unhatched eggs with fully developed chicks

[muddipuppy]

several of my ameraucana and d'uccle eggs in the last hatch made it to full development, but never pipped and died. i'm trying to figure out what went wrong. normally, i dry hatch at about 45 and lockdown at 65. this time i incubated at about 45 - 50 degrees humidity because i noticed the air sacs on the ameraucana eggs were quite large. by lockdown, they were so big i went to 70 degrees humidity. the temp was a steady 99.5. any suggestions/ideas for my next attempt?

 

[muddipuppy]

anyone?

 

[Robo]

Are you inbreeding your flock?

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Inbreeding wouldn't case that. It would case deformities in the case of severe inbreeding, but I don't think this is the case.

Since the humidity was high, I would think that it was simply too wet for them to hatch. Sometimes chicks will drown in the egg before they get a chance to pip. Try reducing the humidity a tad, keep the temp around 99-100, take the air plugs out of the incubator to provide air, and don't open the incubator. Also, do you stop turning about 3 days before the hatch?

 

[mglewis74]

I am having the same problem with my GQF 1502 incubator. Temp is set at 99.5 degrees and the humidity is running at about 65%. I have the automatic bucket on top and have two wicks inserted into the water container inside the incubator. I have three different timings of eggs on the three shelves and another batch in the bottom hatching box at the appropriate three day point. Still, I have lots of eggs that do not peep. Bruce

 

[FenDruadin]

Hmm. I'm sorry to hear about the babies. That's always disappointing. Is it possible the air cells were too large? I wouldn't think they would drown with large air cells, but I suppose if water condensed inside the shell it might happen. I'm really no expert--I've never had air cells that were too large--I work hard to keep my humidity way low so the air cells don't stay too small, which is for me the biggest cause of developed babies that don't hatch.

Sorry I'm not more help. I hope you're able to figure it out and fix it. A poor hatch, especially one where the babies were ready but just didn't come out, is always disappointing.