Out of 18-20 shipped eggs, I will get one chick, if I'm lucky. The last three sets saw 4 eggs still alive at day 18, when I move them to the hatcher and bump the humidity up to 75%. I've been keeping the still air at 101.5, 45-50% humidity until day 18, but it seems like every 3-4 days if I candle them, more have died. The last two eggs that I tossed died at day 18 or 19... fully developed, but yolk not fully absorbed. Never pipped. The inner membrane near the airsac seemed dried out - white and rubbery - but that can't be possible if the humidity is up so high. And my own eggs? They hatch just fine.
The airsacs do tend to get disrupted by shipping, but I have an auto-turner in my LG so it's just the very slow gentle turning, and I'm careful not to shake them up when I candle. I've bumped the humidity up to 55-60% on this current set to keep the airsacs from getting any bigger from loss of moisture, and I'll know in a week and a half if the remaining eggs will make it. I have two of my own eggs in with them as controls, and so far they're growing just fine. My quail seem to do fine, though I do lose some of them as well.
I have Blue Orpingtons coming from Speckledhen next week, and I so want to break this hatching streak... what am I doing wrong??? I'm tired of throwing away chicks!!!
The airsacs do tend to get disrupted by shipping, but I have an auto-turner in my LG so it's just the very slow gentle turning, and I'm careful not to shake them up when I candle. I've bumped the humidity up to 55-60% on this current set to keep the airsacs from getting any bigger from loss of moisture, and I'll know in a week and a half if the remaining eggs will make it. I have two of my own eggs in with them as controls, and so far they're growing just fine. My quail seem to do fine, though I do lose some of them as well.
I have Blue Orpingtons coming from Speckledhen next week, and I so want to break this hatching streak... what am I doing wrong??? I'm tired of throwing away chicks!!!