I am at the end of day 22 and I have not had any eggs hatch yet what should I do? When I candle them I can see veins and in a couple of them i can see movement, is it possible that they will still hatch? The temp was a little low the last 3 days 97 ish did i mess up? this is only my second hatch and my largest so far. I am very woried that i messed up!
Day 22 no eggs hatched yet?
I'm not certain, but truest said that low temps can slow the hatch--so maybe you are okay. I am having trouble stabilizing my incubator, but I tend to be a little high--which I think is worse than low.
yes i also had some trouble regulating temp because i had a new thermometer it is a cooking thermometer and i lay the probe on top of the eggs and try to keep it at 100 some times when it falls down it will only read 95 is this normal? I am sure i can see some of them moving will it hurt them if i move them to candle them?
OH yes yes yes. I wouldnt worry just yet. If you had a temp as little as one degree low...they can be a day late...2 degrees low can be longer. If you can still see movement that is good and bad. They should be big enough at this point that you should not be able to see any veins or movement. What kind of eggs are they? Of my last batch I had my first couple start on day 21 (and didnt hatch until day 22) and some didnt start until day 22...and hatched on the 23rd. Anything yet? Are there are tiny cracks? Any eggs starting to shake? Make sure your humidity is up around 70%.
day 22.5 and no visable change! I can hardly stand it! will it mess the eggs up if i havent turned them since day 18.5? how long should i watch to see them shake? I have silkies,Americanas,bantams,RIRs,and some otherss from a hatchery that sells eggs in the off season. i turned it to 99 and i dont have any way to check humidity is that really bad?
You should definatly NOT turn them the last 3 days. The chicks need to situate themselves to get out, and they should occupy nearly the entire egg. If you can still see movement I would leave them...but it makes me wonder why they are not larger in those shells. For your next batch I would suggest a hydro doohicky (that is not the technical name) I bought mine in the humidifier section of walmart for $2. It just gives you the percent of relative humidity. if it is too way (waaaay too low) then you could end up with eggs that just wont hatch. I have dealt with it too high and too low...and now I monitor it closely.
those breeds are all pretty typical and should hatch at 21 days. I did mostly RIR's in my last batch.
Do you have water in the bator? if so, how do you have it in there? Is there a sponge? Cloth? Just in the bottom? Also...what kind of incubator is it?
Good news!!! one of the eggs is chipped and i heard a faint chirp and the egg was rocking! it is one of the ones that i put in a couple of days late though. the water is in the bottom in trays. It is a little giant with egg turner. im afraid that some how i messed up the other eggs :-(
thanks for the tip on the humidty tester i should have one.
If you are using a commercial bator with a turner, and have water...I am not sure what could have happened. If this last egg wasnt doing better now I would think contamination. But if that was the case then this guy would have been the least likely to hatch.
I would make sure to thoroughly steralize the bator when you are done with this hatch. Make sure you never put in dirty eggs, or cracked eggs, and candle them often. You should remove rotten and unferilized eggs within a day or two of finding they are bad. Those can get REALLY rotten, and even explode. They can also contaminate the other eggs causing them not to hatch. Hens know which eggs are bad, and she will push them out to get them out of her nest. Hopefully you get at least a couple! Let us know how it goes. Remember not to touch that chick. Let us know if it start taking over 22 hours, and make sure that the thin clear membrane does not turn white after the chick shows its face. That would be a good sign of low humidity.
Hoping you get some to hatch, Free. Please let us know?
Chicks are just popping up everywhere!
may princess tammy's eggs all hatch..
Still only one egg hatching but i have to send a picture!!
So exciting!
OMGoodness! Looky there, ready to come out! Woohoo-
go chickie!
may all princess tammy's eggs look so cute..
how long is this egg gonna take? its been 12 hrs since I noticed the chip.
it looks about right. That chick will punch all the way around the shell...and then kick its way out. Mine took up to 28 hours to fully hatch...so you are fine. Based on that pic I would say you dont have much longer now.
hey one of the first eggs i put in is starting to hatch!!! maybe i will still get lucky!!! im going to get a hydrometer today and a different thermometer! im glad you guys were here to help i would have started going crazy and given up!! Thanks!
YEAH! We are rootin' for ya! You should never give up. Keep sending the news! I am on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how things are going over there!
the second bird is out and crawling over the other eggs!!! it only took 4 hrs total? it is a large brown egg though.
Is your first out yet? Make sure to take some more pics!
well done i hope the others make there way out
Yea! More chickies! We're getting a bumper crop! Hope
things are going well! We're waiting for pic-tures!
may princess tammy have pictures..
the first is still working but the 2nd is talking him thru it!!
Get out the teeny pom-poms and do a dance! You can do it..
go chick, go chick...
may princess tammy have cheer leaders! smile..
I just got home from getting a hydrometer and thermometer!! # 2 is doing good still a bit wobbly! here is play by play of # 2 whie i first noticed it was cracking
only a few hours later!!!!! shes here!!
and she got out from under her shell!! and started climbing all over the other chicks telling them its time to come out!! Well i hope that is what she was saying!
Oh my! Darling! Be sure to keep the door closed during
hatch if at all possible- the membrane inside the shell can
dry and get sticky, and they have a hard time getting out!
may princess tammy get a new hygrometer and thermometer.
You must be on cloud nine right now, Free! This is so
eggciting!
may princess tammy have green eggs..and ham.
oops on that door closed thing I feel silly.
Here is #2 up and around telling the others to come out and play!!!
wonderful looking chcik...
we hit day 21 Saturday, what dayactly did yours finally come out? i don't want to disturb the eggs & check them if even one chcik might still have a chance...
YEAHHHHH! That is too funny. You got the same hydrometer that I got! I know it is not exact..but for the price you cant go wrong. Congratulations on your first chickees! Anymore moving around yet?
these were due Saturday night and my first ones started Tuesday the problem with mine i found was humidity winter time is lower humidity so it takes more effort and tools to hatch.
a third is about to emerge!! It looks to be yellow so my 4yr old will be happy she was disappointed that we did not have any yellow chicks.
how long do you wait to touch them?
I would wait on the holding til they go into the brooder.
And then, not too much. If you handle these while some are
still in the hatching process, it introduces bacteria and it
could get into the navels of the newly hatching. Your
little one must be so excited. Oh my goodness, I just
checked your time, you're up early!
may princess tamyy sleep late.
I would say! But I remember being up at 3 am when mine were hatching as well. It is hard to sleep with all that excitement! Do you have any more possible hatches? Or do you think just the two made it? Something you coudl do after this is open a couple of the eggs. You woudlnt want your little one to see...but it could help give you an idea as to what happened...and at what stage those embryos quit developing. Do you plan to put more eggs in after this?
I bet Free is sleeping. But, with a 4 yr old, who knows?
may princess tammy have a sunny day.
it looks like there is still a couple starting but i had a very successful hatch the last one of 10 eggs 9 hatched but it was last fall and i believe the humidity was higher and so i never knew it was so imp to watch. So i am going to hatch some more but they will be watched very closely! i will keep u posted!
Sounds good. Mine are due on Friday...but I already know that some will be very late. The chicks from my RIR's developed much faster the my black sexlink, and old english game hen.