Trouble Shoot Bad Hatches Please

[uncle]

I have terrible hatches and they are not getting any better. Now I've come for help.
I started with a LG foam incubator with auto turners and never had more than 18 out of 40 to hatch.
I have built a cabinet incubator out of on old lab freezer. I added modern electronics and use the LG for a hatcher.
I am running temp of 99.4 to 99.7 and humidity of 45%-55%. They go into lock down in the LG on the 18th day. The temps go from 99-100f as I can't adjust it any closer and I have a small glass of water in there for humidity.

I did have a power failure during lock down where the temp dropped to 88.9 during the night. You can see that I only had 7 hatch. I opened all the eggs; 3 where very under developed but the rest were totally developed but failed to pip and zip.
I have tried hatching on their side as well as in cartons with the bottoms cut out.
The LG is a still air and you can see only the eggs around the edges hatch. This is the same kind of pattern I had the last time.
Do I need a new hatcher? A fan? Help....

 

[redhen689]

Are you using shipped eggs? How fresh are the eggs you are using?
Could the humidity be a little too high? Are the air cells growing appropriately?
Do you measure the temperature in more than one place? It could be there is higher humidity towards the middle, or uneven temperatures, a fan may help with that.
Do you rotate your eggs around to different positions in the incubator?

 

[uncle]

These are my eggs from my flock. 2 to 3 days old max., never refridgerated. I do not rotate tham around, do I need to?
Brian

 

[cva34]

These are my eggs from my flock. 2 to 3 days old max., never refridgerated. I do not rotate tham around, do I need to?
Brian

Maybe yout ROO is over worked TOO OLD or a DUD... You say temp. is this in INC. and this in Hatcher .Is it measured with sameThermometer..Guess I'm saying Check to make sure temps.are acurate.Also Check you Hydrometer useing" Hydrometer calibration check" Do you have a Fan
moveing the air around to keep temps. consistant all over without blowing too hard?.What about heat source too close to eggs?.MY 2c ....cva34

 

[scarletgal]

You can order a fan and install it easily. It made a big difference in my hatch rate, although I just ordered a new incubator with a fan and used the still air to hatch in.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Here is a great link that may help you: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html

Also check out this link, it is about still air incubators vs forced air. The diagram is great. http://cmfarm.us/stillair.html

I hope you have better hatch rates in the future!

 

[aveca]

great post sunny and 5 egg..some of these might be collected up and put in learning center in the future

 

[uncle]

I just put another 40 in lock down. I spritzed the eggs with warm water. The eggs are fertile, as they were developed but didn't hatch.
The humidity is 60% and I'm hoping for no power failures this time.
I'll keep you posted.
Brian