Update. The Great Debate: Is it the incubator or the egg?

[yinepu]

Okay, the sticky chick is fighting his little heart out. How do I get this glue off off him? I know it is a risk, but he will die either way? Time for hail mary pass here. He is strong, but looks like he is covered in supper glue. He does not seem to be able to keep his balance and false over on his back. I have tried swabbing him with warm water and a cotton ball and it seems to help and for a while the glue moistens up. But it soon drys again and he false over and starts trembling. I have got a lot of it off and he seem to still have a lot of fight in him. What else can I do?

take him in and give him a bath by holding him under lukewarm water and gently rubbing the goo off.. then dry him off as best as you can and get him either back into the bator to dry off or under a nice warm brooder light

 

[Jungleexplorer]

take him in and give him a bath by holding him under lukewarm water and gently rubbing the goo off.. then dry him off as best as you can and get him either back into the bator to dry off or under a nice warm brooder light

He made it! I did exactly what you said, even before I read your response. I drew him up a bowl of 99 degree water and immersed his whole body all the way to his little neck and let him soak. I set a blow dryer at about 18 inches away to keep the air around the bowl nice and warm . I just let him soak for a few minutes in the warm water. I thought about how good it feels when I soak in a nice warm bath. You know how it good feels and how it warms your whole body? It got a lot of the glue off of the little guy. His hair is still not fluffy, but his is up and walking around. He seems to be perfectly strong this morning. He is not pretty to look at, but I guess the remaining glue will go away with time. He has fought so hard, I don't want to stress him anymore.

I got six chicks yesterday and I there is one more egg with a hole in it and I can see the chic's beak moving inside. But I am worried about one thing. All six of the chics that hatched, hatched on day 20, not day 21. So that means my incubator is running a little hot right?

 

[yinepu]

He made it! I did exactly what you said, even before I read your response. I drew him up a bowl of 99 degree water and immersed his whole body all the way to his little neck and let him soak. I set a blow dryer at about 18 inches away to keep the air around the bowl nice and warm . I just let him soak for a few minutes in the warm water. I thought about how good it feels when I soak in a nice warm bath. You know how it good feels and how it warms your whole body? It got a lot of the glue off of the little guy. His hair is still not fluffy, but his is up and walking around. He seems to be perfectly strong this morning. He is not pretty to look at, but I guess the remaining glue will go away with time. He has fought so hard, I don't want to stress him anymore.

I got six chicks yesterday and I there is one more egg with a hole in it and I can see the chic's beak moving inside. But I am worried about one thing. All six of the chics that hatched, hatched on day 20, not day 21. So that means my incubator is running a little hot right?

glad your baby is feeling better

don't worry about the day 20 or 21 for hatch thing.. it doesn't matter if it's off by a day.. 21 days is the average.. not written in stone

now if your eggs were hatching several days early or late.. then yeah it would be a temperature issue.. but one day is no biggie at all

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Thanks. That makes me feel better. I have one more egg with a hole in it. But it has had that hole since yesterday and the chick has still not hatched. The other six chicks are kicking it and the other three remaining eggs around like soccer balls. I can still see the chick moving through the hole, but there has been no change for about 12 hours. How long should I wait before helping this little guy?

 

[yinepu]

if hes still peeping strong I would give him another 12 to 24 hours.. if he's sounding weak I would make the hole a little bigger and check to see what's going on (candling the egg first to see right where the air cell is).. but he should be fine since today is day 21 and shouldn't need any help unless he's sticky.. to help him when he doesn't need it is only asking for trouble.. so I would go by the sound of his peep

 

[mbleily]

ouch... sorry about your babies.. but I figured the humidity was too high

the gooey one is a "sticky chick".. the goo being the albumen which didn't get absorbed/dry up since the humidity was too high.. when a sticky chick does manage to hatch the egg white starts to dry and becomes rock hard.. it glues the chick into it's shell and ends up keeping it from breathing and hatching as it dries.. kind of like a bug trapped in amber as it hardens

