why wont my eggs hatch?

[Dylan Haley]

i have done about 4 hatches and 3 out of the for have been pretty bad. the last 2 has been the worst. i can see that the chick is developed and where it is supposed to be in day 18 but they just dont hatch. was wondering if someone can help me out.

 

[aoxa]

What are the conditions in your incubator?

What do you feed your breeding birds?

Are you hands off after day 18? No touching eggs/incubator?

 

[SilkieSensation]

I've had a bunch do that here the last couple weeks. Fully developed & just don't hatch. Think mine has been a humidity issue. I moved them from a damp basement to a dry barn & haven't gotten humidity completely adjusted yet. If you are hatching in your house it could be humidity as well. Since it's getting colder out your furnace is likely taking humidity out of the air where you didn't have that problem before. Try adding extra water.

 

[aoxa]

I've had a bunch do that here the last couple weeks. Fully developed & just don't hatch. Think mine has been a humidity issue. I moved them from a damp basement to a dry barn & haven't gotten humidity completely adjusted yet. If you are hatching in your house it could be humidity as well. Since it's getting colder out your furnace is likely taking humidity out of the air where you didn't have that problem before. Try adding extra water.

This has always been my results too. If the humidity is too low, and I fool with the incubator, I get a lot of fully developed, shrink wrapped chicks.

I just had the best hatch rate ever. I finally got around to getting shelf liner for the incubator, and it allows the water in the reservoirs to pass through the little holes in the liner and properly hold humidity. Before I was using paper towels soaked in water, and it just wasn't working well at all. Also, if incubator is in basement, the temps don't hold steady unless the basement is kept at room temperature.

Room temperature room + shelf liner + hands off = good hatch.

 

[SilkieSensation]

I didn't even touch the bator during lockdown & still got shrinkwrapped chicks. They didn't even pip externally & only a few were able to pip internally. The membrane had drawn down over them so tight due to low humidity that they just got stuck & couldn't move until they died in the shells. I have since added water to my bators & am getting a much better hatch rate. When my bators were in my leaky wet basement I never had to add water. I actually usually lost more chicks to drowning in the shells than anything. Now it's the opposite since I moved them to the barn. The air out there is much more dry & the bators require extra water to keep the humidity up.

 

[aoxa]

I didn't even touch the bator during lockdown & still got shrinkwrapped chicks. They didn't even pip externally & only a few were able to pip internally. The membrane had drawn down over them so tight due to low humidity that they just got stuck & couldn't move until they died in the shells. I have since added water to my bators & am getting a much better hatch rate. When my bators were in my leaky wet basement I never had to add water. I actually usually lost more chicks to drowning in the shells than anything. Now it's the opposite since I moved them to the barn. The air out there is much more dry & the bators require extra water to keep the humidity up.

You didn;'t even add water at lockdown?

I never add water between days 1-18. On day 18 I fill up both reservoirs and monitor humidity. I try to keep it 70% the last few days.

That shelf liner also really helped get them walking. They were having trouble on the paper towel, as well as the wire. I had one almost every hatch that had splayed leg. This hatch every single chick is walking perfectly. Out of al the eggs (Either 14 or 16) only one didn't hatch. I'm really pleased. That egg may even hatch, as it's only day 22 today.

 

[Kekko]

You need to give more information as to what you are doing. How you are doing it and what you are hatching.

What type of incubator are you using? Where you have it set up? What temperature you have it set at and how reliable is your Thermometer? What is the Temperature outside your incubator? What your humidity is both inside and outside your incubator both during the first 18 days and during the last 3 days?

For example I hatch between 300 to 400 eggs per month from February to July each year. My incubators are set up in an enclosed room that I keep a constant temperature of 80 degrees and 50% humidity in the room. My incubators both cabinet and Styrofoam (Hova-Bators) are maintained at 99.4 to 99.6. During the first 18 days incubator humidity will run at 25 to 35%. During the last 3 days they go into Hatchers in which the Temperature is 98.5 to 99.0 and Humidity is 75 to 80%. I set eggs at 10 A.M. and 21 days later the hatch is complete by 2 P.M. A few hatch the night before but very seldome will any hatch late.

The accuracy of your thermometer(s) plays a very important part of incubating. Another issue that can result in success or failure is once you lock them down on day 18 “DO NOT OPEN THE HATCHER EXCEPT FOR A DIRE EMERGANCEY”

 

[Kekko]

Bacteria in the incubator can also cause failure during the last 3 days or at any point during incubation!

Shrink wraped is definatly a humidity issue!

 

[SilkieSensation]

You didn;'t even add water at lockdown?
I never add water between days 1-18. On day 18 I fill up both reservoirs and monitor humidity. I try to keep it 70% the last few days.
That shelf liner also really helped get them walking. They were having trouble on the paper towel, as well as the wire. I had one almost every hatch that had splayed leg. This hatch every single chick is walking perfectly. Out of al the eggs (Either 14 or 16) only one didn't hatch. I'm really pleased. That egg may even hatch, as it's only day 22 today.

No, not even at lockdown. My humidity was running 30-50% without water before lockdown & jumping to 60-70% as soon as I got the 1st pip. If I added water at lockdown I ended up with 80-95% humidity & chicks that never dried & died in the bator because their little lungs filled with water.

Now I have moved the bators to a much drier location & have a shrinkwrap issue even with adding water. The batch that hatched in my bedroom had about a 50% hatch rate before going to the barn but that was a week that it was still fairly warm here & the furnace wasn't running nearly as much. That 1st bunch after moving them to the barn didn't hatch at all & the next 2 batches were very low. I caught the 1st barn batch in time to save several but had 3 shrinkwrap once pipped externally & 8 that never even pipped. I have 6 chicks that made it out of 27 eggs & not a single quail out of 16 eggs. The batch that was under my broody banty in the barn hatched 9 out of 11 with 1 rotten & 1 that never developed so that actually gave her 100% hatch on the good eggs.

 

[aoxa]

[SIZE=12pt]Bacteria in the incubator can also cause failure during the last 3 days or at any point during incubation![/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Shrink wraped is definatly a humidity issue![/SIZE]

I added Oxine with my water in the reservoirs this last hatch. Maybe that really helped? Not sure. The smell is at a 0 compared to some hatches having a very noticeable smell. All that gunk in the eggs leaves a distinct smell normally. Not with Oxine!