping and trying to hatch. Bad temperatures- do you have a trustable thermostat? Too hot or too cold. OR Hens not fed high quality diet can create eggs that do not have enough nutrition in the yolk to take the chicks the full 21 days- where are the eggs from? If yours- what are you feeding your breeding hens? OR Poor turning- did you hand turn, or were they in a auto turner? How were they stored prior to incubation? Were they turned during the collection period if this spanned longer than a day? Humidity can definitely play a role, but from what I have learned in my hatching/incubating experience is too low humidity- they pip buy get stuck & can't turn very well to zipper the egg. Too high- they pip into the air cell, but it is too small, and there is too much liquid inside- and they bubble and drown So in reading your post- that they did not pip at all is a big clue....
OH my...well, I'll try to tackle these one at a time.. I started with 21 shipped eggs. None broken, all were set. At day 10 or so I tossed a few duds, at lockdown I tossed a few more and locked down 10 or 11 I think. Two hatched successfully. They both had some problems, the first was stuck to the inside of the shell, the second pipped, but needed some encouragement to zip...once zipped though, it came right out. As for bad smells...well, I kept them in about 26 days...so a few were a little funky when I opened them, but not all. Nothing rotten before opening them though. The thermostat seems pretty constant...for an LG any way, no periods of extreems either way. I use an auto turner that I took completly out at lockdown. The bator was sanatized prior to incubation, so I don't think there was any outside contamination. As for the feeds..well, again, shipped eggs so I don't know. The two that hatched are doing extreemly well and look great, but alas, I was hoping for a bit more than 2 chicks for my $30...
hmmm- well I would do your eggcropies at 22 or 23 days to get more accurate results in the future. candle before cracking them to make sure they are dead if you are worried. If you are confident in the temps of the brooder- I would tentatively guess the problem was lack of turning while the eggs were collected (did the seller have good feeback? do they do lots of sales? not too many hens laying during winter- these may have been stored unturned too long) OR maybe old hens or hens on poor diet. You never will know for sure- but I would stack the odds in your favor next time- get local (fresh) /non shipped hatching eggs from known healthy & well fed hens- and spike the humidity at hatching. If you run a dry incubator- check the air cell size when you candle for fertility- and make adjustments if the cell is too big/too small than expected for the day of incubator. For the incubator temps- a degree too hot or cold on average can really make a difference if it is that way the whole incubation period. You are aiming for 100-101 (or 99.5-100.5) depending on what you read. If it is 98 or 102.5 ect- you may get chicks that grow too fast or too slow- and are too weak/too big to hatch ect. 2 out of 21 is not great- but for shipped eggs, ANY hatching in my book is good! With local eggs- we get a good percentage 70-95% in general which we are happy with. With shipped eggs- I have gotten a whopping 0% hatch with some batches- up to 50% at most. Treasure your two, hope they are not both roosters......
Here is an excellent read ... "Hatchability Problem Analysis." http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204 Always make sure the incubator is clean and sanitized before use. Wash your hands before handling the eggs. What about the breeders ... are they in tip top condition? That can cause problems, too. I think the link above may help you out. Good luck.
Hi rift, I had the same problem with some of my shipped eggs too. 2 from each of the batches did not manage to pip, but the others who made it to pip, all hatched really well. Maybe it's a shipped egg thing? Or... I didn't use an egg carton this time, which also may have added to the problem, as the chicks did kick round the unhatched eggs a bit. I used a rcom 20 - Humidity set at 45% then 65%, temps 37.5, then 37 for lockdown. I layed them on their sides on a sponge hatching mat for the hatch. Hope you have better luck with your next hatch I'm setting some more today, but half of these are not shipped, so we'll see if it makes a difference
Ventilation? It makes sense that a bator full of gonna-be-chicks requires a good bit of ventilation. ??? Ed
