What should I do??

[Lost Teacher]

My chicks are on day 25. I had one chick hatch yesterday but it was malpositioned and required help after it pipped. Is there still hope for my other eggs? When I did the float test on them, the floated with 10% above the surface but none of them are moving. What do I do??? Are they alive?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My chicks are on day 25. I had one chick hatch yesterday but it was malpositioned and required help after it pipped. Is there still hope for my other eggs? When I did the float test on them, the floated with 10% above the surface but none of them are moving. What do I do??? Are they alive? 

The further you get from day 21 the less likely to have healthy strong hatchers. Not impossible, but outlook by day 25 is not good. If there was no movement with the float test and candling by light shows no signs of movement and no internal pips, I'd say there's not much hope.

Out of curiosity, what kind of incubator are you using, what temps and humidity has it been at for the first 17 days. I have my suspicions what your issue is.

 

[Lost Teacher]

Little Giant with temp about 99.6 the whole time and Humidity at 50% until day 19 when it went up to 65%. I don't think it was forced air. Do you think they got to cold?

Thank you for responding so quickly.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Little Giant with temp about 99.6 the whole time and Humidity at 50% until day 19 when it went up to 65%. I don't think it was forced air. Do you think they got to cold? 

Thank you for responding so quickly. 

Is it the digital Little giant and have you ever checked the accuracy of the thermometers and hygrometer? 50% is actually high for the first 17 days if you are not in a high elevation and I'll help you with that in just a minute.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

If it is still air, the temps should be 101-102F taken near the tops of the eggs. That would account for the delayed hatcher. Humidity can be tricky and a lot of sources recommend higher humidity than is actually beneficial to eggs. High elevations need a higher humidity, for the rest of us, running that high often results in fully formed chicks DIS at hatch because the egg has not lost enough moisture and the chick basically drowns. It also poses more malpositioned chicks because the chick grows to big to turn. The good news is there is a way to monitor your eggs during incubation to make sure they are loosing proper moisture and know how to adjust humidity. You can read about that here: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Now, if you are using a digital Little giant, they have a lot of problems with the displays for both temps and humidity being off, significantly off.

 

[Lost Teacher]

I don't have a way to double check the humidity, but the temp is down at 91 degrees. This is terrible. My students were looking forward to hatching those eggs.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I don't have a way to double check the humidity, but the temp is down at 91 degrees. This is terrible. My students were looking forward to hatching those eggs. 

I know the feeling, my very first hatch almost 3 years ago was a bust. Faulty thermometer and too high humidity. You never said if it was a digital Little giant?

 

[Lost Teacher]

Sorry! Yes it is a digital Little Giant

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Sorry! Yes it is a digital Little Giant

Ok, never go by the displays on the digital LGs. Most people find that they are 2 degrees or more off, and usually have to set them two or more degrees higher just to get the correct temp in the bator. If you don't, make sure you have your own accurate thermometer in the bator to use. The hygrometers on the unit are known to show 40-50% with or without water. They can't be trusted, unless they are verified before using. Not every one of them is off, but they are notorious for these problems. I rarely see anyone that says theirs was accurate. The other thing to watch for is heat spikes. Because of the movement of the sensor that hangs down, temps can spike. If you have your own thermometer/hygrometer inside and you go by that, you can hatch successfully.
If that is still air then I'd say you have the lg 9300 most commonly sold at TSC.
Get the temps and hygrometer validated and consider the humidity method in the link I gave you and I think you could have a good hatch. Do you have a candling guide to use to compare what you see when you candle to what the development should look like at different stages?

 

[Lost Teacher]

Awesome!! Thank you so much! I wish I would had asked these questions before my first hatch. I have just been comparing what I see when candling do different images on the internet. I never knew that there was so much involved in hatching chicks.