Can I ask a question of you here? I had a hatch just this last week. I put in 42 eggs. My candler will not see in to the blue or brown eggs and that is all I put in so I just can see the air sack. I had 14 shipped eggs that I had set up right for 3 days before putting in the incubator then put them all in and hand turned the other eggs for three days. The air sacks looked pretty good on the shipped eggs so I started the turner. I also had 15 of my sisters eggs in there. I had a total of 18 hatch out. I tried to keep the humidity at around 35 or 40 and the temp was at 100. I used the new Genesis 1588 with digital read out. I didn't even question the read out until it dawned on me maybe I should check it with my other meters. I found the humidity was 10% low reading. So I had it at 45 to 50 % if the other two meters are right and the temp. read low also so it was around 99 degrees. This really is upsetting because I can't get any two them or humidity meters to read the same. I am tired of throwing money away trying to get one that is good. I figured the new incubator was a miracle and would be on the money. GRRRRRR. So I got 10 of the shipped eggs to hatch and one of my own eggs......My eggs may not all have been fertile because even though I had the roo with only 12 hens he had a lot of favorites that were in the other pen. But I opened one of my green eggs and the chick was totally formed and yoke absorbed. I didn't have the heart to open any more of the eggs. I know that isn't what I should have done but I was too upset about seeing that little one there. My Sister has lots of rooster running with her hens and I felt she should have had all good fertile eggs. She got almost 50% hatch.
The thing I am leading up too is the last two eggs that hatched where attached to the bottom of the shell. And when they did get out they were dragging around all that waste like stuff that is usually left in the shell. The egg I opened did not seem overly dry or wet. Just wanted to know what you thought about this hatch....Thanks

 

[yinepu]

Can I ask a question of you here? I had a hatch just this last week. I put in 42 eggs. My candler will not see in to the blue or brown eggs and that is all I put in so I just can see the air sack. I had 14 shipped eggs that I had set up right for 3 days before putting in the incubator then put them all in and hand turned the other eggs for three days. The air sacks looked pretty good on the shipped eggs so I started the turner. I also had 15 of my sisters eggs in there. I had a total of 18 hatch out. I tried to keep the humidity at around 35 or 40 and the temp was at 100. I used the new Genesis 1588 with digital read out. I didn't even question the read out until it dawned on me maybe I should check it with my other meters. I found the humidity was 10% low reading. So I had it at 45 to 50 % if the other two meters are right and the temp. read low also so it was around 99 degrees. This really is upsetting because I can't get any two them or humidity meters to read the same. I am tired of throwing money away trying to get one that is good. I figured the new incubator was a miracle and would be on the money. GRRRRRR. So I got 10 of the shipped eggs to hatch and one of my own eggs......My eggs may not all have been fertile because even though I had the roo with only 12 hens he had a lot of favorites that were in the other pen. But I opened one of my green eggs and the chick was totally formed and yoke absorbed. I didn't have the heart to open any more of the eggs. I know that isn't what I should have done but I was too upset about seeing that little one there. My Sister has lots of rooster running with her hens and I felt she should have had all good fertile eggs. She got almost 50% hatch.
The thing I am leading up too is the last two eggs that hatched where attached to the bottom of the shell. And when they did get out they were dragging around all that waste like stuff that is usually left in the shell. The egg I opened did not seem overly dry or wet. Just wanted to know what you thought about this hatch....Thanks

you can calibrate your hygrometers to see how far off they are.. I get mine from Amazon.. they are the kind that can also be adjusted.. so if I ever find they are reading off I can manually change them so they read correctly
in all honesty .. once you get to know your bator and how it acts in your home many people will just keep a hygrometer on hand and pretty much ignore it.. it's just a matter of figuring out what it needs to run for your particular situation. For people who are new to hatching .. or are working with a new bator.. or have some special eggs on hand that they are trying to incubate; a good accurate hygrometer or a scale to weigh the eggs (to monitor weight loss) is a must

as for the chicks dragging around the shell.. some do that.. the umbilical cord just needs to dry then it breaks pretty easily.. it's just that some chicks seem to have them snap sooner than others. I have had some hatches where one or two will drag the shell for a few minutes.. and other hatches where none do. so long as they don't rupture anything they are fine

since the shipped eggs did fine (10 out of 14 for shipped is good) the incubator wouldn't be the problem..
it sounds like the problem with your home grown eggs was mainly a fertility issue.. it could have also been improper handling at collection or a nutritional issue with the hens
Did you or your sister store the eggs before they were set?... if so the way they were stored could have impacted the hatch rates
without knowing more about the chicks in the unhatched eggs it's a little hard to pinpoint things

 

[leirob007]

your chicks were fully developed and soaking wet in the shell right. it didn;t look like they had any reason not to make it.
one thing is for sure. it won;t hurt you to try this. run a hatch of your own eggs maybe even just a few. holding a 30% humidity and letting it drop below 20 before adding water ( when you add water it will spike to the high 40 to 50% ranges.
.
your eggs were fresher and did not have the loss and the bigger air sack of the shipped eggs. so they could tolerate the higher humidity.
when I see my hygrometer at 15 or 18% I say " where is my water jar ?"
my first hatch ( out of 8 so far ) went 87.5% all the rest are between 90 and 100% with one perfect run. I promise you you have nothing to loose. and after a few runs. have a world of information that you can't buy.

quit throwing away good money after bad and grab one of those meters. any one of them please. NOW lets hatch some eggs playing with the numbers and see what works. make notes. and soon. every hatch will have close to the same results/ Perfect.

