Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
- Silverlacedmom
- Newly Hatched Chick
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:27 pm
- Location: Balmertown
- x 27
Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
Good morning, I ordered 15 hatching eggs, with a new incubator in hand I thought there was no way I was going to muck this up!
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08FXG ... UTF8&psc=1
Once it was set up and going, I was a good girl and did not candle much. Day15-16 I candled and culled the eggs that had near 0 development which was half of my eggs. The others had a range of development.
Day 19 I locked down, raised the humdity, it looked like 6 for sure were fully developed, dark eggs when candleing...I was a happy gal thinking 6 chicks were on the way. Hatch day comes, and 1 is peeping, but the crack was dry yellow material...she was zipping for too long but my hubby didnt want to help after watching youtube videos. Sadly she didnt make it. Day 24 goes by...and we wake up to the peeps of a chick that piped n zipped all in a few hours!
Sadly this lone chick is weak in the legs. Isnt feeding properly. We suspect because she was in the egg for extra days...The other eggs never did anything.
I have had higher success with an oldfashioned foam cooler style incubator vs this fancy one...I am sad and disappointed.
My question is has anyone used this style of incubator (has auto turner and built in thermostat and humidistat) with success?
Did I do anything wrong? Suggestions?
The eggs were shipped quickly, arrived in a form fitted foam box. The breeder I got them from I am impressed with their shipping of eggs. I let the eggs sit for a day round side up before starting incubating.
Thank you for any input!
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08FXG ... UTF8&psc=1
Once it was set up and going, I was a good girl and did not candle much. Day15-16 I candled and culled the eggs that had near 0 development which was half of my eggs. The others had a range of development.
Day 19 I locked down, raised the humdity, it looked like 6 for sure were fully developed, dark eggs when candleing...I was a happy gal thinking 6 chicks were on the way. Hatch day comes, and 1 is peeping, but the crack was dry yellow material...she was zipping for too long but my hubby didnt want to help after watching youtube videos. Sadly she didnt make it. Day 24 goes by...and we wake up to the peeps of a chick that piped n zipped all in a few hours!
Sadly this lone chick is weak in the legs. Isnt feeding properly. We suspect because she was in the egg for extra days...The other eggs never did anything.
I have had higher success with an oldfashioned foam cooler style incubator vs this fancy one...I am sad and disappointed.
My question is has anyone used this style of incubator (has auto turner and built in thermostat and humidistat) with success?
Did I do anything wrong? Suggestions?
The eggs were shipped quickly, arrived in a form fitted foam box. The breeder I got them from I am impressed with their shipping of eggs. I let the eggs sit for a day round side up before starting incubating.
Thank you for any input!
2
- Happy
- Poultry Guru - pullet level
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- Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:46 am
- Location: Wasaga Beach
- x 10924
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
I'm not familiar with this product but just peaked at the comments in the reviews and I would not try hatching in it again. I had a similar experience with one my husband bought me. It's in the dump.
2
- Jaye
- Poultry Guru - chick level
- Posts: 2954
- Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:14 am
- Location: E Ontario
- x 2995
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
Oh dear, it's a shame that you had such a bad incubating and hatching experience. That is so disheartening.
I have to agree with @Happy : many Amazon incubators from China are notoriously unreliable. Sorry, just a fact. The ROI on them is very low.
Late hatches can be a sign of incubator temperature being too low, and chicks that do hatch out will often have developmental issues. It sounds like your incubator had trouble keeping a good steady temperature. I had some similar experiences in the past with my older Styrofoam incubator, but I finally decided I couldn't be bothered with all the constant monitoring and tweaking any more, and splurged on a Borotto incubator when it was on sale a few years ago. If you do decide you want to try again with that incubator (I personally wouldn't recommend it) there are a few things you can try in order to get a better hatch rate.
1. Did you use an additional calibrated thermometer and hygrometer inside the incubator to compare against the reading that your incubator is giving you? If not, I recommend that you get one. Govee has some popular economical fairly reliable ones that you can buy on Amazon. There a quite a few YouTube videos that will show you how to calibrate them.
2. What is the average relative humidity in your area? if it's anything like here, you may have better luck with the dry hatch method.
3. Do you have your incubator in a place where the temperature is stable (not too hot, not too cold) and there is no draft? That's important so that there is minimal fluctuation in temperature and humidity inside the incubator.
As for your struggling chick, I think you may need to consider dispatching it. It's awful, I know, but sometimes it's the best and kindest thing to do for the chick.
Oh, and for the record, I do help chicks out if they have been struggling for too long. Many say DON'T, but I personally want to give them a chance if I can. Sometimes it works out fine, sometimes not. Some may think that I intervene more often than I should; e.g., I've finished a hatch of chicks in our oven (not recommended either - I bought an incubator after that episode), but that's me. It's not for everyone.
I have to agree with @Happy : many Amazon incubators from China are notoriously unreliable. Sorry, just a fact. The ROI on them is very low.
Late hatches can be a sign of incubator temperature being too low, and chicks that do hatch out will often have developmental issues. It sounds like your incubator had trouble keeping a good steady temperature. I had some similar experiences in the past with my older Styrofoam incubator, but I finally decided I couldn't be bothered with all the constant monitoring and tweaking any more, and splurged on a Borotto incubator when it was on sale a few years ago. If you do decide you want to try again with that incubator (I personally wouldn't recommend it) there are a few things you can try in order to get a better hatch rate.
1. Did you use an additional calibrated thermometer and hygrometer inside the incubator to compare against the reading that your incubator is giving you? If not, I recommend that you get one. Govee has some popular economical fairly reliable ones that you can buy on Amazon. There a quite a few YouTube videos that will show you how to calibrate them.
