Incubated Eggs

[Anonymous]

Hi there

How long do you leave your eggs in the incubator after their due date as passed?

Cheers

Craig

 

[foxy]

It depends on whether they have been candled or not..if fertile but incubator temp has been running a little low I would consider leaving them in for a few days. Also, I count the first day as day "0" and the second day as day "1"
This time of year however I wouldn't expect fertility to be high 06

 

[chrismahon]

We counted ours from day 1 and left them for 2 days afterwards. We had candled them at days 6, 12 and 18 (just before they went into the hatcher). We left them 2 days afterwards then I candled them again to see if anything was moving and cracked them open to see what went wrong. Big mistake. I killed one which got cut by a piece of shell and bled to death in my hands. It was moving as well. After that we left all the batches another day but didn't get any later hatches. Turned out then the Suro incubator was running lower temperature at the sides, even though the thermometer said it was OK, which it was in the middle. The small print with the Suro said it had to be in a draught free area above 20 degrees, so next time we will run the unit inside a purpose built chamber as 20 draught free degrees is impossible in an 1830's house in March.

So Craig, I would make sure no infertile or dead ones go into hatcher (because if they break the bacteria in the rotting egg will kill the hatch) and leave them 3 days extra, or 2 days extra as Foxy says counting from day 0. If any start to weep (small crusty deposits on the surface) remove them very carefully immediately.

 

[victorias poultry]

Hi Craig
If you have not got a candler to check the eggs, try putting them in a bowl of warm water 1-2 days before they are due to hatch you will see the egg bobbing around with the movement of the chick in the egg.

 

[Paddy_c20]

Chrismahon you say one if yours bread because you cracked the egg, why didn't you do it lore carefully, an of started bleeding cauterise the cut he may if survived, your playing with life an you should try everything you can

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your comments. The chicks were due on Saturday. We candled them a week after been in incubator n 10 of them were showing veins and a little blob of body we assumed, however only 4 hatched. We opened one of the eggs yesterday and there was a little still born chick inside :-(. What would be the reason's for this happening when 10 of them showed they where fertile.

Thanks in advance. Craig & Emma

 

[chrismahon]

Eggs that start to develop and then die are usually the result of infection that has got in through the shell. Did you use egg sanitiser before they went into the incubator and was the incubator thoroughlty sterilised? We've never had any develop past 10 days or so and die, except the very weak ones that pipped but then died before hatching. We improved those dramatically by placing each egg in the hatcher on a foam ring so that the new chicks moving aroung didn't knock them over and disorientate them.

 

[foxy]

In addition to Chrismahons comments, late DIS (dead in shell) can also be due to humidity problems in the last few days. Too much humidity = large, wet and "squashy" chicks, too little humidity = dry chicks, with shrunken membrane, looking sort of "shrink wrapped"

 

[chrismahon]

Just to add. I made foam rings using a length of 28mm pipe insulation with 13mm wall which was cut into pieces 3 - 4 mm thick with a Stanley knife blade. A standard insulation length is 2 metres so will last a fair while. I didn't re-use the rings, just cut more.