Worse hatch 2nd time around than the 1st. :(

[steffpeck]

I just finished up my 2nd hatch and my results were WORSE than the first time!!

My first hatch I started with 23 eggs and at day 18 I only had 8 left, but of those 8, 5 hatched. I candled the darn things nearly everyday, and even during the hatch I had to lift the lid a bit to seperate a chick that was having his bum picked at and bleeding. This time I started with 14 eggs and at day 18 (which actually ended up being day 17, oops) I had 10 and only 5 hatched. I checked all 5 of the unhatched eggs and they hadn't even absorbed the yolk. This time, I only candled 4 times during the whole hatch, my temps & humidity were fine, I put them in egg cartonsI didn't lift the lid during the hatch and my results sucked!!! Now mind you, I have 5 VERY cute little babies, 3 Blue sizzles and 2 salmon favorelles, but I am so bummed that I lost so many.

The only thing I can think of that was not right, was I miscounted my days and stopped turning on day 17 instead of 18 and increased the humidity on day 17 instead of 18 and for the first 24 hours after increasing my humidity it was running about 76% and then between 69%-73% the rest of the time. Would that have caused such drastic results??

 

[ginasmarans]

Sometimes there is no good reason why things don't work out. Were these your eggs or shipped eggs? I had 2 hatches,not so good. On the third,I went back to my simple way of incubating and had a better hatch. I did use the egg cartons,but can't honestly say it improved my hatch. Better luck next time.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

It sounds to me like your thermometer might be reading a little high.....

 

[steffpeck]

Thanks! Both hatches were shipped eggs.

 

[wilds of pa]

candling everyday is a no no..This is somthing i would not recommend....I know some like to do it, But..candling is best around day 11-12 and right after coming off the turner going to the hatching stage.

But that isnt the hole problem...Shipped eggs can be tuff to hatch with the way they are handled in shipping...Makes thing even worst for folks. But there is alot of success with shipped eggs...

Charlie

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry about the hatch, Steff, but maybe it was nothing you did at all. I've had hatches that were only marginally successful with no idea what the problem could have been. All values were correct, no issues during the incubation, etc. Sometimes, especially with shipped eggs, they just don't work out.

 

[NoSpringChick]

I wish I could help you but I'm only on my first hatch.....I would love to be a fly on a box of shipped eggs just to report exactly how they are handled.

 

[CindyS]

I also think the temps were too high, causing the bloody navels. None of these problems would be caused by the eggs being shipped. When an egg is damaged during shipping it is either totally internally scrambled and will not develop, or the air cell is just partially detatched, which will still develop, once there is a developing chick, there will be no difference in hatch rate than a non shipped egg