<sigh> does this sound like a humidity issue?

[KaldakurFarm]

Just finished my second hatch. 12 shipped eggs and 30 from my hens. Both of my hatches went similarly, but I'm just noting the one I just finished.

Out of the 30 eggs from my hens, I had 3 quitters at day 18, the rest were active and very alive. I was quite happy with the stats. The shipped eggs did horrible for a second time in a row, but 5 made it to day 18 - to be expected. I did a dry incubation, humidity around 25-29%, air cells all looked good. At lockdown I bumped the humidity to 70-75%. (I am using a Genesis 1588 - with the turner until day 18) Chicks from my hens started hatching on night 19 (same on both hatches).

This time, by day 21 I had all sorts of issues. I had one chick that somehow got the top off his egg, but his head was down and only his back and a wing were showing - no clue how that happened. I cracked the egg by his head after watching him struggle for quite some time and let him do the rest (which he did fairly promptly). I noticed he had a crooked toe after he dried and came out of the bator. I did some research and taped it flat and it by the next day when he had gotten the Vetrap off, it was straight. Then I had a second chick that I probably moved out of the incubator too soon with the same issue - I'll take the blame for that one. I did get that one straightened out also. I did move the chicks out of the bator in three batches as they were hatching and moving around. Then I had one that got itself out of the shell, but was covered in clear/yellowish goo (not dark enough to be yolk - I don't think). It was so sticky it got the chick stuck to the floor. I ended up taking him out and carefully washing and drying him, and putting him in the brooder in his own corral so the other chicks wouldn't peck him (I have a particularly voracious bunch this time). I noticed he had two bad feet - what the heck is going on here??? My first hatch from the same hens and roos had no limb issues at all. I was able to correct his feet also, and he perked up over night and is back in with the general population being rambunctious. I had 13 of my chicks hatched at the end of day 21. I candled what was left and put 3 of my eggs and two shipped eggs back in as they were still kicking. Humidity still pretty steady, I think 60 was the lowest it went when I was messing around with that stuck chick. Day 22 two of my eggs hatched, and one of the shipped eggs. The shipped egg chick pipped and zipped like a champ... but then was covered in the same yellow goo and got stuck to a different spot in the bator. ARGH!!! I washed this chick off and put him in his own corral in the brooder and am hoping for the best. I ended up with 1 shipped egg out of 12 hatching and 14 out of 30 of mine. Last hatch I had one gooey chick but didn't think much of it, but I got 16 of mine and one shipped egg - same starting stats. Obviously it's something I'm doing wrong at lockdown, as these eggs are all viable at day 18. I'm sorry this turned into a novel, but I wanted to put the details of what I did in, to see if anyone has any suggestions. I'm not as upset about the shipped eggs as I am about my home grown eggs. I know shipped eggs have terrible stats (and I did let them sit at room temp, and didn't turn for 5 days - the air cells were stable except for one).

I'm thinking my humidity is too high for the amount of times I open the incubator (I think I opened it 4 times during the hatch to remove the rambunctious chicks and assist that one). Isn't that what would cause the gooey chicks? My husband eggtopsied a couple from the last batch and he said they were very wet, wetter than the hatched chicks. I'm stubborn and am going to try again, I'm wondering if something in the neighborhood of 60% humidity might be better? I am using multiple thermometers and they are all reading 99.5, but I am going to buy another hygrometer as I'm not sure I trust the one in the machine now.

I'm also wanting to make sure that the strange foot issues were something that happened due to the incubation issues I had this time. If it is something genetic, I need to figure out where it's coming from and start culling. I had no issues the first hatch (and none of my birds have foot/leg issues), so I feel it's something I did. I'd like advice there also. I guess if it happens again without bator issues, I'll know for sure.

I'm frustrated, I feel like I'm killing them at the last minute. Just looking for someone more experienced to advise on if I am on the right track trying the lower humidity or if there is another avenue I need to explore.

I bought a bunch of Bielefelder chicks I've wanted for a long time from Greenfire Farms to make myself feel better. I do feel a bit better

Apologies for the novel.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I wish I had answers for you. I run my bator virtually the same as you have described (except I run 30%-35% during days 1-17). Most of my deaths are also during lock down (and usually the ones that don't make it never internally pip). On my last hatch I had 2 chicks that got stuck during zipping and ended up getting "glued" into their shells. Then a couple of others had the same yellow gooey stuff you were talking about. To me it almost sounds like too little humidity in the case of my "glued" chicks and too much humidity in the others. My hatch rate did end up being 87% but if there is something that I can be doing better I too would like to know. Sorry for your troubles. I will be following this thread to see what others have to say.

Chicks who pip internality but then die in my opinion are weak sisters who would never live anyway. Poor diet, poor choices of brood stock, and in-breeding are my excuses of choice. Too those reasons add improper egg storage.

