What went wrong during hatch? Warning: graphic pix

[ChickenFam123]

I have a still air incubator. First hatch was unsuccessful due to low humidity during lockdown. I'd fill trays til they were overflowing and couldn't get humidity past 50 percent. Chicks were shrinkwrapped. Second attempt we moved it to the garage, added sponges and marbles, added water using a straw instead of opening(suggestions thanks to this group!) Humidity was 45 percent from day 1-17 and then upped to 70 and turner removed for lockdown. We had set six dark green and six light blue eggs. At day 10 three eggs removed. Two were empty, one had a blood ring. On day 21 all five blue eggs hatched perfectly. Over the next 24 hrs they crashed around the incubator with no movement on the remaining four green eggs. When I moved the five fluffy chicks to the brooder I candled the remaining eggs. They were solid dark. They all sunk in the float test. When I opened them, there was little to no air cell and three of the four were fully developed. Two had beak deformity and one leg issues too. Most of my reading indicates too high humidity, but since five hatched fine and the four that didn't make it were all the same eggs, my guess is poor stock. What do you guys think? It's probably for the best, we have a scissor beak ee decided not to cull when she was a chick, but we don't necessarily want more with issues .

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So cool that you have the guts to do this!

Starting at page 51 is causes of embryonic mortality....

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Maybe identifying which day they expired on can help identify cause of mortality..

You say they had little to no air cell... were you able to tell if they had internally pipped and drown?

I kept my first bent toe deformity (and rehomed)... but won't do that again. Tough decisions sometimes. I understand they can't all hatch and thrive.

I feel like I might have another good link but can't find it right now. Will keep looking.

Congrats on your other peepers!

 

[ChickenFam123]

So cool that you have the guts to do this!

Starting at page 51 is causes of embryonic mortality....

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Maybe identifying which day they expired on can help identify cause of mortality..

You say they had little to no air cell... were you able to tell if they had internally pipped and drown?

I kept my first bent toe deformity (and rehomed)... but won't do that again. Tough decisions sometimes. I understand they can't all hatch and thrive.

I feel like I might have another good link but can't find it right now. Will keep looking.

Congrats on your other peepers!

Thank you for the article, I read the whole thing. Great info on egg selection, storage and manymother factors besides temp, humidity, turning and lockdown. It looks like nutritional deficiency. One was day 11 (had feathers) the other three were day 18/19. No pips internal or external and all had deformities and/or malposition of varying severity. I ruledrout high humidity since half had no problems and my readings were good. Article says the air pocket is formed before incubation as its cooling. So i thing something happened before we even got them. l bought fertilized eggs from a local person. We are loving our five healthy babies. All came from pale blue eggs. Three look EE with fluffy cheeks and beards and two look part cream legbar, possibly one roo one pullet.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Bearded chicks are just soooo cute!