Why Curled Toes?? And When Will The Rest Hatch??

[mandelyn]

65%-70% is what I aim for, without exceeding 70%. Did you have condensation built up in the incubator? Using a secondary hydrometer is helpful.

I've used several different incubator types and some of them were terrible in terms of regulating the humidity. Last year my hatches were terrible because of humidity woes.

These eggs were shipped? That can dip the hatch rate too. Sometimes the hatches are good, other times you get nothing. Lot's of variables there.

You can let them go another day or two to see if any more pip, or you can candle for movement or start chipping the top of the egg open to see what's going on in there.

The curled toes is either a symptom of humidity being too high during incubation, or a genetic defect from the parent flock.

 

[aart]

Calibrated hygrometer?

'Calibrated' means it's tested/adjusted against a known accurate.
Here how I test/calibrate mine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

Is chick actually wet or does it just look wet from dried gunk?
Your temps and/or humidity could have been off throughout incubation,
reasons for both curled toes and gunky chicks.

 

[hereford_girl_01]

Humidity is related to the amount of surface area in the bator. You regulate the humidity by the amount of water you have in that area at any given time.
What brand of incubator do you have?

I have a Nurture Right incubator. I got it at Tractor Supply.

 

[007Sean]

I have a Nurture Right incubator. I got it at Tractor Supply.

Ok, I have one too! You just use the outside ring for the 1st 18 days then the second ring for the last 3 days of the incubation period, unless your hatching eggs that have a longer incubation period.

I found that the set up holds humidity almost spot on but not using the built in hygrometer. With the ring well filled, and using an independent, calibrated hygrometer, I found the % error was 8 to 10% difference from the incubator hygrometer and the independent hygrometer. The error was to the high side.

The thermometer was within 1°F from my independent thermometer. And actually held the temp stable. For me this was acceptable.
I found the turner to be unacceptable. It didn't turn the eggs as it should but this could be due to the fact I was hatching pheasant eggs and not chicken. From what I noticed, the eggs were not developing the same as eggs hatched in an upright turner. The embryos appeared to develop on one side of the egg, not evenly throughout the egg. The few eggs that actually hatched, had to be helped out of the shell. The ones that were (dis) did not develop correctly and had deformities. I think the eggs were being turned to the same spot each time, thus the poor development of the embryos and the deformities.