What am I doing wrong :( 50% hatch! ( semi- graphic pic)

[Phillyndilly]

Hello all I am new to incubating eggs. I am hatching golden Sebright and silkies. I had two batches of eggs. Both hatched at only 50%. I read on here that many people have great success with a dry hatch. I believe that was my problem. After this second hatch at only 50 I had to look in an egg although I didn’t want to.
This looks to me like the chick is shrink wrapped because the humidity levels were not high enough. I live in New York State and our humidity right now is very low so I did have to add water to keep the humidity even to 20%.
I am including some semi graphic pictures trying to confirm if these chicks are in fact shrink wrapped. I believe this is what happened and I have many eggs awaiting incubation and would like a more successful hatch and for these poor babies to live. Out of my only 50% rate I had to do two assists which one was crippled and died and the other is okay thankfully but I feel like their difficulty was also due to the humidity.
Does anyone have experience hatching bantams/ silkies? What are your humidity levels through the hatch and then at lockdown. Please let me know I would like for this next hatch to go well.

 

[MGG]

When you took the baby out (if you did) was it dry, wet, sticky? I would definitely assume humidity was the issue. How did the air cells look?

 

[MGG]

Also, is your thermometer and hydrometer fully calibrated? What incubator model? Where is your incubator located in your house?

 

[JaeG]

I hatch with a higher humidity than what many would recommend. I've incubated quail eggs at 60%+ humidity for the whole of the incubation. I live in a humid climate so I figure my eggs are set up for that. I'm about to incubate Muscovy eggs and the lady who has sold me the eggs says she incubates at 45-50% humidity. That's higher than what I've read online, but it makes sense to me based on my previous hatches of other birds.

Regularly checking the air cells by candling your eggs will tell you if your humidity is correct or not. There are many charts online to compare to. That's the best way of knowing how your eggs are coping with incubation. If your air cells look a bit small, decrease the humidity. If they look a bit large, increase humidity.

The incubator temperature can affect the eggs ability to lose water. If the temperature is just a little lower than ideal then it will lose less moisture. Make sure you have an independent (don't rely on your incubator one) calibrated thermometer.

Another common incubation mistake is leaving the vents closed during lockdown. It's important to have them wide open because the chicks need lots of fresh air.

 

[Phillyndilly]

When you took the baby out (if you did) was it dry, wet, sticky? I would definitely assume humidity was the issue. How did the air cells look?

Also, is your thermometer and hydrometer fully calibrated? What incubator model? Where is your incubator located in your house?

I hatch with a higher humidity than what many would recommend. I've incubated quail eggs at 60%+ humidity for the whole of the incubation. I live in a humid climate so I figure my eggs are set up for that. I'm about to incubate Muscovy eggs and the lady who has sold me the eggs says she incubates at 45-50% humidity. That's higher than what I've read online, but it makes sense to me based on my previous hatches of other birds.

Regularly checking the air cells by candling your eggs will tell you if your humidity is correct or not. There are many charts online to compare to. That's the best way of knowing how your eggs are coping with incubation. If your air cells look a bit small, decrease the humidity. If they look a bit large, increase humidity.

The incubator temperature can affect the eggs ability to lose water. If the temperature is just a little lower than ideal then it will lose less moisture. Make sure you have an independent (don't rely on your incubator one) calibrated thermometer.

Another common incubation mistake is leaving the vents closed during lockdown. It's important to have them wide open because the chicks need lots of fresh air.

The incubator is a janoel 12 and a magicfly incubator for 24 eggs. They are both forced air with an auto turner.
The air cells did look a bit large towards the end. The first batch I candled too much I believe so I was trying to let these alone so I think by the time I candled them before lock down the air cell was already large but I figured if I kept humidity pretty high it was okay. I was told low humidity was much easier to fix than high.
I calibrated the thermometers best I could I use the ones you stick in meat and did it in ice/ boiling water and I did have to adjust my incubator temp but I did that prior to the hatch. I have 6 hygrometers and although I don’t believe they are all correct they are all within the same number give or take a few so I know the round about humidity. I was told the temp needs to be more precise than the humidity.
I didn’t fully take the chick out but I did break the membrane which was tough to do and the chick was sticky- what does the stickiness mean?
To be honest my instincts told me the low humidity was not the answer many people who were responding live in a much more humid climate and I just knew something was not right. I should’ve listened to my gut.
I do also have those pictures to compare to and I even posted my air cells in a previous post and I was told they looked good. This last hatch the cells did seem larger than the previous although my first hatch was only 50% as well.

What humidity do you have your eggs on in lockdown?
I’m hatching geese as well they are in lock down I feel like they are screwed but my humidity is at 70-80 keeping it up is a chore but I’m hoping it saves them.

