# HELP!!!



## Brea (9 mo ago)

I recently started incubating. I've got five chicks so far. I have larger eggs from my Sapphire gems and smaller eggs from chickens that are part banny. All of the smaller eggs are hatching and doing fine except for two that were deformed because of a power outage I'm assuming. My larger eggs, the chicks are growing, the air cells seem decent but they will not hatch. Today I had one that went the farthest it was almost fully zipped while I was at work. When I didn't notice any movement I took it out to check it and it was already dead can somebody please tell me why the smaller eggs will hatch and be fine but I can't get my larger eggs to hatch.? My incubator has an automatic egg turner for the first 18 days I keep my humidity at about 50 percent and then whenever I take them out of the Turner I up it to about 65. Temp stays at about a 100 never goes above 100.5. if someone could help, has any ideas please reply. I'm at my wits end. Very discouraged.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Where are they at in the hatch date? 

Deformity should not be from power outage, the outage just slows things down a tad. 

Bantams have a bad habit of hatching early. There is still a good chance the large fowl eggs will hatch.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Welcome to the forum!


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> Where are they at in the hatch date?
> 
> Deformity should not be from power outage, the outage just slows things down a tad.
> 
> Bantams have a bad habit of hatching early. There is still a good chance the large fowl eggs will hatch.


Well I finally had two of the larger ones to hatch and they are currently in the brooder. The 21st day was Friday. One larger egg hatched out last night/early this morning(let's call this one lucky). Same batch as where I had one get almost zipped and then it just died. Before lucky and after the one that died(zipped) I had one trying super hard to get out. After all day and no luck I decided to help. He is (blackie) in the brooder now.with the bantams. Out of ten eggs I got 6. Thinking about trying a dry hatch this next time.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

Poultry Judge said:


> Welcome to the forum!


Thank you. I am hoping to learn a lot here. This year my hens are going crazy laying eggs, way more than we can eat or give away.I got 5 cartons of eggs these last 4 weeks. Just found another nest outside with about 30 in it. I just decided to try incubating so at least maybe they wouldn't waste.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If they were having a hard time getting out of the eggs I wouldn't do a dry hatch. Being too dry is usually why they struggle. 

Nice save on the one. That old thing of don't help they're weak, blah blah blah. Has no basis in fact. We incubate artificially and stuff happens. If a baby is crying in distress then we should help.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> If they were having a hard time getting out of the eggs I wouldn't do a dry hatch. Being too dry is usually why they struggle.
> 
> Nice save on the one. That old thing of don't help they're weak, blah blah blah. Has no basis in fact. We incubate artificially and stuff happens. If a baby is crying in distress then we should help.


Yes I do feel the same way if they're going to die anyway why would it hurt to try and help them and at least give them a chance, think that I may have had my humidity too high on the other ones because I checked their air cells and they didn't seem to be growing very much so I'm afraid I may have drowned them. On some of the larger eggs is there ever a case where the chick is just really too big and can't move around if so is there anything that I can do to maybe slow it down? And maybe instead of a dry hatch what if I just lowered my humidity to like maybe 40%?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What are you using to measure humidity and temps? Having the wrong instrument seems to be the biggest issue for most. I used a reptile style humidity/temp sensor since they have to be absolutely accurate. 

I've never heard of any being to big to move around. Even they're big they should at least be able to start a pip hole.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> What are you using to measure humidity and temps? Having the wrong instrument seems to be the biggest issue for most. I used a reptile style humidity/temp sensor since they have to be absolutely accurate.
> 
> I've never heard of any being to big to move around. Even they're big they should at least be able to start a pip hole.


Most would start I pip then nothing more. Some wouldn't pip at all. My Bator lid has a digital thermometer and humidity reader.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm going to suggest you get a second instrument to confirm that yours is accurate. So many times the ones built in are not quite where they need to be. 

If it was just the bantams I would suspect something isn't quite right with the parents. But you also had large fowl quit too.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> I'm going to suggest you get a second instrument to confirm that yours is accurate. So many times the ones built in are not quite where they need to be.
> 
> If it was just the bantams I would suspect something isn't quite right with the parents. But you also had large fowl quit too.


Ok. I'll swing by our pet shop and see if they carry the reptiles thermometer. Thanks so much.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've been thinking about this. If peeps were too wet then the ones that hatched should have been mushy. 

What did you have hatch from the two groups and how many did you start of each? 

https://www.amazon.com/Flukers-Digital-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Reptiles/dp/B0009YJWW4 This is what I used. It was spot on accurate.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> I've been thinking about this. If peeps were too wet then the ones that hatched should have been mushy.
> 
> What did you have hatch from the two groups and how many did you start of each?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Flukers-Digital-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Reptiles/dp/B0009YJWW4 This is what I used. It was spot on accurate.


I'm not sure I understand this question. What do you mean by mushy? And from the first group I had two of the smaller eggs hatch. They did totally fine. Both hatched within like an hour of pipping and no help. One was yellow it's doing good. The other was a striped one but died on the third day. I had 3 for that batch but one wasn't fertile. The second batch I had maybe 7. That batch was the one with all the major issues. Two bad thunderstorms and power outages plus my hubby added too much water and the humidity got to 70% when they were on their second week in.(I work overnights so I didn't catch it until some days later) my third batch is the one I had from my original post. Out of 10 eggs I got 6 chicks. I had 4 smaller eggs and 2 larger. The other 4 that didn't hatch were big ones. Hope I answered your question.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mushy is when the humidity was too high. They feel very wet when they hatch and can feel mushy when handled. 

OK, so you're talking about three different hatches. The high humidity for several days could drown the peeps. The power outages really don't have an affect other than to have the hatch date become later.


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## Brea (9 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> Mushy is when the humidity was too high. They feel very wet when they hatch and can feel mushy when handled.
> 
> OK, so you're talking about three different hatches. The high humidity for several days could drown the peeps. The power outages really don't have an affect other than to have the hatch date become later.


So I need to keep watch on that and get a second thermometer. Thank you so much for your help and patience.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Try to get the Flukers. Unless their quality has taken a nosedive I can't or wouldn't recommend them so highly. It does both humidity and temp.


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