dead before hatching

Why dont all my chicks come out. Out of ten i got 2 that hatched, 2 died with the beaksd out of the shell, 4 never broke the shell and the remaining died during growth inside. Could this be because i had a power cut for 2 hours. PLEASE ANSWER ME,the more the merrier.

I think every hatch so far i've had a chick die half out of the shell. Some will just be weak/runty I suppose and never would make it.

thanks for your reply, thought it was my incubator or something am doing wrong.

The power cut might have had something to do with it, but usually the chicks are stronger that you give them credit for and will recover, although they might take a little longer than expected. But so many half hatched and dead in shell sounds as though it might be a problem with temperature or humidity during incubation. If the humidity is too high at the beginning, the eggs don't lose enough moisture, the chicks grow too big, and can't turn properly in the shell when they need to pip. Or possibly the humidity was too low in the last couple of days before hatching and the membrane stuck to the chick and they couldn't break out.

These things do happen, so don't take it too much to heart, but just keep a close eye on temperature and humidity next time round, and you should see most of the problems disappear.

Good luck
Nino

that happened to me the first time i hatched, chicks all big and soggy and not hatching.

i worked it out by trial and error to run my incubator dry till the last 5 days-ish, and keep the humidity high for hatching.

depends what the humidity is like where you live though?

i had a 12 hour power cut, i put my quilt over the incubator, left it alone, and the chicks all hatched fine, but a day late!

hope you have better luck next time,

what do you mean by dry, no water untill the last five days ? I am new at this

i MADE MY INCUBATOR ITS NOT ONE OF THESE new tech ones. No money to buy one, especially if its going to give the same result.

i would say never run your incubator dry if its japs or italians or the same strain always run it at 45% hum for 15 days (rolling) and 65-75% hum last 3 days (non rolling) on the humidity where you live should have not much to do with your eggs its what your incubator reads not room hum/temp. my kitchen reads now at 23.12hr 45% hum and 23.6 temp but you cant hatch eggs in that :!:

Havent checked my humidity level or temp outside the incubator, here in Gibraltar its pretty hot compared to UK, at this time of year it reaches 26 and 15. Thanks for the advice guys. Hope i can raise my hatchabiility rate.

i`ve hatched japs/pheasant/ducks and chickens in a home made incubator before,

( polystyrene lined box with airholes top and bottom, heated with 2 60w lightbulbs, controlled by a reptile thermostat i pinched off my brother, worked great )

it just took a few goes to get the technique right.

keep trying, you`ll get there in the end