When you say vents do you mean the hole on the top where you pour in water? I don’t see any other vents besides that one. Is that hole even for pouring in water?

 

[MGG]

The incubator is a janoel 12 and a magicfly incubator for 24 eggs. They are both forced air with an auto turner.
The air cells did look a bit large towards the end. The first batch I candled too much I believe so I was trying to let these alone so I think by the time I candled them before lock down the air cell was already large but I figured if I kept humidity pretty high it was okay. I was told low humidity was much easier to fix than high.
I calibrated the thermometers best I could I use the ones you stick in meat and did it in ice/ boiling water and I did have to adjust my incubator temp but I did that prior to the hatch. I have 6 hygrometers and although I don’t believe they are all correct they are all within the same number give or take a few so I know the round about humidity. I was told the temp needs to be more precise than the humidity.
I didn’t fully take the chick out but I did break the membrane which was tough to do and the chick was sticky- what does the stickiness mean?
To be honest my instincts told me the low humidity was not the answer many people who were responding live in a much more humid climate and I just knew something was not right. I should’ve listened to my gut.
I do also have those pictures to compare to and I even posted my air cells in a previous post and I was told they looked good. This last hatch the cells did seem larger than the previous although my first hatch was only 50% as well.

What humidity do you have your eggs on in lockdown?
I’m hatching geese as well they are in lock down I feel like they are screwed but my humidity is at 70-80 keeping it up is a chore but I’m hoping it saves them.

When you say vents do you mean the hole on the top where you pour in water? I don’t see any other vents besides that one. Is that hole even for pouring in water?

I have that incubator too. Apparently you can pour water into it, but I was always scared I was going to mess up something in the lid by doing it that way, so I just open the lid. That's the only vent, and it works fine for me. The lowest hatch rate I had out of 20+ clutches was an 85% and I messed a lot up with that one. Most of the 15% that didn't hatch were infertile though as they were shipped eggs and the sellers fertility wasn't great. I have had awesome success with that incubator, I don't think I'll ever get another one. If I need more room I'll just buy another of the MagicFly Janoel 12 incubators. These are what I use for water, I hate putting water in the bottom. I've had really good success just filling these cups and putting them under the tray amd squirting water into them when they're low. Then when I switch to the hatching tray (just in case you didnt know as I've seen a lot of people mess this up, take out the turning tray and put in just the hatching tray. I've seen a lot of people just put the turning tray under the hatching tray, and it's important to take the turning tray totally out.) I trace the hatching tray on top of some grippy shelf liner and then cut it out so it fits perfectly. Then I put that in, and put my water cups on top of the shelf liner up by the eggs. I just put a piece of paper towel in them so the chicks can't drown in the cups.

 

[Phillyndilly]

I have that incubator too. Apparently you can pour water into it, but I was always scared I was going to mess up something in the lid by doing it that way, so I just open the lid. That's the only vent, and it works fine for me. The lowest hatch rate I had out of 20+ clutches was an 85% and I messed a lot up with that one. Most of the 15% that didn't hatch were infertile though as they were shipped eggs and the sellers fertility wasn't great. I have had awesome success with that incubator, I don't think I'll ever get another one. If I need more room I'll just buy another of the MagicFly Janoel 12 incubators. These are what I use for water, I hate putting water in the bottom. I've had really good success just filling these cups and putting them under the tray amd squirting water into them when they're low. Then when I switch to the hatching tray (just in case you didnt know as I've seen a lot of people mess this up, take out the turning tray and put in just the hatching tray. I've seen a lot of people just put the turning tray under the hatching tray, and it's important to take the turning tray totally out.) I trace the hatching tray on top of some grippy shelf liner and then cut it out so it fits perfectly. Then I put that in, and put my water cups on top of the shelf liner up by the eggs. I just put a piece of paper towel in them so the chicks can't drown in the cups. View attachment 2059748

Thank you for all that detail. I also don’t like to squirt water in but my humidity was such a mess I found myself desperately squirting it in. I have small glass bowls that look like that maybe I can use them. They will fit under the turning tray?

Yes I did take the entire tray out as well as turning tray and put the shelf liner as you said. When it was hatch time I only had the one bottom tray and the liner. It’s good to know you’ve have success with that specific incubator. So do you open the incubator when u need to refill the bowls even during lock down?

 

[MGG]

Thank you for all that detail. I also don’t like to squirt water in but my humidity was such a mess I found myself desperately squirting it in. I have small glass bowls that look like that maybe I can use them. They will fit under the turning tray?

Yes I did take the entire tray out as well as turning tray and put the shelf liner as you said. When it was hatch time I only had the one bottom tray and the liner. It’s good to know you’ve have success with that specific incubator. So do you open the incubator when u need to refill the bowls even during lock down?

