Hello, I'm Emily and I really wish I'd read more here BEFORE I started incubating. I've read a whole lot over the past week, but not enough to save my chicks. There's so much info here that I feel bad starting a new thread. I'm a busy mother of six small children; my time is precious and I've already spent hours reading here. If anyone would be so kind as to read my story and offer advice, I'm very grateful.
I have a Farm Innovations model 2100 still air incubator. Rhode Island Red chickens. I used eggs from 3 consecutive days and put them all in at once.
The incubator was in my cellar, which is damp-ish. I chose the cellar because I don't have a/c in my home and it's the the only room with stable temps, and I can't trust my children to leave it alone. I did not add any water when I began my incubation, because the hygrometer on the lid was reading at 60% for the 2 days I had the incubator on and empty. I attribute this to the basement's damp air.
Temps were 99.5-100 throughout the incubation according to the card thermie that came with the incubator, and a laboratory grade, professionally calibrated mercury thermie that, to be honest, is the only one of the 3 I trusted.
I started with 26 eggs. I had 7 which failed to develop anything, and 3 that died with a tiny, pinky sized chick in them. On day 19, I had 16 viable eggs left. I stopped turning, and decided to add some water to bring up the humidity of the hatch. Humidity was about 80-90% from days 19 through day 24, with a few dips to 70 or so when I opened it to take out chicks. I also pushed the eggs towards the center when I took chicks out, because I was concerned that lying near the edges by the crack in the lid would make them get too cold. On day 22, I added a warm wet cloth to the incubator when I slipped it open to assist a chick.
First chick hatched on day 20. I left him in for almost a whole day because I didn't want to put him in the brooder all alone, and was hoping a friend or two would join him. He rolled the eggs all over the place, and finally got so spunky I took him out.
Two more chicks hatched on day 22. I assisted one by gently spreading the halves of her egg apart after she'd been zipped for 12 hours. Night of day 22, a chick pipped. After over 24 hours with no more movement, I cautiously chipped some more shell off to discover she was dead. She was covered in what appeared to be bloody yolk.
On the morning of day 24, I held a flashlight up to the eggs' large ends without lifting them to see what was going on because I was a nervous wreck. 3 appeared to have internal pips as I could see breathing. No detectable moving for the others. I left them be. On the night of day 25, I could not see any more movement. I started opening eggs. Every one of the 13 eggs in there was what I understand to be shrink wrapped. The chicks' internal membranes where white and leathery, plastered to their bodies. They were fully formed and seemed otherwise healthy, but...dead.
So have 3 healthy, adorable, sprightly chicks that my kids love. But I wanted about a dozen. My husband thinks I should sanitize the incubator and try again, with no water the whole time. I'm so sad and demoralized about this, I'm having a hard time mustering the will to try again.
What do you all think I did wrong? Too high humidity? Opened it too much during hatch? Hygrometer doesn't work and wasn't right? Styrofoam incubators are a waste of time and chicken life? Or...?
Thank you for reading!
I have a Farm Innovations model 2100 still air incubator. Rhode Island Red chickens. I used eggs from 3 consecutive days and put them all in at once.
The incubator was in my cellar, which is damp-ish. I chose the cellar because I don't have a/c in my home and it's the the only room with stable temps, and I can't trust my children to leave it alone. I did not add any water when I began my incubation, because the hygrometer on the lid was reading at 60% for the 2 days I had the incubator on and empty. I attribute this to the basement's damp air.
Temps were 99.5-100 throughout the incubation according to the card thermie that came with the incubator, and a laboratory grade, professionally calibrated mercury thermie that, to be honest, is the only one of the 3 I trusted.
I started with 26 eggs. I had 7 which failed to develop anything, and 3 that died with a tiny, pinky sized chick in them. On day 19, I had 16 viable eggs left. I stopped turning, and decided to add some water to bring up the humidity of the hatch. Humidity was about 80-90% from days 19 through day 24, with a few dips to 70 or so when I opened it to take out chicks. I also pushed the eggs towards the center when I took chicks out, because I was concerned that lying near the edges by the crack in the lid would make them get too cold. On day 22, I added a warm wet cloth to the incubator when I slipped it open to assist a chick.
First chick hatched on day 20. I left him in for almost a whole day because I didn't want to put him in the brooder all alone, and was hoping a friend or two would join him. He rolled the eggs all over the place, and finally got so spunky I took him out.
Two more chicks hatched on day 22. I assisted one by gently spreading the halves of her egg apart after she'd been zipped for 12 hours. Night of day 22, a chick pipped. After over 24 hours with no more movement, I cautiously chipped some more shell off to discover she was dead. She was covered in what appeared to be bloody yolk.
On the morning of day 24, I held a flashlight up to the eggs' large ends without lifting them to see what was going on because I was a nervous wreck. 3 appeared to have internal pips as I could see breathing. No detectable moving for the others. I left them be. On the night of day 25, I could not see any more movement. I started opening eggs. Every one of the 13 eggs in there was what I understand to be shrink wrapped. The chicks' internal membranes where white and leathery, plastered to their bodies. They were fully formed and seemed otherwise healthy, but...dead.
So have 3 healthy, adorable, sprightly chicks that my kids love. But I wanted about a dozen. My husband thinks I should sanitize the incubator and try again, with no water the whole time. I'm so sad and demoralized about this, I'm having a hard time mustering the will to try again.
What do you all think I did wrong? Too high humidity? Opened it too much during hatch? Hygrometer doesn't work and wasn't right? Styrofoam incubators are a waste of time and chicken life? Or...?
Thank you for reading!