An 87% hatch rate is pretty good in a back yard flock. Shipped eggs however are a crap shoot. I have hatched 90% plus with shipped eggs but hatching shipped eggs is an early Spring project, best done when the brood stock and eggs are at their freshest and the temperature cool and steady in the early spring. Over all my success rate on shipped eggs is somewhere South of 50-50 maybe way South.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'll stick with my easy to read hygrometer and monitoring of air cells. lol Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[kuchchicks]

x2!

 

[WVduckchick]

Smaller air cell, interesting, I never thought of noting that.  I'll have to add that to my notes for the next try.  Please do update this when you see what happens.  I will say, that the shells/membranes on my eggs are crazy hard.  When I cook with them they are so hard to crack open, I can't believe any of them get out alive.  

I guess the problem could be there already at day 18.  I guess until I get x-ray vision I won't know for sure LOL.  

I have a broody that I am going to throw some eggs under and see if she can do better than my bator.  That will be an interesting experiment.  Maybe it will prove my hypothesis that I am doing something wrong.  Won't tell me what, but it will tell me it's not my eggs!

edit:  after thinking about it a little more, issues started happening at the end of my hatch,  not the beginning.  The first wave all came out fine.  Maybe as time went on they got more waterlogged.  The two gooey chicks did have distended abdomens.  One of which is fine (that I almost culled because I felt so bad for it) and the other one is still fighting it.  More for me to ponder...

I'm a scientific type of person, so I weigh my eggs, and candle throughout the process. I'll add some candling pics from this evening tomorrow when I'm at the big computer. And will update as mine progresses.
Good idea if you have a broody. That should tell you something about your own eggs. They will always do better than we do, but not always perfect either. At least we don't feel so badly when theirs dont make it huh.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Just finished my second hatch. 12 shipped eggs and 30 from my hens. Both of my hatches went similarly, but I'm just noting the one I just finished.

Out of the 30 eggs from my hens, I had 3 quitters at day 18, the rest were active and very alive. I was quite happy with the stats. The shipped eggs did horrible for a second time in a row, but 5 made it to day 18 - to be expected. I did a dry incubation, humidity around 25-29%, air cells all looked good. At lockdown I bumped the humidity to 70-75%. (I am using a Genesis 1588 - with the turner until day 18) Chicks from my hens started hatching on night 19 (same on both hatches).

This time, by day 21 I had all sorts of issues. I had one chick that somehow got the top off his egg, but his head was down and only his back and a wing were showing - no clue how that happened. I cracked the egg by his head after watching him struggle for quite some time and let him do the rest (which he did fairly promptly). I noticed he had a crooked toe after he dried and came out of the bator. I did some research and taped it flat and it by the next day when he had gotten the Vetrap off, it was straight. Then I had a second chick that I probably moved out of the incubator too soon with the same issue - I'll take the blame for that one. I did get that one straightened out also. I did move the chicks out of the bator in three batches as they were hatching and moving around. Then I had one that got itself out of the shell, but was covered in clear/yellowish goo (not dark enough to be yolk - I don't think). It was so sticky it got the chick stuck to the floor. I ended up taking him out and carefully washing and drying him, and putting him in the brooder in his own corral so the other chicks wouldn't peck him (I have a particularly voracious bunch this time). I noticed he had two bad feet - what the heck is going on here??? My first hatch from the same hens and roos had no limb issues at all. I was able to correct his feet also, and he perked up over night and is back in with the general population being rambunctious. I had 13 of my chicks hatched at the end of day 21. I candled what was left and put 3 of my eggs and two shipped eggs back in as they were still kicking. Humidity still pretty steady, I think 60 was the lowest it went when I was messing around with that stuck chick. Day 22 two of my eggs hatched, and one of the shipped eggs. The shipped egg chick pipped and zipped like a champ... but then was covered in the same yellow goo and got stuck to a different spot in the bator. ARGH!!! I washed this chick off and put him in his own corral in the brooder and am hoping for the best. I ended up with 1 shipped egg out of 12 hatching and 14 out of 30 of mine. Last hatch I had one gooey chick but didn't think much of it, but I got 16 of mine and one shipped egg - same starting stats. Obviously it's something I'm doing wrong at lockdown, as these eggs are all viable at day 18. I'm sorry this turned into a novel, but I wanted to put the details of what I did in, to see if anyone has any suggestions. I'm not as upset about the shipped eggs as I am about my home grown eggs. I know shipped eggs have terrible stats (and I did let them sit at room temp, and didn't turn for 5 days - the air cells were stable except for one).

I'm thinking my humidity is too high for the amount of times I open the incubator (I think I opened it 4 times during the hatch to remove the rambunctious chicks and assist that one). Isn't that what would cause the gooey chicks? My husband eggtopsied a couple from the last batch and he said they were very wet, wetter than the hatched chicks. I'm stubborn and am going to try again, I'm wondering if something in the neighborhood of 60% humidity might be better? I am using multiple thermometers and they are all reading 99.5, but I am going to buy another hygrometer as I'm not sure I trust the one in the machine now.

