To high humidity HELP PLZ!!!!

[Brandysgirls]

6 ago I had hatch day for some silkies will all of them ended up dying in the egg and when I opened them up they were so sticky and there was a lot of sticky fluid in the eggs and most of them were upside down.. I know my issue was too high humidity.I just started incubating 3 months ago and the same thing happened to the first batch I tried to hatch so I finally found that if I had a teaspoon of water every other day and let it run a few hours at about 45% humidity then let the water completely run out and don't add any more until the day after that I had 100% hatch rate doing it that way!this is my problem so for some reason I added a teaspoon of water every morning with this batch and it was way too much humidity so they all drowned because I couldn't spin or do anything in the egg. I have another batch that were in a different incubator which is a 360 that goes on lockdown today.I have to 360's ...1 set was in one and one set was in the other..I was also adding a teaspoon of water every morning to this set that goes on lockdown today. For the past six days I have not added any water at all and the humidity has been running about 37.. my question is do I still need to get the humidity up to 60 or 65 for lockdown? Can I just keep running it through dry? I'm really worried that the last 6 days wasn't enough to allow them to lose the amount of moisture they need?but I'm also worried that if I don't up the humidity to 65 for lockdown that that could cause an issue to. So I guess I'm looking for somebody to tell me what they think I should do please!!!! Do I add water for lockdown or do I not or can I just put it in one reservoir and just get it up to maybe 50? I'm scared that the six days without adding water did not counteract the 12 days of adding too much water

 

[Punkybrewster]

Check the air cells. How do they look. Big or small?

 

[Punkybrewster]

The next time around, keep humidity around 30-35% until lockdown.

 

[Brandysgirls]

Check the air cells. How do they look. Big or small?

They look okay maybe a little small? And lockdown started at 4 today.. so what do you suggest I raise the humidity up to for lockdown? When I run it dry the humidity runs in about 38.. the second go around that was just a little bit dry and a few of the chicks couldn't get out so that's the reason I started adding just a little bit of water every 3 days.but for some reason this time I added a little tiny bit of water everyday and I don't know why I did that I'm so worried about them.. but if the air cells are a little small I don't think they're too small so maybe they'll be okay

 

[LynnaePB]

The air cells don't look too bad on those. In your shoes I'd wait until after I got a first internal pip to raise the humidity for hatching. You could even wait a bit longer (several hours after the first internal pip) but once you start getting external pips the humidity should be raised so you don't end up with chicks becoming shrink wrapped. I've waited until getting internal pips before to raise humidity with no issues. Make sure to look out for external pips on the narrow end too as they act as both an internal and external pip and will come earlier.

The extra time may help a bit, with draw down those air cells should get a nice boost in size whether or not you raise the humidity now or a bit later though. Good luck, I hope this hatch ends up going well!

 

[LynnaePB]

Looking at your picture I see you have the eggs held upright in a cut down carton. Will you be hatching them like that? I'd perhaps think about laying them on their side seeing how the last hatch had a lot of chicks in the wrong end. Were those also standing upright like that? That may have been a factor in the chicks not making it out. I've heard good things about hatching upright but I would think it would decrease the chances of breach chicks making it. I personally always hatch eggs laying down since I do often get one or two chicks hatching from the narrow end of the egg.

Whatever you choose I wish you luck!

 

[JaeG]

Next time you could try weighing the eggs to track their weight loss. Eggs need to lose 12-16% of their weight over the first 18 days of incubation. Weigh them in grams before setting. I weigh mine all together and divide by the number of eggs I have to work out the average as then it doesn't matter if you do need to remove eggs that stop developing as it won't affect the average. I make a simple line graph with my weight range up the side and days 0-18 along the bottom.

On day 0 mark the average start weight. Subtract 12-16% (whichever number you choose - less for shipped eggs that might be older, more for fresh eggs) from that number (there are handy percentage calculators online) and mark that on day 18. Draw a line between those 2 points and then at any stage you can re-weigh and see if they are on track.

This is my current graph. I have 2 different lots of eggs in my incubator so I've done them separately but on the same graph. Usually I use 12% but this time around I've done the 2 extremes of 12% and 16% just out of interest. You can pick one percentage and go with that.

I haven't re-weighed yet as they are on day 4 at this stage.

I find that much easier than tracking the air cells especially for shipped eggs where the air cells might be messed up.

Good luck with the hatch - it's amazing how much the air cells draw down and I second @LynnaePB on waiting until you have internal pips before raising the humidity. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Brandysgirls]

Looking at your picture I see you have the eggs held upright in a cut down carton. Will you be hatching them like that? I'd perhaps think about laying them on their side seeing how the last hatch had a lot of chicks in the wrong end. Were those also standing upright like that? That may have been a factor in the chicks not making it out. I've heard good things about hatching upright but I would think it would decrease the chances of breach chicks making it. I personally always hatch eggs laying down since I do often get one or two chicks hatching from the narrow end of the egg.

Whatever you choose I wish you luck!

Ok I didn't get an answer by day 19 so I raised the humidity to 55 Ugh I hope there ok This is what the air cells look like today....day 20 starts at 4 pm... Do they look ok u think? Like they have lost enough moisture?

 

[Brandysgirls]

Looking at your picture I see you have the eggs held upright in a cut down carton. Will you be hatching them like that? I'd perhaps think about laying them on their side seeing how the last hatch had a lot of chicks in the wrong end. Were those also standing upright like that? That may have been a factor in the chicks not making it out. I've heard good things about hatching upright but I would think it would decrease the chances of breach chicks making it. I personally always hatch eggs laying down since I do often get one or two chicks hatching from the narrow end of the egg.

Whatever you choose I wish you luck!

And I've been told by a lot of Hatcher's that do a lot of shipped eggs do do them upright..and also another reason is if they don't lose enough moisture then if there sitting upright they won't drown..or it makes it harder for them to..that's the reason there sitting upright...I'm new so I haven't figured it all out yet

 

[LynnaePB]

Ok I didn't get an answer by day 19 so I raised the humidity to 55 Ugh I hope there ok This is what the air cells look like today....day 20 starts at 4 pm... Do they look ok u think? Like they have lost enough moisture?

Was there an image attached? I can't see it so can't comment on how they are looking now.

Yeah I don't blame you at all for trying to hatch upright, I've heard positive things about it too. It may even be fine to do for this hatch. I'm just going off the fact you had a lot in the wrong position last time.

You could even compromise and try propping them up at just a lesser angle so you get some of the benefits of upright hatching but any that happen to have their head in the narrow end stand a bit of a better chance.

There really isn't a wrong choice, there are pros and cons for them all. The cartons also make it a lot harder for already hatched babies to kick the eggs around which is a good thing. I take my little guys out as they hatch to avoid them playing soccer with the other eggs. I also put down a shelf liner that helps the eggs stay in place better (which is good if you leave the chicks in the incubator for awhile so they can't knock the other eggs around as much and so hatched chicks have less chance of splay leg). It takes some time to work out what is best for you and your situation.

I had to start my silkie flock with shipped eggs from multiple different breeders. Things tend to go wrong a lot more often with them and I really upped my hatch rate when I got more hands on. This is a really good article on assisting that may come in handy if you are open to assisting. If you are I'd give it a look over, things like safety holes have saved a lot of my shipped egg chicks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

I hope they are able to hatch without issue on their own though!