Why ?

[swtangel321]

I had 3 unhatched eggs today that had no movement and showed no sign of hatching, so I decided to break into the air cell and make 100% sure they wern't alive before ending the hatch.... well,

they wern't, they had not fully taking in the yolk but looked pretty formed !!!! I was wondering what causes them to die like that ? Did they die before 21 days or right around 21 days ??? How long does it take them to take in all the yolk ??? Just wanted to know so I could fix the problem in other hatches if possible.... Thank you !!!!

 

[chickens4jojo]

That also happens to me as well....can't wait to hear what others say about it.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Could you tell if they had pipped the aircell? I know that the movements that a chick makes in the shell during pipping, zipping and hatching contribute to the uptake of the yolk. I certainly could be wrong, but if the chick doesn't pip the aircell, then it could die while trying to make all the movements necessary to get into position for hatching. Egg take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Ventilation during incubation and hatching is quite important for this reason.

 

[robinaggie]

This website was provided to me earlier by another BYC member: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AA204

It has alot of good information.

 

[seminolewind]

Well, here's my take on it, right or wrong. All thru developing, there are veins all over close to the inside surface where the blood can pick up oxygen thru the shell. When the chick is ready to hatch, the veins dry up, the blood stays in the chick, and the chick now needs his lungs to breathe. And some just don't make the transition. These things need to happen almost together, and if humidity and heat were off, it throws this timing off, and the chick dies when it should be pipping.

 

[robinaggie]

That's pretty much what the website says, but there can be other factors as well. Right now I have three bleeding pips. This is not supposed to happen!

And I'm making excuses for it, so I don't feel guilty. A predator got into my pen and killed one of my two 6-week-old BRs, so I brought the remaining BR into the house. It was in the room with the incubator and hatcher, both had the temp and humidities set. Crumb was attracted to the light that came on and off on the incubator, and pecked at it and the temp control knob. The heat went up to 108 before I noticed what was happening. I'm an idiot. I feel terrible. And my chicks are suffering for it.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I know. We try to be perfect. My first 2 hatches were kinda bloody. With my third, I increased the bator temp. I had it at a hair under 100, and increased it to 101 degrees. That hatch was perfect, they all hatched together, all very timely, and very clean. I think the temp change improved the rate of maturity.

 

[robinaggie]

If I do this again I'm going to invest in better meters. But how you turn the eggs apparently matters also, and I turned mine by hand.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Quote:
After having dropped and cracked a couple of eggs while turning, I started using the carton method for turning and hatching with no more "accidents". Oh, well, there was the one in which I dropped the thermometer on the egg and cracked it.

But I really like using the carton. Much quicker, less temp and humidity loss.

If you notice in the article from UF, it says that turning is no longer necessary after day 14. That is when the chick's head is supposed to move into the large end of the shell. I do continue until day 18 but it was interesting to know that.