Yesterday my egg was rocking, today nothing

[hdolloff]

I dont know much she should have been doing that soon after hatching.

 

[speckledhen]

I tried to keep the temp at 99.5 sometimes it went down to 98 but I would adjust the temp back up.
I didn't measure the humidity, I had water in the bottom of the incubator and put in a bowl full, when it said to up the humidity I put in a second bowl.
The eggs came from my chickens, we had to get rid of our rooster so we decided to hatch some of his babies! I would put them in the incubator daily.

I had the chick in a 10 gallon fish tank, I goggled how to build a brooder and it said a fish tank was suitable.
I had medicated chick starter food. and water in the brooder, but she hadn't eaten or drank.
she was fully hatched from her egg around 8:30pm last night and still could not stand by the time she passed.

I still have 3 eggs in the incubator and I am not going to touch them for a few days and see what happens.

Still air or forced air incubator? Still air calls for 102*.

You said you put eggs in the incubator "daily". That means you left them all in, due on different days, or did you move them to a separate hatcher as Day 18 approached for each egg? If they were all on different days, you had some not ready to hatch, most likely and the ones past Day 18 had different humidity needs. I wasn't sure if that is what you meant by I would put them in the incubator daily.

 

[sumi]

O.K. I've got some stuff here for you to look at:

Firstly: Chicken Brooders Very good designs and ideas here. Did you warm the brooder up for her? You didn't say...

Humidity: can make or break your hatch. I'm suspecting humidity messed up this one, but without knowing what it was, we can't tell for sure. If you want to try again get a good quality hygrometer so you can monitor humidity levels during incubation. Here's a good thread on humidity:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...excellent-info-here-everyone-should-read-this

Here is more information on causes of incubation problems: http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8127.pdf that could help you troubleshoot.

 

[hdolloff]

I put the eggs in the incubator daily when i got them from the coop, I read that it didnt matter, they would hatch 21 days from the last egg put in. The last eggs were put in on November 29th. That would make 21 days December 20th. the book I got with the incubator said 99.5 degrees, and there was a mark at 99.5 on the thermometer. The incubator says "still air"

 

[sumi]

Was your incubator on when you started putting the eggs in? Eggs start developing within a few hours at the right temperature, so if you put eggs in over a few days with the incubator on they would not have started hatching 21 days after you put the last egg in.
If you store eggs for hatching you should turn them daily like you do with eggs you are incubating, but once a day should be enough.

 

[sumi]

I got to go. It's really late here, but I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a look at this thread also: Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Eggs It's got some very good information and tips and stories of other people's hatching experiences. See you!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I put the eggs in the incubator daily when i got them from the coop, I read that it didnt matter, they would hatch 21 days from the last egg put in. The last eggs were put in on November 29th. That would make 21 days December 20th. the book I got with the incubator said 99.5 degrees, and there was a mark at 99.5 on the thermometer. The incubator says "still air"

Hello hdolloff

you have been getting some great help, I am so sorry your having these issues. There are quite a few important aspects of hatching, once you get them you will hatch more peeps than you will know what to do with!

First I would like to say..... NEVER EVER EVER try to hatch with the thermometers and hygrometers that come with the styro bators. You MUST ALWAYS calibrate, I use about 5, No really 5 thermometers to calibrate the one on the top, my old styro bator BRAND NEW was 5 degrees low! When it said 99.5 it was only 94.5 and thats BAD!!! I keep two thermos and hygros in my bator as well FOR THE ENTIRE HATCH!

SO first you need to do your homework on HEAT and calibrating your thermometers AND hygrometers, and yes a hygro is NECESSARY! I use two in each of my bators, just to make sure I got it right! some people use internal prob thermometers, but I havent found that necessary... for more understanding WHY temps are so important please read this article on internal temps and viability of hatching eggs at certain temps here... (dont mind the title it has some of the best info I found on the web yet) http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

you can see our coolerbator set up and the types of thermos and stuff I use in the link https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubator-incubator as well as all my hatching info in an article https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101 its chaos in the article, but I have used and refered to EVERYTHING in the article, EVERYTHING!

Next up Humidity.... YES its EXTREMELY important!! I do the dry hatch method... I can help you out in understanding all this different stuff, whenever your ready, please dont stop incubating, once you get the main items understood you will also have wonderful hatches, and THATS A PROMISE!! Dry hatch means that I moniter my humidity closely and ONLY ADD water when it goes below 28% and then I do so by adding water into SMALL wells, one by one little at a time. SURFACE area has more effect than depths, this is important to remember! When lockdown day 18 comes, I stop turning and raise humidity to 60% but no higher than 62% (however once they start hatching its absolutely normal to have that raise up by itself to 70s or even lower 80s and it never cause me any problem at that time.

OH!!! I suggest that when you wish to hatch, collect your eggs and store them in the carton, pointed end DOWN in a nice cool place in the home or garage, collect for a week or even 10 days and just remmeber that you need to turn the eggs 3x a day... easiest way in the carton is simply put a book under one end and then at next turn, move the book under the other side. Doing this collecting will put your eggs in the bator all at the same time and their growth will all be pretty much the same as well, but remember only keep fresh clean eggs and I wouldnt hold them for longer than 10 days.... Sumi or speckledhen have more info on storage of eggs. I dont think that is in the article... will have to add it when they post about it..

again.... I am here for you if you decide to do it again, you can find Sumi and I both in thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ell-detatched-shipped-eggs/2370#post_10129299 we are trying to keep the thread alive too, so ignore the title as well, there are a few younger kiddos that we are helping with incubation as well as a few others. A bunch of us have quite a few hatches under our belts now, so its great to have that help for you when you need it.... just pop in and say hello and a little bit about whats going on.. its our daily check in spot!

or if you want to PM you can, but a thread is nice, because it helps all the others following the thread to learn and help as well.

Sumi gave you a great link for brooders and caring for chicks, there is alot more in the hatching eggs 101 article too... I can tell you that AGAIN HEAT the first two weeks is EXTREMELY important, I actually keep my brooders at a temp of 97 - 100 degrees (at one spot) the entire first week and then I lower buy 5 degrees each week...

SpeckledHen is absolutely correct about when a chick is open and looks like that, its NOT good and it wont make it.

Again that article has videos pics and tons of info on what the chick is doing right before and during hatch, interesting reads. Also alot of assisting info and caring for chicks as well.....

Its ok, you did what you could, but there is some learning to be done, and you found the right place for help!!

 

[speckledhen]

I put the eggs in the incubator daily when i got them from the coop, I read that it didnt matter, they would hatch 21 days from the last egg put in. The last eggs were put in on November 29th. That would make 21 days December 20th. the book I got with the incubator said 99.5 degrees, and there was a mark at 99.5 on the thermometer. The incubator says "still air"

You have some incorrect information there. You must start the entire batch incubating at the same time, not put them in daily.

Also, still air bators must run 101-102* at the top of the eggs, not 99.5. That is way too low. Only forced air bators run 99.5-100*.

And instruments can vary so much, they can make or break a hatch, too. Household thermometers are not made for accuracy for incubating. I use the Spot Check, also sold under the name Egg Temp. It is extremely accurate and made for the job. Hygrometers must be calibrated as they can be WAY off. Temp is much more important than humidity, sure, but either can tank your hatch.