Troubled hatch

[Heatherschicks1]

I got a new incubator. The ones I used before were the styrofoam ones from tractor and supply.. For the most part had GREAT hatches one totaling in a 40 count with no deformities. Every once in a while had unabsorbed sacks one with an undeveloped twin but nothing like missing limbs or sick birds mostly if anything went wrong it was human error. But I tried to do a hatch with this new incubator, has timers and the turner so I thought piece of cake. Very low hatch count and one of the first came out with a crooked neck... It is standing but little rough on its feet. But then the very last one has it so bad it falls on it's back when it tried to walk. What causes this in hatching eggs??? The only thing I could think of as being different is the fans... Before I had a still air incubator and kept my eggs dry because some times the have the poop smudges nothing to bad I won't collect or incubate dirty eggs to not compromise the protective coating... But the new incubator everything seemed wet all the time from the fans circulating.. Humidity thermostats were in good ranges but if a few had poo on them maybe the eggs were contaminated and made the hatchlings sick??? I've never seen crook neck or wry neck... Not sure what could have caused it... Any advice?

 

[RubyNala97]

What kind of new incubator did you get? Did you put a seperate thermometer/hygrometer that was calibrated into the new incubator to get an accurate reading?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I got a new incubator. The ones I used before were the styrofoam ones from tractor and supply.. For the most part had GREAT hatches one totaling in a 40 count with no deformities. Every once in a while had unabsorbed sacks one with an undeveloped twin but nothing like missing limbs or sick birds mostly if anything went wrong it was human error. But I tried to do a hatch with this new incubator, has timers and the turner so I thought piece of cake. Very low hatch count and one of the first came out with a crooked neck... It is standing but little rough on its feet. But then the very last one has it so bad it falls on it's back when it tried to walk. What causes this in hatching eggs??? The only thing I could think of as being different is the fans... Before I had a still air incubator and kept my eggs dry because some times the have the poop smudges nothing to bad I won't collect or incubate dirty eggs to not compromise the protective coating... But the new incubator everything seemed wet all the time from the fans circulating.. Humidity thermostats were in good ranges but if a few had poo on them maybe the eggs were contaminated and made the hatchlings sick??? I've never seen crook neck or wry neck... Not sure what could have caused it... Any advice?

First off the wry neck: Here's a decent write up about wry neck and treatments for it: http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2014/04/preventing-and-treating-wry-neck-in.html

Next off, I have to follow Ruby's line of questioning. Are you going solely by the incubator's gages and has it been checked for accuracy? Many of the incubators with the digital readouts are often off and should not be trusted until they are verified by an known accurate thermometer. My next question would be, what do you usually run your humidity range at for the first 17 days and do you check your air cells at all during incubation for growth?

Many people make the mistake of switching incubators and expecting the same outcome using the same methods and the differences in incubators can be a factor in having to change a person's methods. For example I use a styro forced air and run dry (as long as I'm above 25%) and have awesome hatches. My co-conspirator on here, SC, uses a Brinsea and running dry or lower than 40% compromises his hatches. It's one of the biggest reasons that some of us realize and preach that one way is not right for everyone. Different things work for different people and different incubators is one of those factors.