Very sad

[kl7hiw]

Ok so we bought a little giant delux incubator.. Set it up.. Borrowed eggs from my friends farm (she's going to take them back once they hatch.. Or was) we put the eggs in the 14th of March in the late evening.. A few days into it I noticed the eggs didn't feel too warm so my husband put his digital temp/humidity gauge he uses for snakes inside.. While the little giant said 99.5, it read 92.. So we decided to go with what his said.. Turned the heater up.. Now it's day 22.. 2 days ago we heard chirping.. Nothing now.. Candled and don't see movement.. Tried the float test on a few and saw nothing.. I'm so scared they are dead.. What should I do?? Temp is 99ish and humidity is 70%

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok so we bought a little giant delux incubator.. Set it up.. Borrowed eggs from my friends farm (she's going to take them back once they hatch.. Or was) we put the eggs in the 14th of March in the late evening.. A few days into it I noticed the eggs didn't feel too warm so my husband put his digital temp/humidity gauge he uses for snakes inside.. While the little giant said 99.5, it read 92.. So we decided to go with what his said.. Turned the heater up.. Now it's day 22.. 2 days ago we heard chirping.. Nothing now.. Candled and don't see movement.. Tried the float test on a few and saw nothing.. I'm so scared they are dead.. What should I do?? Temp is 99ish and humidity is 70%

Never trust the gages on the incubators (especially the cheaper ones such as LG) unless they have been checked for accuracy first. If you heard cheeping from inside the egg over 2 days ago chances are not great that they are still alive. Lower temps can cause a delayed hatch, it can also cause a lot of problems with the chicks, healthwise. I would give them another 24 hours and then I would double check for internal pips w/movement. If no sound or movement I would pull an egg to eggtopsy and start the eggtopsy by opening at the air cell in case there is still life, (then the chick would still have a chance.) If he's not alive chances are pretty good, that's going to be the case with the rest. What was your humidity the first 17 days?

 

[kl7hiw]

We had it at 45%

 

[BobDBirdDog]

Never trust the gages on the incubators (especially the cheaper ones such as LG) unless they have been checked for accuracy first. If you heard cheeping from inside the egg over 2 days ago chances are not great that they are still alive. Lower temps can cause a delayed hatch, it can also cause a lot of problems with the chicks, healthwise. I would give them another 24 hours and then I would double check for internal pips w/movement. If no sound or movement I would pull an egg to eggtopsy and start the eggtopsy by opening at the air cell in case there is still life, (then the chick would still have a chance.) If he's not alive chances are pretty good, that's going to be the case with the rest. What was your humidity the first 17 days?

I put out a little BYC review of the hygormeter and thermometer that i recently bought. It also covers a quick and easy way to check their accuracy. I was hoping more people would take notice of it for this particular reason. it is nothing fancy but something that will help all.

Heres the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...meter-and-hygrometer-review-and-recomendation

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We had it at 45%

If that's an accurate reading it isn't that high. I try to run 30-35%. Did you monitor the air cells at all?

 

[kl7hiw]

If that's an accurate reading it isn't that high. I try to run 30-35%. Did you monitor the air cells at all?

Isn't 35% lower than 45%?? I'm confused..

Yes we checked.. can anyone tell me what happened please

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Isn't 35% lower than 45%?? I'm confused.. Yes we checked.. can anyone tell me what happened please

Yes, 35% is lower than 45% I was saying that 45% wasn't extremely high if that was an accurate reading. I was just stating that I incubate at 30-35% generally, (unless my incubator holds higher dry. A lot of end incubation hatches are due to humidity issues and a good share of them are due to humidity being too high for the egg to loose adequate moisture the first 17 days, that's why I was askng. I can tell you they are NOT shrinkwrapped. If you open the membrane is there a lot of moisture, overly wet chicks?

 

[WalnutHill]

They look just like they are supposed to for a successful hatch. I would go for temp spike or crash.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

They look just like they are supposed to for a successful hatch. I would go for temp spike or crash.

I would agree. If they are not super wet (indicating not enough moisture loss) that the lower temp had slowed and weakend the chicks making them not strong enough to hatch. However, neither one of those appear, (in the picture) to have made even an internal pip, which would mean that neither of them were chirping, unless it just doesn't show in the pic. Sorry for the rotten hatch.

 

[kl7hiw]

Yes, 35% is lower than 45%  I was saying that 45% wasn't extremely high if that was an accurate reading. I was just stating that I incubate at 30-35% generally, (unless my incubator holds higher dry.  A lot of end incubation hatches are due to humidity issues and a good share of them are due to humidity being too high for the egg to loose adequate moisture the first 17 days, that's why I was askng.  I can tell you they are NOT shrinkwrapped.  If you open the membrane is there a lot of moisture, overly wet chicks?  

Some had liquid.. 3 pipped the membrane but not the shell