*Disclaimer: Some images/videos may be gross.
On day 24 (April 14 at 9 pm) I've pulled the plug and did the dreaded clean up of the incubator. It was not fun -- nasty and smelled like rotten fish.
On day 24 (April 14 at 9 pm) I've pulled the plug and did the dreaded clean up of the incubator. It was not fun -- nasty and smelled like rotten fish.
I tossed a dozen eggs that did not pip (chick start to punch
a hole) and 6 eggs that had some pips (small to medium cracks) but did not
progress any further. There was one
chick still inside the incubator that hatched last night but her navel did not
heal and was still swollen so she did not survive. Three died within 48 hours after hatching. I helped one of them hatch – definitely not
recommended. And one chick that looked
so healthy and fluffy died for no apparent reason after 24 hours.
Egg# 155. I tried to help this one but didn’t
work.
What went wrong? Cheap incubator or quality of my breeding flock? I’d like to think that it could be due to
the 3-hour power failure on day 20 (a
very crucial day) which explains why I
had a high rate of deaths in the “full-term and failed to pip” and “pipped and
failed to hatch” categories.
21 out of 48 eggs set hatched. Out of these 48 eggs, 44 were fertile. So the hatch rate among fertile eggs is a
lousy 48%. If I include all the eggs in
the incubator, the hatch rate is even lousier at 44%. But hey, this is my first time.
Below is the summary of the hatch rate:
Line
|
Number
|
|
A
|
Eggs set
|
48
|
B
|
Not fertile
|
4
|
C
|
Dead at first candling (days 10-12)
|
1
|
D
|
Dead at second candling (day 17)
|
1
|
E
|
Full-term, failed to pip
|
12
|
F
|
Pipped, failed to hatch
|
6
|
G
|
Died within 36 hours after hatching
|
3
|
H
|
Total lost = B+C+D+E+F+G
|
27
|
I
|
Total hatched = A-H
|
21
|
J
|
Percent hatched = I x 100/A
|
43.8
|
K
|
Percent of fertiles hatched = I x 100 / (A-B)
|
47.7
|
I investigated and cracked open most of those “full-term,
failed to pip” and “pipped, failed to hatch”. But before that, I want to share egg id 152 (green egg) who
died immediately after I removed from the incubator. Here’s the video:
And below are a few videos of what I found inside those
dead-in-shell chicks. Caution, some
pictures may be a bit gross to see/watch.
Egg id# 198 |
Egg id# 164 |
Despite this, I have a second batch of eggs in the incubator already. And 4 of are duck eggs. I hope this works because ducks have a longer term before they hatch.
No comments:
Post a Comment