Pj homestead

[Britesea]

We have a RIR that looks like she's thinking about going broody. She spent 2 nights hiding in the daffodils, all hunkered down, but no eggs; so I put a couple of ceramic ones in there and behold! there's a nice brown one in there nowl

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Do you want her brooding in the daffodils? If she does, can you predator proof it?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Oh yeah, you have a LGD. So, she'd be safe from preds at night?

 

[Pjhomestead]

What is the humidity in your house?, your heat source? Sometimes, it becomes necessary to run a humidifier in the incubator room. I've never had to do so, even with wood heat, but have heard of folks who have needed to do so.

Have you done a salt calibration on your hygrometer? Perhaps spray down the walls of your bator at first pip?

Are you sure that shrink wrapping is your issue? I get good hatches running at 30% until lock down. (30% is my goal, but during that time, a reading may be as low as 11% or as high as 40%.) For hatch, I bump up to 65%. When the babies start hatching, they will add to the humidity!

Monitoring air cell size is my guide. If air cells are too small or too big, according to the development charts, I then adjust the humidity accordingly. At times, I've had to run completely dry from day 14 through first pip to get air cells where I want them. Particularly if the outside weather is humid. If air cells are too small, the chicks drown when they pip. An other factor associated with air cells being too small is: the chicks grow too large, then can't easily hatch.

I use sponges as humidity source throughout my entire incubation period. Stand them up in a cup of water so they wick. Adjust size of sponge or number of sponges according to need. I cut them into 1 - 2" strips to make it easy to adjust. I've even resorted to screwing an extra sponge to the side of the bator b/c there was no floor space to accommodate the extra sponge needed during hatch.

You mentioned water trays and sponges. Are the sponges laying flat in the trays? If so, that may be your problem. If the water level is close to the top of the sponge surface, you're really not gaining any surface area by adding the sponge.

And, finally: are you opening that bator between first pip and last hatch? I will open the bator if needed, but only if my humidity is staying up, and I know a drop will only last a minute or two. I keep humidity up in bator with a syringe and aquarium tubing so I don't need to open it to add water.

Are they hatching between day 20 and day 22? Does their development (when candling) match the embryonic development charts? Is it possible you have some genetic issues? What breeds?

Just a few thoughts.

Agreed, having a broody takes the guess work out of the hatch. I've enjoyed my broody hatches. But... it's nice to know that I could return to bator if necessary. Nothing as sweet as holding that warm egg in my hand and seeing the little chicklet dancing in there!!!

The humidity varies with the seasons. We have low humidity during the winter. We have a few heat sources. electric heat which we hardly use. An oil stove mostly used at night while our main source of heat is our woodstove which is in use 24/7 in the winter.
I have to admit I have not done a calabration test on my hydrometer I have 3 that I use and are all showing the same readings.
I have a water tray in my bator with a hose running into it so I can add water with out opening it. I have 2 sponges in the tray that are standing up about 2 inches of the sponges are in the water with 4 inches out of the water. I can keep the humidity fairly constant 40-50% but cant seem to keep it steady once I try to boost it. I have tried adding more sponges, dishcloth etc. The humidity either goes to high or I can get it around 65% and then it drops to 50. Maybe I need to close or partly close the 2 air vents or like you suggested running a humidifier in the winter months.
I have had several eggs pip but not break through the shell. Hile others have not piped at all. When checking afterwards the internal membrane is always dry. The last few hatches I have had to assist and have put vaseline on the membrane with wet tissue which has helped them to hatch which is why I am thinking it is shrink wrapping.
All of my attempts at hatching so far has happened between day 20-22. The hatch before this one I had 1 hatch from the wrong end of the egg.
I have white Amber's, black sexlink, red sex link and a mix of bantams I have no idea what breeds they are. I have had no success hatching the bantams every egg was a quitter by lockdown.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I'm baffled. The only thing I can do is tell you what has worked for me. When do you remove the eggs from the turner? I assume that at that time, you do not turn them by hand. What is your rooster?

An other thought: When I'm collecting hatching eggs, especially if collecting them before the flock gets out to free range, I provide multivitamins for about 2 weeks before I start to collect. I also give my flock sprouts during the winter months, and ferment their feed year round.

I'm guessing that your Ambers and Sex links lay a pretty large egg. I've found that the large eggs are problematic when it comes to hatching.

Could you get some barnyard mix fertile eggs from a local farm, and try those to see if the problem is in your flock, vs. your incubator?

Here's a link to a compilation of mostly research based hatching tips. Since I last hatched in an incubator, this treasure trove has been revamped. I find this new revamp to be much busier, and more difficult to sift through. BUT, if I was going to fire up my incubator again, I would take several hours to sift through this info. Sally Sunshine is the most knowledgeable person re: incubation that I know.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-chicken-eggs.64195/

Other questions for you: Does your bator have a fan? If so, hatching temp should be 99.5 at egg surface. However, I prefer to use 100*F, and have wonderful results at that temp. If your bator has no fan, then the temp should be 102*F at egg surface. I use 101 - 101.5* for still air. I don't like to go to 102*, b/c that is just a tad off from egg killing 103* temp.

Here's an other article that you might be able to glean from:

https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/2902/2902-1090/2902-1090_pdf.pdf

And an other one:

http://extension.msstate.edu/content/pipped-eggs-do-not-hatch

I strongly advise against using vents to control humidity. The chicks greatest need for O2 is during the final days of their growth.

