Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Someone just starting out got eggs from me to hatch but I am disappointed with the results, they seem happy but it should have been better in my view.

My results are insane with how good the hatch rate is. I think it's because the mutts are so strong compared to pure breeds. Usually if I put twenty eggs in the incubator I get 19 or 20 chicks. This year same thing so far, the hen hatched out her eggs and the others sitting all have developing chicks in the eggs. Being bantams they usually come day 19 or day 20.

Compare to my friend, out of 12 eggs, only 5 chicks and on day 21...... day 22 two chicks are trying to hatch. I asked what the reading is for temperature and it seems correct. However this sounds like it was running too cold, I wonder if the read out could be wrong. Hatching on day 22 instead of 19 or 20, that's a big difference and none of my bantams ever made it to day 21. I just feel bad for these people, I was expecting better results. The other 5 eggs have chicks inside but they never attempted to hatch, something that has never happened here with the same eggs. Thoughts?

not attempting to hatch is usually not so.... the humidity could have been way to high and when the chicks pipped the internal membrane they were met with a beakfull of fluid instead of air, instantly drowing. its a huge bummer!

I'd bet on too high humidity. Everyone is conditioned to think you need very high humidity but my results improved as soon as I went to dry hatching and a "lower" humidity at lockdown (60 max).

Killerbunny wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:40 pm

I'd bet on too high humidity. Everyone is conditioned to think you need very high humidity but my results improved as soon as I went to dry hatching and a "lower" humidity at lockdown (60 max).

No Kidding? I will definitely make note of that.

Check out WWWs posts, she is really good at it.

Aw, thank you, KB
I think 5/12 chicks is excellent for a first time hatched, especially if the eggs first had to suffer a car ride before setting...? Did they travel at all? Road vibration drives hatchability down, even when all are fertile and developing.
But I'm leaning towards high humidity too. Humidity absolutely changes temperature, and high humidity, even though it feels warmer than dry, will transfer heat from eggs better than dryer air, leaving them cooler. Also, any time water is added, it MUST be warmer than the incubator or it drives temps down, sometimes for hours depending on the incubator used.
Did any hatch with swollen toes? Swollen back of neck? Swollen chicks, even if they have enough air to breathe, sometimes cannot get into position to pip, or if they can, cannot turn to unzip the shell. They have to wait for some of the edema to resolve before they can hatch, and many will die waiting.

So I'm texting back and forth with her now. This is day 22, so far two that piped last night, one hatched just two hours ago. The other one stopped, it has quite a good chunk out of the egg but has stopped. Also just two hours ago, out of nowhere one chick suddenly hatched in minutes, another piped but the hole is really bloody. She send me a picture, it is not normal. I said since they are coming so late, I think the best thing is to leave them for now, or should we try to rescue the one from last night???

Should I tell her to open the lid for a little to let out moisture? The chicks look normal from the pictures.

Is the one that has blood pipped upside down? That happened to me last summer. That chick didn't make it. Fingers crossed!

I give them 24 hours of no progress before I try to jailbreak them. The thick watery goo that happens in too much moisture, quickly dries out and glues them in like concrete if you open the lid so instead of rescuing one, you end up having to rescue a bunch. I would wait... it's possible that it suffered heart failure and died while unzipping, but if it's just stuck, it won't hurt it to wait a few more hours for rescue. we
The blood happens when a chick pips through a blood vessel before they have started to dry off. It happens sometimes, and they very rarely survive this.