Can I ask a question of you here? I had a hatch just this last week. I put in 42 eggs. My candler will not see in to the blue or brown eggs and that is all I put in so I just can see the air sack. I had 14 shipped eggs that I had set up right for 3 days before putting in the incubator then put them all in and hand turned the other eggs for three days. The air sacks looked pretty good on the shipped eggs so I started the turner. I also had 15 of my sisters eggs in there. I had a total of 18 hatch out. I tried to keep the humidity at around 35 or 40 and the temp was at 100. I used the new Genesis 1588 with digital read out. I didn't even question the read out until it dawned on me maybe I should check it with my other meters. I found the humidity was 10% low reading. So I had it at 45 to 50 % if the other two meters are right and the temp. read low also so it was around 99 degrees. This really is upsetting because I can't get any two them or humidity meters to read the same. I am tired of throwing money away trying to get one that is good. I figured the new incubator was a miracle and would be on the money. GRRRRRR. So I got 10 of the shipped eggs to hatch and one of my own eggs......My eggs may not all have been fertile because even though I had the roo with only 12 hens he had a lot of favorites that were in the other pen. But I opened one of my green eggs and the chick was totally formed and yoke absorbed. I didn't have the heart to open any more of the eggs. I know that isn't what I should have done but I was too upset about seeing that little one there. My Sister has lots of rooster running with her hens and I felt she should have had all good fertile eggs. She got almost 50% hatch.
The thing I am leading up too is the last two eggs that hatched where attached to the bottom of the shell. And when they did get out they were dragging around all that waste like stuff that is usually left in the shell. The egg I opened did not seem overly dry or wet. Just wanted to know what you thought about this hatch....Thanks

 

[yinepu]

your chicks were fully developed and soaking wet in the shell right. it didn;t look like they had any reason not to make it.
one thing is for sure. it won;t hurt you to try this. run a hatch of your own eggs maybe even just a few. holding a 30% humidity and letting it drop below 20 before adding water ( when you add water it will spike to the high 40 to 50% ranges.
.
your eggs were fresher and did not have the loss and the bigger air sack of the shipped eggs. so they could tolerate the higher humidity.
when I see my hygrometer at 15 or 18% I say " where is my water jar ?"
my first hatch ( out of 8 so far ) went 87.5% all the rest are between 90 and 100% with one perfect run. I promise you you have nothing to loose. and after a few runs. have a world of information that you can't buy.

quit throwing away good money after bad and grab one of those meters. any one of them please. NOW lets hatch some eggs playing with the numbers and see what works. make notes. and soon. every hatch will have close to the same results/ Perfect.

I didn't want to jump to the conclusion that mbleily's chicks drowned since they didn't describe what condition they were in other than "totally formed and yoke absorbed".
All they said about the air cells was "My candler will not see in to the blue or brown eggs and that is all I put in so I just can see the air sack." And I know for a fact that not all shipped eggs have larger air cells.. I just received shipped eggs the other day that had perfect tiny little air cells (very fresh eggs from a member of this board) .. so it's possible that their shipped eggs were in the same condition. We also don't know if they stored their eggs for any length of time or how they were stored.. So without more info from mbleily we can only guess what the issue was.

 

[mbleily]

you can calibrate your hygrometers to see how far off they are.. I get mine from Amazon.. they are the kind that can also be adjusted.. so if I ever find they are reading off I can manually change them so they read correctly
in all honesty .. once you get to know your bator and how it acts in your home many people will just keep a hygrometer on hand and pretty much ignore it.. it's just a matter of figuring out what it needs to run for your particular situation. For people who are new to hatching .. or are working with a new bator.. or have some special eggs on hand that they are trying to incubate; a good accurate hygrometer or a scale to weigh the eggs (to monitor weight loss) is a must

as for the chicks dragging around the shell.. some do that.. the umbilical cord just needs to dry then it breaks pretty easily.. it's just that some chicks seem to have them snap sooner than others. I have had some hatches where one or two will drag the shell for a few minutes.. and other hatches where none do. so long as they don't rupture anything they are fine

since the shipped eggs did fine (10 out of 14 for shipped is good) the incubator wouldn't be the problem..
it sounds like the problem with your home grown eggs was mainly a fertility issue.. it could have also been improper handling at collection or a nutritional issue with the hens
Did you or your sister store the eggs before they were set?... if so the way they were stored could have impacted the hatch rates
without knowing more about the chicks in the unhatched eggs it's a little hard to pinpoint things