Could be that you are running too wet through day 18. I'd suggest that you drop back to 30% through first 17 days, but use the air cell chart to guide you. IMO, better to have air cells too big than too small. This site has some good info. I've lifted a paragraph from it to support my "egg too wet during incubation" stance.

https://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/incubation-humidity/

If the incubation humidity is too high
When the humidity is too high, less moisture is lost from the egg and as a result, the air sac is too small in size, the membrane is less brittle and much more rubbery. Think of the air sack like a small balloon: once inflated, it’s easy to pop but while deflated, it remains thick and rubbery.

A chick trying to break through this membrane can expend too much energy, or can suffocate from a lack of oxygen before it manages to break through.

In addition to the difficulties a chick will have with internal pipping, if the egg hasn’t lost enough moisture, the chick cannot rotate inside the shell and becomes stuck. The fluid around it dries out once the chick has pipped making life even more difficult. Unable to break free from the shell, it will eventually die.

The reality though is that the porosity of eggshells vary (becoming more porous later on in the year) and vary between different breeds and with different thickness of shell, so the correct humidity is whatever achieves the correct moisture or weight loss from the egg which is generally somewhere between 11 and 13% when the air sack occupies approximately a third of the egg at the point of internal pipping.

The best way to do this is either by recording the weight of the eggs using some accurate scales, (see my article on the weight loss method for incubation) or more simply by candling your eggs and comparing the size of the air sac to a diagram that shows the ideal size on different days of the incubation period.

If the air sac is too large, the eggs are losing too much moisture and you need to increase incubation humidity and conversely if the air sac is too small, decrease humidity so the eggs can lose moisture faster.

 

[Pjhomestead]

I'm baffled. The only thing I can do is tell you what has worked for me. When do you remove the eggs from the turner? I assume that at that time, you do not turn them by hand. What is your rooster?

An other thought: When I'm collecting hatching eggs, especially if collecting them before the flock gets out to free range, I provide multivitamins for about 2 weeks before I start to collect. I also give my flock sprouts during the winter months, and ferment their feed year round.

I'm guessing that your Ambers and Sex links lay a pretty large egg. I've found that the large eggs are problematic when it comes to hatching.

Could you get some barnyard mix fertile eggs from a local farm, and try those to see if the problem is in your flock, vs. your incubator?

Here's a link to a compilation of mostly research based hatching tips. Since I last hatched in an incubator, this treasure trove has been revamped. I find this new revamp to be much busier, and more difficult to sift through. BUT, if I was going to fire up my incubator again, I would take several hours to sift through this info. Sally Sunshine is the most knowledgeable person re: incubation that I know.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-chicken-eggs.64195/

Other questions for you: Does your bator have a fan? If so, hatching temp should be 99.5 at egg surface. However, I prefer to use 100*F, and have wonderful results at that temp. If your bator has no fan, then the temp should be 102*F at egg surface. I use 101 - 101.5* for still air. I don't like to go to 102*, b/c that is just a tad off from egg killing 103* temp.

Here's an other article that you might be able to glean from:

https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/2902/2902-1090/2902-1090_pdf.pdf

And an other one:

http://extension.msstate.edu/content/pipped-eggs-do-not-hatch

I strongly advise against using vents to control humidity. The chicks greatest need for O2 is during the final days of their growth.

Could be that you are running too wet through day 18. I'd suggest that you drop back to 30% through first 17 days, but use the air cell chart to guide you. IMO, better to have air cells too big than too small. This site has some good info. I've lifted a paragraph from it to support my "egg too wet during incubation" stance.

https://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/incubation-humidity/

If the incubation humidity is too high
When the humidity is too high, less moisture is lost from the egg and as a result, the air sac is too small in size, the membrane is less brittle and much more rubbery. Think of the air sack like a small balloon: once inflated, it’s easy to pop but while deflated, it remains thick and rubbery.

A chick trying to break through this membrane can expend too much energy, or can suffocate from a lack of oxygen before it manages to break through.

In addition to the difficulties a chick will have with internal pipping, if the egg hasn’t lost enough moisture, the chick cannot rotate inside the shell and becomes stuck. The fluid around it dries out once the chick has pipped making life even more difficult. Unable to break free from the shell, it will eventually die.

The reality though is that the porosity of eggshells vary (becoming more porous later on in the year) and vary between different breeds and with different thickness of shell, so the correct humidity is whatever achieves the correct moisture or weight loss from the egg which is generally somewhere between 11 and 13% when the air sack occupies approximately a third of the egg at the point of internal pipping.

The best way to do this is either by recording the weight of the eggs using some accurate scales, (see my article on the weight loss method for incubation) or more simply by candling your eggs and comparing the size of the air sac to a diagram that shows the ideal size on different days of the incubation period.

If the air sac is too large, the eggs are losing too much moisture and you need to increase incubation humidity and conversely if the air sac is too small, decrease humidity so the eggs can lose moisture faster.

Thanks for the info.not sure what the breed of the rooster we have only had him a few months as our old rooster died. He came from a nearby farm they weren't sure what breed he was either. I may try again at the end of the month which will give me time to read up on the info

 

[Pjhomestead]

The newest addition to our homestead. Now I need to build another barn

We finally have some good weather so I will be spending the day milling lumber for the greenhouse and a barn for the sheep.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What cuties!

 

[baymule]

Congratulations on the Sheep! What breed are they?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Sweet. What breed? Are they bottle babies? Gender?