Strange air space in incubating silkie eggs?

[Leighe]

Oh no, we made a horrible mistake putting that plastic box inside the incubator, the idea was so that we would know which ones were the silkies. One hatched, and since it is day 22 and there is no signs of life from the others I held one up to my ear and it was very hot, I think we might have cooked them!
We have had a dozen Wyandottes hatch and it looked like there might be at least a couple more of them on the way but

Oh no!!! How sad if that's what happened.....

 

[Leighe]

I hatched a lot if shipped eggs this year. Had air sac saddles a lot to. I mark/draw around them with a pencil so i can keep track of the air cell position and come time for lock down, i put the eggs with those types of air cells upright in a egg carton for hatch. I have successfully hatched a lot of eggs with weirdo air cells. I try to position eggs at the lowest dip in the air cells up, at a slight angle, so that the chick has the best chance. I have a small brinsea w/a domed top..luv it..i fire it up and have it on standby for assisted hatches. Once the chicks in the carton placed upright start to pip they usually don't gave issues hatching. One thing I do now is incubate shipped eggs "up", small end down and gently hand turn from side to side. I have had much better success hatching that way.

I have the Brinsea domed tops (I have the 40 egg incubator too but found i really love the smaller ones (7 and 14). So you keep the auto turner off and how do you keep the eggs sitting upright, small end down, in the incubator?

 

[Ausdotte]

I just laid them down, they must lay that way when they are under the hen. Haven't done too badly with the Wyandottes although I am wondering if putting that box in there messed up the airflow and the temperature for the whole incubator. I didn't think to check it at all until now.

 

[WVduckchick]

I just laid them down, they must lay that way when they are under the hen. Haven't done too badly with the Wyandottes although I am wondering if putting that box in there messed up the airflow and the temperature for the whole incubator. I didn't think to check it at all until now.

I can see how tall the container is, but can't tell how close to the lid it is. It probably affected air flow a little, but shouldn't ruin them. If you only have wyandottes and silkies, it shouldn't be difficult to tell them apart.
I've seen people use those mesh bags like used in the dryer for delicates, but i haven't tried it.

 

[Ausdotte]

I just noticed that one of the silkies had pipped a little and so I opened it up and it was pretty crispy around the hole, and dead of course, so I am really not holding out any hope for the rest. Also pulled out a couple of pipped wyandottes, dead but not so baked. I think I heard a wyandotte tapping on it's shell though so maybe I will get a few more yet now that the temperature is better. I think some sort of mesh container would be fine but this box must have really messed up the airflow.
Yeah the Wyandottes and silkies have different colored legs and numbers of toes so it really wouldn't have been hard to tell them apart. Oh well, newbie mistakes.

 

[MINDANAO DAVE]

I bought the incubator on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-59-Egg-Auto-Turning-Digital-Incubator-Automatic-Chicken-Duck-Eggs-Poultry-AU/222327488981?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

This is only my second batch of eggs, the first lot I left the turner in while they hatched and it was painful watching them trying to stagger around on it and getting stuck everywhere.
Chicks are due on Monday.

I just bought a incubator just like yours and so far so good. I just had 2 hatch but It is a miracle as I had them in a 7 egg incubator and about the 12th day came home to find the incubator not working. The other 5 didn't make it.

 

[Ausdotte]

Yeah it's one of those cheap Chinese no brand ones, but better incubators here cost like five or more times or more as much, I am thinking of buying a second one as a back up though because I don't expect it to last indefinitely.

 

[abraga]

Oh no, we made a horrible mistake putting that plastic box inside the incubator, the idea was so that we would know which ones were the silkies. One hatched, and since it is day 22 and there is no signs of life from the others I held one up to my ear and it was very hot, I think we might have cooked them!
We have had a dozen Wyandottes hatch and it looked like there might be at least a couple more of them on the way but

Did u have a hygrometor or thermometer in the incubator? I usually give eggs till day 25. Did you try candling them ? Worse thing I ever did was to drown a bunch of eggs. I was so worried about humidity. Hopefully..u will still have a few hatch.

 

[Ausdotte]

i have a thermometer in there now, if only it was in there at lockdown yeah I should put a hydrometer in there too. I'm a bit paranoid too.
This guy survived but he looks too wet at one end and was too dry at the other.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-on-chick-warning-unpleasant-picture.1191630/

 

[abraga]

I have the Brinsea domed tops (I have the 40 egg incubator too but found i really love the smaller ones (7 and 14). So you keep the auto turner off and how do you keep the eggs sitting upright, small end down, in the incubator?

I love that little brinsea to...its great for hatching. I have successfully hatched in that one using the egg turner that comes with it. But found it to difficult to safely manage eggs I want 2 incubate "up"in it. Ive considered using the egg turner and placing foam wedges on one end to keep them up at an angle. I usually use the Rcom bator now. I always fire up my brinsea though..because when I have eggs hatching that may need an assist..the little brinsea is perfect. The dome gives me plenty of observation and i can put a towel around to maintain humidity if I need to open it and " help"..i also use it an an neo- natal unit for chicks that have issues at hatch to separate them from the other chicks.however.in the future ...im going to figure out a way to incubate small clutches of eggs upright in it as I sometimes buy just 6 serama eggs at a time. Smaller eggs seem to be more prone to air cell issues from shipping. However..if a have only a few eggs I do just cut out individual small cups from foam egg trays and use them in it. I set them inside the egg turner slots for stability.