Yeah I open during lockdown, I just mist some water in there when I am done. You're welcome. Feel free to ask if you yave any more questions.

 

[JaeG]

I have read that you shouldn't ever let the humidity go below 25% even when dry hatching. I see there, rereading your original post, that yours ended up at 20% and to me that's definitely too low. To increase humidity you can add wet sponges due to their greater surface area (and it's surface area of wet surfaces making contact with the air inside your incubator that you need to increase humidity).

I have only hatched quail eggs in mine and last time I kept the humidity 60%ish but then they are smaller so lose moisture more easily, plus I keep my temperature on the warmer side of things. I haven't tried chicken eggs in it (I had helpful broody bantams for that experiment), but I have hatched (though not entirely incubated) a few Java finch eggs in it after I had a male who kept attacking his newly hatched chicks and biting off their toes. I hand reared a lot of their babies (and was sad over the ones that died) until I figured out it was the father - I thought a mouse was getting into the aviary as I'd seen one about. (My incubator makes a brilliant brooder for baby finches until they get feathers too). And I'm about to try incubating Muscovy duck eggs so that will be a new learning curve.

What humidity did you use the first time around? I'd probably say aim for around 40-45% and just check your air cells every 7 days specifically to compare to an air cell chart. The humidity outside the incubator can hugely affect the humidity in your incubator (as can air conditioning) so play around with adding sponges or cloths or, like @MGG said, paper towels as long as they are poking out of your water source to give as much wet surface area as possible.

If they are your eggs I say candle as much as you like. I find the process of the chick growing absolutely fascinating and my quail eggs get candled daily. If they aren't my eggs then I leave them alone a bit more (but it's not easy).

You are right in that the temperature needs to be more accurate than the humidity and the humidity is more easily adjusted/changed over the course of incubation, whereas the temperature needs to be more constant and specific. But figuring out the humidity that's going to work for you in the unique little microclimate of where you put your incubator takes a bit of trial and error.

 

[Phillyndilly]

Yeah I open during lockdown, I just mist some water in there when I am done. You're welcome. Feel free to ask if you yave any more questions.

Oh yes great idea with the misting I like that!

I have read that you shouldn't ever let the humidity go below 25% even when dry hatching. I see there, rereading your original post, that yours ended up at 20% and to me that's definitely too low. To increase humidity you can add wet sponges due to their greater surface area (and it's surface area of wet surfaces making contact with the air inside your incubator that you need to increase humidity).

I have only hatched quail eggs in mine and last time I kept the humidity 60%ish but then they are smaller so lose moisture more easily, plus I keep my temperature on the warmer side of things. I haven't tried chicken eggs in it (I had helpful broody bantams for that experiment), but I have hatched (though not entirely incubated) a few Java finch eggs in it after I had a male who kept attacking his newly hatched chicks and biting off their toes. I hand reared a lot of their babies (and was sad over the ones that died) until I figured out it was the father - I thought a mouse was getting into the aviary as I'd seen one about. (My incubator makes a brilliant brooder for baby finches until they get feathers too). And I'm about to try incubating Muscovy duck eggs so that will be a new learning curve.

What humidity did you use the first time around? I'd probably say aim for around 40-45% and just check your air cells every 7 days specifically to compare to an air cell chart. The humidity outside the incubator can hugely affect the humidity in your incubator (as can air conditioning) so play around with adding sponges or cloths or, like @MGG said, paper towels as long as they are poking out of your water source to give as much wet surface area as possible.

If they are your eggs I say candle as much as you like. I find the process of the chick growing absolutely fascinating and my quail eggs get candled daily. If they aren't my eggs then I leave them alone a bit more (but it's not easy).

You are right in that the temperature needs to be more accurate than the humidity and the humidity is more easily adjusted/changed over the course of incubation, whereas the temperature needs to be more constant and specific. But figuring out the humidity that's going to work for you in the unique little microclimate of where you put your incubator takes a bit of trial and error.

Thank you so much for this response. It was only about 20! Sometimes it dropped lower and I was concerned and posted about it in random threads quite a few times and I was assured that was fine so I kept it that way even though something told me it was wrong .
I just put a new batch in I’m keeping it between 40-50 closer to 50 because I’m a little paranoid now. I have a sponge in there.
I’m so sorry what happened to the babies, I’m glad you figured out it was the dad and protected them.
Lol that is why I candled so much it was my first time and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Seeing those cuties grow I just wish they could’ve made it.
I am really hoping this goes well I have a feeling it will be better. Also something about them being trapped and unable to break free gives me a horrible feeling. I’m going to go more with my gut this time and use the mistakes I’ve made to help me this time around and also the great advice you all have given me! Thank you I really appreciate it!