What went wrong? Pics included

[heathernga]

First time hatching. The eggs came from my own birds and were put in the incubator the same day they were laid. I started with 18. One never developed anything and 4 hatched between day 22 and 24. Two of the chicks below had pipped external and one of those had started zipping but only made it about 1/3 of the way. Another one had pipped internal but not external. Another one looked fully developed but never pipped. Humidity was running around 66% and temps between 37 and 37.5 C on lockdown. Anyone have any thoughts as to what went wrong? TIA!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

There could be so many different things, I refer you to this listing of hatchability problem analysis form the U of Fla.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00008570/00001/3j

Other than incubation issues, don't overlook breeder nutrition.

 

[feedman77]

What humidity did your run during incubation?

 

[heathernga]

It was around 55%

 

[WVduckchick]

My first guess is humidity too high. Eggs didn't lose enough moisture resulting in small air cells, resulting in chicks getting too big to be able to complete the process.

Did you check your air cells throughout incubation?

 

[feedman77]

High humidity during incubation would be my guess.

I prefer to be 20 to 40 percent. During incubation But that was a lot of trial and error for me. To get to that range.

 

[chickens really]

Just replying to follow......

 

[chickens really]

Your original post said 66%

 

[heathernga]

During lockdown it was 66%. The first 17 days it was at 55%.

 

[heathernga]

I didn't but I did notice that some of the air cells seemed kind of small. Next time, i will be weighing eggs and watching the air cells.