tragic hatch...any ideas?

[Lynnk]

Hi all, the last hatch I had went really smoothly. This time, the only thing I changed was adding a hygrometer so I could be sure I had good humidity and not just leave it to chance.

we are now at day 23. I have had 6 hatch, 5 died within a few minutes and made it out okay, but then just failed.
One is OK.

today, I had one hatch and die. I have one pipped. and this is getting on here. My temps have been pretty good in this incubator, although I did have one high but I'm pretty sure it didn't last more than an hour before I noticed and brought it down. (103)

I'm heart broken that all these little chicks are not surviving. Can't see any obvious problems, but then not all problems are obvious of course.

I still have about 9 in there that haven't pipped and last night I Candled them quickly and saw movement, so I'm really not sure what the heck is going on.

any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks Lynnk

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Are you turning with a turner or hand turner? Still air or forced air? What was your temp and humidity? Were these your eggs or shipped eggs? If they were your eggs, how long did you hold them before you incubated them, and did you turn the eggs while you held onto them?

 

[Lynnk]

Sorry, I guess it would have been more helpful to give you the information...

forced air, temps between 99 and 101 except for one spike to 103 for about an hour, and humidity throughout at about 45-60% until lockdown. After lockdown it ranged from 70- and I found it as high as 90% at one point, but was afraid to open the incubator, as I would have to to reduce the water content. Do you think that it was maybe too humid?

They are my eggs, same day from under the hens into the prepped machine. I turn them by hand 3-5 times a day, until day 18.
then they lay flat.

I think I answered all the questions..

they are americauna eggs same as my last batch which was great. I didn't have any way to measure humidity before so I'm not sure how different it was the first hatch, I didn't do anything too differently (that I'm aware of ) except add the hygrometer.

thanks for your input. Let me know if there's more information needed.
Lynn

 

[bel]

I'm no expert but the humidity seems way too high for chickens, I incubate at 35-40% then 65% for hatching. When it spikes up there are usually some vents or a plug you can open to reduce it slowly without opening the incubator and causing a sudden drop.

Is the thermometer / hygrometer accurate? Often they can be way off, I have 3 different ones that give 3 different temps.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

With a forced air incubator, you want to try to hold the temps at 99.5. i'm wondering if the temperature spike gave them brain damage or something, which might account for them hatching then dying. Also, humidity over 70% could cause them to pip then drown. Or, you could have a bacterial infection in your incubator, if it wasn't properly sterilized.

i've only had it happen once that babies made it out of the egg then died. It was horrible. i was using my Hova Bator Genesis, with controlled forced air heat, so no heat spikes. My humidity was right in range. So all i could fathom was that my incubator had some type of bacteria that was killing them off.

i'm really sorry. i know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be.

 

[klf73]

was it ventlated well? not enough oxygen would easily kill chicks....

 

[TriciaHowe]

Wow, that's some super high humidity! I would have lifted that top and taken all of the water out of it at that point. You also need to make sure your hygrometer is calibrated if you haven't already. If I had to guess I would say a combo of high temps and high humidity caused your loss.

 

[geebs]

sounds like a sterilization problem... are you sure about your thermostat.... Babies running around generate extra heat... I drop in some cool water to bring temps down while waiting for the rest...It is a sticky wicked sometimes.

 

[Lynnk]

Thanks for all your information It could have been any or all of those things. I have one that has pipped, but then is slowing down and hasn't progressed. should I help it? I'm afraid that if I do I'll kill it for sure, but given the lastest, I'm not sure that it won't die anyways. If they are drowning, would it be better to get the little thing out of there?

I'm going to sterilize everything after this bunch is done doing whatever it is going to do, and try to correct all you have suggested.

I just feel awful for the little guys.