I did calibrate my hygrometers that I bought. I can't do the Genesis one, at least I don't know how to do that. That is why I say the Genesis is 10 % low from the other two, which were with in 3 degrees of each other. One was 65% and one was 68% when I calibrated them with the salt and water method. I just feel it is discuraging that you can get one that is closer to the right number. Both of the temp gages on the ones I calibrated registered lower by one degree than the genesis also.

I know that I have a problem with fertility with my eggs. Even though he was with just 12 hens I picked that I wanted to hatch from they were not all his favorites so he didn't really care about fertilizing them.

This hatch was to help get me some outside roos to help him with the 30 (now ++) hens he has to choose from. I can see the ones he likes but I am not there when they lay the eggs to tell which are his favorites eggs.

When I collect the eggs I put them in a carton so I can tilt them from side to side until I have all the ones I want. I was three days collection eggs and then picked the ones I wanted to hatch. They side on the counter beside the bator. The bator is in a corner of the counter where it is out of the way and out of any draft. I put a fish tank thermometer in for a while that read 99 degrees and a regular human thermometer and it read the same even though the Genesis read 100 and some times 100.2. I thought maybe the difference is the level it was reading where the others were on the eggs it might have been reading up higher.

My sister brought me her eggs all on one day and that was two days before I set them. They were eggs from the day she brought them and I was the one that turned them as I read here to do.

I am sure as I learn more I will have better hatches. That is why I am here. I want to learn as much as I can about what is going on. I wish I had opened the eggs. I did that from the last two hatches I did in my home made incubator. They all looked pretty much like the egg I opened this time. They were well formed and yokes were obsorbed. It was just hard to do them all this time. I need to get a little harder in my feeling. It is strange because I have had not problem with butchering animals in the past but these were not supposed to die.

I did have almost a 50 percent hatch so maybe I am expecting too much. It is better than the other two in which I got only 4 out of each hatch of 14 each time.
d

your chicks were fully developed and soaking wet in the shell right. it didn;t look like they had any reason not to make it.
one thing is for sure. it won;t hurt you to try this. run a hatch of your own eggs maybe even just a few. holding a 30% humidity and letting it drop below 20 before adding water ( when you add water it will spike to the high 40 to 50% ranges.
.
your eggs were fresher and did not have the loss and the bigger air sack of the shipped eggs. so they could tolerate the higher humidity.
when I see my hygrometer at 15 or 18% I say " where is my water jar ?"
my first hatch ( out of 8 so far ) went 87.5% all the rest are between 90 and 100% with one perfect run. I promise you you have nothing to loose. and after a few runs. have a world of information that you can't buy.

quit throwing away good money after bad and grab one of those meters. any one of them please. NOW lets hatch some eggs playing with the numbers and see what works. make notes. and soon. every hatch will have close to the same results/ Perfect.

They didn't look like they were soaking wet. Just wet and well formed and ready to hatch. I did run this hatch at 50 % for the first few day then when down to 35 per cent. At lock down I went up to 60 to 65. LOL You want to make me start collection eggs again to go for it. My DH may leave if I have any more boxes with chicks and lights in the though.......

I didn't want to jump to the conclusion that mbleily's chicks drowned since they didn't describe what condition they were in other than "totally formed and yoke absorbed".
All they said about the air cells was "My candler will not see in to the blue or brown eggs and that is all I put in so I just can see the air sack." And I know for a fact that not all shipped eggs have larger air cells.. I just received shipped eggs the other day that had perfect tiny little air cells (very fresh eggs from a member of this board) .. so it's possible that their shipped eggs were in the same condition. We also don't know if they stored their eggs for any length of time or how they were stored.. So without more info from mbleily we can only guess what the issue was.

The shipped eggs did have a dip in a couple of the eggs but the others looked pretty much like mine did. You can see the way I stored them and how long in the first answer in this post. I hate losing good chicks this way. I just need to learn more and study harder.

Thanks to you all for your posts. It really has helped me think about the whole thing more.