Why are chicks just dying in their shell? :(

[savannahRoos22]

I am so sad. Why do chicks just die in their shell? And why are they all like this in my recent batch?
7 Coturnix Quail:
99.5 Temperature.
20% then 60% humidity
Their air cells are good, and some could be in a bad position, but why all of them? There is not a single pip.

 

[junebuggena]

Humidity too low during incubation and hatching. Try incubating at about 35 to 40 percent humidity and hatch at 70 percent.
Also double check the thermostat with a secondary thermometer inside in the incubator to make sure your temps are reading correctly.

 

[savannahRoos22]

Humidity too low during incubation and hatching. Try incubating at about 35 to 40 percent humidity and hatch at 70 percent.
Also double check the thermostat with a secondary thermometer inside in the incubator to make sure your temps are reading correctly.

Okay. Thank you! I do have two thermometers though.

 

[savannahRoos22]

Okay. Thank you! I do have two thermometers though.

It's really really hard to have high humidity in dry utah during the winter.

 

[savannahRoos22]

Humidity too low during incubation and hatching. Try incubating at about 35 to 40 percent humidity and hatch at 70 percent.
Also double check the thermostat with a secondary thermometer inside in the incubator to make sure your temps are reading correctly.

Have you had success with 30 40 humidity at the beginning? And if they've grown still, was the humidity not the case or does it only effect them towards the end? Some may be almost fully developed because the one I had opened had yolk still. But they were healthy for a really long time.

 

[junebuggena]

Humidity can affect them at any point in incubation. The lower the humidity, the faster the egg loses moisture, eventually causing the inner membrane to shrink to the point that the chick can't get into position to hatch. The chicks will appear fine during candling, but when it's time to hatch, they simply can't get into position and will die.
Remember that humidity isn't about volume of water, but the surface area of the water. Whether you add just a little water to a reservoir or completely fill it, the humidity reading is going to be the same. Since you are incubating in a dry climate, you'll need to keep a close eye on the water level in your reservoirs to ensure that they are kept full and don't dry out completely.

 

[savannahRoos22]

Humidity can affect them at any point in incubation. The lower the humidity, the faster the egg loses moisture, eventually causing the inner membrane to shrink to the point that the chick can't get into position to hatch. The chicks will appear fine during candling, but when it's time to hatch, they simply can't get into position and will die.
Remember that humidity isn't about volume of water, but the surface area of the water. Whether you add just a little water to a reservoir or completely fill it, the humidity reading is going to be the same. Since you are incubating in a dry climate, you'll need to keep a close eye on the water level in your reservoirs to ensure that they are kept full and don't dry out completely.

That's really great information. Thank you so much!

 

[Tavia Rose]

Same thing happens to me and I live in central texas where the humidity is actually pretty high. All mine died my last batch. 2 made it to the last week. One died day 17, no reasoning as to why frm the eggtopsy. The last one pipped on the face down portion of the egg and suffocated while I was at work.
I set 10 chicken eggs and 5 duck eggs (3 not fertile, 1 died at day 8, and the last one is in there not moving anymore) Right now I have about 6 chicken eggs left after throwing out the no good ones. One I don't know if it's still alive because it's not moving inside but it pipped internally. I did everything I could this time. I didn't candle until the last week after the 7 day mark, i used gloves, and I kept everything stable. I wonder if this is why my hens aren't broody bc maybe their children aren't meant to be here. If I can just get 2 or 3 to hatch I think I may feel somewhat capable lol. I have a cheap-o Little Giant incubator.
This makes me want to quit but, My birds are laying all these eggs and I hate for them to just sit out there and go to waste when we want more birds. I've been giving eggs away. I haven't started eating them myself until I'm done trying to incubate them. It would feel weird to eat them while I'm incubating their siblings LOL.

 

[junebuggena]

Same thing happens to me and I live in central texas where the humidity is actually pretty high. All mine died my last batch. 2 made it to the last week. One died day 17, no reasoning as to why frm the eggtopsy. The last one pipped on the face down portion of the egg and suffocated while I was at work.
I set 10 chicken eggs and 5 duck eggs (3 not fertile, 1 died at day 8, and the last one is in there not moving anymore) Right now I have about 6 chicken eggs left after throwing out the no good ones. One I don't know if it's still alive because it's not moving inside but it pipped internally. I did everything I could this time. I didn't candle until the last week after the 7 day mark, i used gloves, and I kept everything stable. I wonder if this is why my hens aren't broody bc maybe their children aren't meant to be here. If I can just get 2 or 3 to hatch I think I may feel somewhat capable lol. I have a cheap-o Little Giant incubator.
This makes me want to quit but, My birds are laying all these eggs and I hate for them to just sit out there and go to waste when we want more birds. I've been giving eggs away. I haven't started eating them myself until I'm done trying to incubate them. It would feel weird to eat them while I'm incubating their siblings LOL.

Are you setting all the eggs at the same time? If you are continually adding eggs to your incubator, you are going to run into issues because the eggs that are almost ready to hatch need a humidity level that will drown chicks that are more a week or two from hatching. Ducks and chickens have different incubation periods and different humidity needs, so they really do best incubated separately.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Are you setting all the eggs at the same time? If you are continually adding eggs to your incubator, you are going to run into issues because the eggs that are almost ready to hatch need a humidity level that will drown chicks that are more a week or two from hatching. Ducks and chickens have different incubation periods and different humidity needs, so they really do best incubated separately.

Yea, all at the same time. Ducks and chickens only need diff incubation needs at hatch I thought. I've read many instances of ppl incubating them together but, I've decided not to after this little fiasco and set nothing but ducks next go round.