Just finished a hatch today. Had 11 eggs go into lockdown. I'm not entirely sure they were all alive at lockdown, but close to it. One hatched yesterday (Day 21), 3 hatched today (Day 22). These were all bantam eggs. So temps evidently were a little low.
One egg pipped internally and externally. It was alive at 8am when I went to work. It pipped this morning sometime between 5 and 8am. So I left it thinking it had time. When I came to check on it at lunch time, it had wiggled it's body around so that it's beak was no longer at the spot where it had pipped. I assume it suffocated. The other six that did not hatch never pipped internally or externally. They looked to me like they had all died sometime in the last few days, though I don't know when or exactly why.
So I have been reading every thread I could find about late deaths and these are the things I found that could have contributed.
Too low or too high temps (obviously, it was a little low as 3 hatched a day late)
Bacteria (I washed out the incubator after the last hatch, but I did not disinfect it with anything like lysol... I just scrubbed it out with dishsoap). This batch of eggs had a stronger smell than some of my other hatches. It was sulfur, but it was sort of like stronger chicken poop.
Not enough ventilation -- I have a hovabator. I always keep one of the vents open. I can't find any other vents on this incubator to open, though.
Humidity - well, from what I can tell, there is a "too high" for humidity and probably a "too low" but that there is a lot of middle ground here. Anywhere from 20% to about 50% seems ok. I have been trying to keep my humidity in general between 35 and 45%.
So... I'm doing a staggered hatch. I have already sanitized the incubator by washing with out with water and dishsoap. Then I sprayed it with lysol and let it stand for ten minutes. Then I rinsed it out and dried it with a hairdryer. Then I put the next batch of eggs in.
Pearls from the reading: chicks are usually lost in the first three days of incubation or the last few days for a different set of reasons. Late losses are usually due to bacteria, off temps, humidity too too high or too too low, or poor ventilation.
Is this wrong? More thoughts? So next time, more vents and slightly higher temps and see what happens?
One egg pipped internally and externally. It was alive at 8am when I went to work. It pipped this morning sometime between 5 and 8am. So I left it thinking it had time. When I came to check on it at lunch time, it had wiggled it's body around so that it's beak was no longer at the spot where it had pipped. I assume it suffocated. The other six that did not hatch never pipped internally or externally. They looked to me like they had all died sometime in the last few days, though I don't know when or exactly why.
So I have been reading every thread I could find about late deaths and these are the things I found that could have contributed.
Too low or too high temps (obviously, it was a little low as 3 hatched a day late)
Bacteria (I washed out the incubator after the last hatch, but I did not disinfect it with anything like lysol... I just scrubbed it out with dishsoap). This batch of eggs had a stronger smell than some of my other hatches. It was sulfur, but it was sort of like stronger chicken poop.
Not enough ventilation -- I have a hovabator. I always keep one of the vents open. I can't find any other vents on this incubator to open, though.
Humidity - well, from what I can tell, there is a "too high" for humidity and probably a "too low" but that there is a lot of middle ground here. Anywhere from 20% to about 50% seems ok. I have been trying to keep my humidity in general between 35 and 45%.
So... I'm doing a staggered hatch. I have already sanitized the incubator by washing with out with water and dishsoap. Then I sprayed it with lysol and let it stand for ten minutes. Then I rinsed it out and dried it with a hairdryer. Then I put the next batch of eggs in.
Pearls from the reading: chicks are usually lost in the first three days of incubation or the last few days for a different set of reasons. Late losses are usually due to bacteria, off temps, humidity too too high or too too low, or poor ventilation.
Is this wrong? More thoughts? So next time, more vents and slightly higher temps and see what happens?