I'm also wanting to make sure that the strange foot issues were something that happened due to the incubation issues I had this time. If it is something genetic, I need to figure out where it's coming from and start culling. I had no issues the first hatch (and none of my birds have foot/leg issues), so I feel it's something I did. I'd like advice there also. I guess if it happens again without bator issues, I'll know for sure.

I'm frustrated, I feel like I'm killing them at the last minute. Just looking for someone more experienced to advise on if I am on the right track trying the lower humidity or if there is another avenue I need to explore.

I bought a bunch of Bielefelder chicks I've wanted for a long time from Greenfire Farms to make myself feel better. I do feel a bit better

Apologies for the novel.

Ok first I have to address what you described with the chick that tried to come out the top of the shell and was stuck bent over, simply because I had the same exact thing happen in my hatch this past weekend. I had to take pictures before I helped him though...lol This is mine:
He had managed to get one wing out..... and as you can see he is bent in half in the shell....lol




Don't be alarmed at all the flesh showing he/she is a naked neck, in his case the naked went down to his shoulders...lol



Now for the humidity. I run 30-35% first 17 days and 75+ for lockdown and hatch. Wet sticky chicks could be a humidity issue. The leg/foot issues (according to the chicken chick) causes are:

CAUSES
One cause of spraddle leg is slick floors that result in chicks losing their footing. The legs twist out from the hip and remain in that position unless corrected.​

Other causes are:

• temperature fluxuations during incubation
• a difficult hatch that makes legs weak
• leg or foot injury
• brooder overcrowding
• a vitamin deficiency

I have never had yellow sticky substances on my chicks so that's a new for me.

The differences in why some do and don't-some hatch fine while others are sticky or wetter often has to do with different eggs releasing different levels of moisture. Size of egg and egg porosity are two big factors that affect this. I HIGHLY (it's what I base my whole hatch method on) advise monitoring the air cells to know and confirm that your humidity levels are right for your eggs.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

LOL yes, I am a... I prefer to call it perfectionist ... so I want to do everything right. When I fail or don't think I'm up to par, I'm on it to figure out how to fix it. The stubbornness helps with the perfectionism!!! I realize they are not all viable, but a hatch rate closer to 75-80% would make me much happier. This 50% is depressing.

My very first hatch rate was 6% (no lie) and my very last hatch rate was 100%, so have faith that perfectionism pays off....lol

 

[KaldakurFarm]

Type and size of incubator will effect how quickly the incubator will show condensation. At 75/80% I do not show any condensation. I had a girl trying to hit 75% in her little DIY cooler bator and it looked like a rain forest in there. lol

OK, then that is a bit less worrisome!

 

[WVduckchick]

There is a simple way to test a hygrometer. Pour regular table salt into a small container (soda cap lid, shot glass, small cup, etc) and add just enough water to make it slurry. Not too wet, not too dry. Put this salt mixture and your hygrometer inside a zip-loc bag or air-tight container. (do not let the hygrometer come into contact with the salt) Wait a few hours (depends on how much salt slurry you use in order to stabilize) and your hygrometer should read 75%. Its a scientific fact that the salt slurry should produce 75% humidity. My hygrometer only read 72%, so I stuck a piece of masking tape to it, and wrote 3% low on it. So I know to add 3% to whatever my hygrometer reads. I use 2 hygrometers (one was 10% off), that when I adjusted them, gave me the same reading. After 3 weeks of no incubating, next time I turned the incubator on, they were a few percentage points more off. So I tested one of them again, and it was different. So test well, and test often. I don't know what it is about those things, but they can fluctuate.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There is a simple way to test a hygrometer. Pour regular table salt into a small container (soda cap lid, shot glass, small cup, etc) and add just enough water to make it slurry. Not too wet, not too dry. Put this salt mixture and your hygrometer inside a zip-loc bag or air-tight container. (do not let the hygrometer come into contact with the salt) Wait a few hours (depends on how much salt slurry you use in order to stabilize) and your hygrometer should read 75%. Its a scientific fact that the salt slurry should produce 75% humidity. My hygrometer only read 72%, so I stuck a piece of masking tape to it, and wrote 3% low on it. So I know to add 3% to whatever my hygrometer reads. I use 2 hygrometers (one was 10% off), that when I adjusted them, gave me the same reading. After 3 weeks of no incubating, next time I turned the incubator on, they were a few percentage points more off. So I tested one of them again, and it was different. So test well, and test often. I don't know what it is about those things, but they can fluctuate.

use this type of instrument to determine humidity.

It works best in a forced air incubator. The chart below allows you to determine the humidity.