2. What is the average relative humidity in your area? if it's anything like here, you may have better luck with the dry hatch method.
3. Do you have your incubator in a place where the temperature is stable (not too hot, not too cold) and there is no draft? That's important so that there is minimal fluctuation in temperature and humidity inside the incubator.
As for your struggling chick, I think you may need to consider dispatching it. It's awful, I know, but sometimes it's the best and kindest thing to do for the chick.
Oh, and for the record, I do help chicks out if they have been struggling for too long. Many say DON'T, but I personally want to give them a chance if I can. Sometimes it works out fine, sometimes not. Some may think that I intervene more often than I should; e.g., I've finished a hatch of chicks in our oven (not recommended either - I bought an incubator after that episode), but that's me. It's not for everyone.
2
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- Killerbunny
- Poultry Guru - total zen level
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- x 10173
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
@Jaye I got Borottos too and they rock! Everything you said here is correct. @Silverlacedmom better luck in the future. @Kbr42 has a smaller borotto she got from Peavey Mart and can speak to that one.
3
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- Jaye
- Poultry Guru - chick level
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- Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:14 am
- Location: E Ontario
- x 2995
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
I have the smaller Borotto too - the Lumia 16. I really like it.
1
RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
Awww, it certainly doesn't look good at this point for your incubator. I love the little 16 barotto I purchased. It hold heats and humidity right on throughout the entire incubation process. I keep the temperature at 99.6 to 99.9 and humidity 0-18 @ 45-50% and day 18 until hatch 63-65%. I've had great success with these settings. I have a gauge that I put in the incubator to make sure that's what's going on.
I like the small barotto, I also like nurture 360 it's great as well. I use the barotto for shipped eggs and the 360 for my own hatching.
I like the small barotto, I also like nurture 360 it's great as well. I use the barotto for shipped eggs and the 360 for my own hatching.
2
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Sorry about the hatch and sick chick.
![hug :hug:](./images/smilies/hug.gif)
Can you return your automatic incubator? It may be defective.
FYI I recently bought a glass thermometer for work. It costs $76 and it only needs to be calibrated once which costs $120
We will be using it to calibrate our other 4 electric thermometers annually. Bought it at Measur. Other places that probably have something similar is Genec and M&L Testing.
I'm wondering about shipping too. I've seen Canada Post workers literally throw things out of their truck. Also I talked to a breeder and she won't sell eggs because she said they get scrambled or smashed. It's not worth the hassle.
2
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- Silverlacedmom
- Newly Hatched Chick
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:27 pm
- Location: Balmertown
- x 27
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
Hi guys, thank you so much for the responses.
We did have to send off our little girl to the rainbow bridge. We kept her alive by hand feeding/watering her, but her one leg had massively deformed joint. I think she was cramped up in the egg, and when she decided to break out she was spring loaded in there...
Im in over $400 in eggs and incubator costs and havent had a successful chick out of the bunch. I tried 2 shipments last year, both $100, no hatch, then this batch was over $100...so I am slightly pissed off/discouraged. The incubator isnt returnable as it is past returning time off amazon.
My incubator was actually in a grow tent room, to keep things stable as can be. I really have tried everything. I will have to wait till next year to try again as fall is upon us...
I am just wanting a few more birds for my backyard flock, I have hens that are 6 years so not laying as much these days.
We did have to send off our little girl to the rainbow bridge. We kept her alive by hand feeding/watering her, but her one leg had massively deformed joint. I think she was cramped up in the egg, and when she decided to break out she was spring loaded in there...
Im in over $400 in eggs and incubator costs and havent had a successful chick out of the bunch. I tried 2 shipments last year, both $100, no hatch, then this batch was over $100...so I am slightly pissed off/discouraged. The incubator isnt returnable as it is past returning time off amazon.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
My incubator was actually in a grow tent room, to keep things stable as can be. I really have tried everything. I will have to wait till next year to try again as fall is upon us...
I am just wanting a few more birds for my backyard flock, I have hens that are 6 years so not laying as much these days.
4
Re: Incubation failure-One hatchling struggling
@Silverlacedmom I appreciate the cost thing. And it is very frustrating to not have any birds after all the time and cost. Couple of things that helped me with shipped eggs for next year. First, once I get them I pulled them out, with gloves on, and let them sit for 24 hours next to my running incubator. I check each egg to see if any of the air sacs are detached and would mark those.
Once I put them into the incubator I don't touch them until day 4. Then I turn on the turner. Those eggs don't move until day 5. I never touch the eggs unless I have gloves on. Typically I hand turn my shipped eggs but I have an incubator that doesn't drop temperature that quickly. With the on you have I would used the turner.
Candle after day 10 for your sanity. But unless the egg is bad, leave them in until day 18. For shipped eggs I hatch upright in egg cartons. I never lay shipped eggs on their sides. Out of a doz shipped eggs you can expect 50% to develop. That's why breeders send extras. I've had pretty good results using the above method.
Keep at it, hatching takes practice! Don't give up, you'll get it.
Once I put them into the incubator I don't touch them until day 4. Then I turn on the turner. Those eggs don't move until day 5. I never touch the eggs unless I have gloves on. Typically I hand turn my shipped eggs but I have an incubator that doesn't drop temperature that quickly. With the on you have I would used the turner.
Candle after day 10 for your sanity. But unless the egg is bad, leave them in until day 18. For shipped eggs I hatch upright in egg cartons. I never lay shipped eggs on their sides. Out of a doz shipped eggs you can expect 50% to develop. That's why breeders send extras. I've had pretty good results using the above method.
Keep at it, hatching takes practice! Don't give up, you'll get it.
2