What am I doing wrong??

[horsefeather]

My Seb eggs are beginning to hatch, but they seem to be hatching a little too early. They break thru the shell, but then the air hits the goop inside and drys it out. I saved 1 (I think), but the other I didn't. Too much egg sack left. I've got hi humidity on but it doesn't seem to help. Can someone tell me what I need to do please?
Pam

 

[cracking up]

It's kind of hard to tell because it could be a few things. When you candled before lockdown was there a nice big air pocket? If not they could be drowning.

 

[animaladdictions]

Sorry to hear your having trouble. How many more eggs do you have due to hatch? If theyre hatching early then temps have probably been a little too high. How high has your humidity been throughout incubation? If its been high throughout, the air cell probably isnt large enough for them to get their bill into causing them to drown. Im having the same thing with my dewlap egg and now Im praying I can get the air cell big enough for the poor thing to hatch. Its only got a couple days left till hatch time and Im worried sick its going to drown.

 

[pete55]

Hi

Agree with above and does sound as though you;ve been running temperature a little high. Can you give more details of your temperature, forced or still air incubator, turning regime and have you checked your thermometer is accurate?

Please post the information and maybe can help a little more

Pete

 

[horsefeather]

We have a GQF hatcher. We have kept temp. from 98 to 100. Humidity ran around 40 to 60% I did not take them out and spray them. Have read almost everything on here about hatching and am really confused. It's like our miniature horses, ask 20 people and get 20 different answers. I think I have decided next year to just let the girls do their thing and quit fooling around with the GQF (forced air). We calibrated our thermomator, it turns automatically.
Pam
P.S. didn't candle before lockdown. Actually, we didn't lockdown. Opened occasionally to put water in.

 

[cracking up]

Our first few eggs hatched out perfectly and I got busy, lazy, cocky and decided I didn't need to do the cool down and spraying eggs and when I put them in lockdown I noticed they had real small air cells but it was too late and those three didn't make it. One pipped and liquid seeped out and it was gone. The other two never even pipped. I went back to basics (cooling down and spraying with warm water) and the last two hatched with no trouble. There are so many variables it might just be best to go by the size of the air cell and adjust to whatever works. Sometimes it just takes experience and now that you've done it you'll know more next time. It does get easier. I just had problems because I started thinking it was easy and got lazy about it.

Don't give up on trying to hatch them. It really is worth it when it works. Good luck with them.

 

[Gracie9205]

I dry hatch, don't mist or cool my eggs, and they hatch just fine! You ideally would like to achieve somewhere around 14-16% weight loss throughout the incubation period. If they aren't losing enough weight, the humidity needs to come down. Losing too much weight and your humidity needs to come up. The only sure way to know if you are doing it right is to weigh them every few days (I weigh every 4 days). I had some pretty terrible luck with hatching waterfowl until I tried this method. Seems to be working, as I have 4 little babies fussing at my in the brooder with more hatching as we speak!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I also dry hatch and do not mist or cool the eggs. I also turn them only once or sometimes twice a day. I've had good hatches so far and don't see any reason to change. What day are they hatching on? Generally, goose eggs hatch between 28 and 32 days but they can hatch from day 26 through day 35 or so.

 

[pete55]

Hi

Without seeing the eggs or size of air cells its difficult to give you a definitive answer. The advice already given is sound and I rather agree that your humidity may be too high. I would run dry and bring down your relative humidity. You can judge if the air cell is developing at the correct rate visually but this takes experience and usually through losses.

However Gracie9205 gave good advice - weigh your fresh eggs and aim for a total weight loss of 15% by external pipping. You need scales that measure in grammes but I use a set normally used to measure ingredients for baking so not too expensive. You can then chart a graph and adjust the humidity according to the weight loss and you'll soon learn to see how big the air cell should be at each stage.

We hatch Dewlaps which are quite difficult so also employ daily cooling to stimulate further weight loss.

Pete

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
I am a firm believer that a goose can do a better job of hatching than I can!