Silkies pipped then DIED! Pic

[racuda]

I started out with 23 shipped Silkie eggs. I had a broody waiting, so I gave her 11 eggs and put the rest in the LG.

After 10 days, I candled and discarded the clears. That left 5 good eggs from the broody and 4 from the bator.

I took the 4 from the bator and added them to the 5 already under the broody. I checked on day 17 and all 9 looked good.

The eggs started hatching yesterday. By last night 4 had hatched. This morning 1 more had hatched. 2 had pipped and 2 had not.

When I got home from work, the 2 that had pipped looked just like they did this morning, so I examined them. Both were dead in the shell. The 2 that hadn't pipped looked like they had died on maybe day 18.

Of the 4 that died, one was vaulted and the others were not. All 5 surviving chicks are vaulted.

Now for the key piece of information. All 5 living chicks were under the broody from the start and all 4 dead chicks were in the LG for the first 10 days.

Since they all tried to hatch about the same time the bator temp must have been right. Right? The humidity was around 35% So what other variable am I missing?

This would have been a buff Silkie:

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Hatching humidity should be 65-70%. 35% for hatching is way to low. The chicks must have gotten shrink wrapped in the eggs.

 

[onthespot]

Just last night I read from a peacock breeder that they have MUCH higher hatching success when they put their peacock eggs under broodies for the first ten days. It seems for peacocks at least that the better conditions under the broody gives them a distinct advantage of survivability. Not sure why, more turning, more stable temps, no jarring or vibration from the motorized turners... Sorry for your loss.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

 

[ChickenTiff]

Yeh the humidity should be about twice what you had it it. So so sorry for your loss!
Tiff

 

[racuda]

All of the wells had water in them plus there was a small bowl full of water that I kept a thermometer in.

The Bill Worrell dry incubation method says the humidity should start at 40% and only add water when it drops to 25%. My 35% reading isn't that far off, is it?

 

[MainelySeramas]

I am having the same problem. I checked my humidity and it was down, added more water and the rest seem to be hatching ok.
By the way the membrane looks, it was drying out. Humidity should be around 55 to 65% for the last three before hatching.
Sorry for your loss! I lost 2 of mine.

 

[KellyHM]

You guys are missing the part where she said ALL the eggs were under the broody for hatching...only in the bator for the beginning. 35% is ok, but I like to keep mine around 45%. The dry hatching method has led to too many chicks stuck in the shell in my opinion. I have also been wondering for a while if the vibrations from the turner make the eggs not do as well, but it shouldn't have affected them at that late stage.

 

[tattoozz]

very informative

thank you folks for the info

sorry to hear bout the ones that didnt make it

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
You know that kind of makes sense to me. My son isn't always the most attentive to collecting eggs and I have found a pile of them now and again that should have been collected being sat on by a hen. I take them and immidiately pop them in the incubator and they seem to have a really high hatch rate. I never put 2 and 2 together until you said something.

(runs to get some newly recieved eggs OUT of the incubator and to a broody hen NOW!) LOL