Well I got the Jumbo/Super egg cartons from eggcartons.com today. My duck eggs don't quite fit so I have to use rubber bands to hold them shut. They aren't horrible but I'd much rather have the real cartons... sigh.
I've still been looking and called everywhere, even the distributor of the ones I had. The distributor says they hope to have some in several months, but that's several months too late for me.
I haven't had the money to order the jumbo/super size egg cartons yet. I really don't want them...
There's no ballpark figure on how long it takes. Some take a few minutes, some a whole day. I notice they get faster after there's a chick in the brooder "cheering them on".
hennyandpenny, you can leave the chicks in there.
No, no it's not over.. give it another couple of days. Just like human pregnancy isn't exactly 9 months to the day, hatching isn't always exactly 21 days.
I agree with opening to add warm water fast. There should be no problem with it. I'm opening my incubator often to remove pipped eggs to move to the camera hatching area. I've done this with many hatches over many years with little problems. (and I live in a super dry climate)
I just candled. Out of 24 only 1 has nothing. The other 23 look pretty good and we saw movement. I waited till now to candle the first time because we have really dark brown eggs.
Just keep hanging in there.
We did a hatch many years ago. During the hatch we lost power for 4 days. The incubator dropped to the 70's while I was trying to figure out how to heat it again. I ended up venting heat from the oven into the bator to heat it. This was a very inexact science...
I found a "Blue Seal" store online but no cartons there of any kind. Are you talking about an actual B&M store? Are they duck egg cartons or chicken egg cartons?
I apologize I was told that was what was what the cross was, and I still find references to that cross online, but the more I research the more I find that it's actually a Rhode Island Red (female) and Rhode Island White (male) cross instead. I actually bought these eggs from someone with ISA...
Are they white or brown eggs? You should see a spider at 4 days (red spot with veins coming out from it) it would be more difficult to see with a brown egg. Don't start worrying yet, give it a few more days.
That's OK, it's not an abbreviation. ISA Browns are a hybrid cross between Rhode Island Red (female) and Rhode Island White (male). They have been described as egg machines, laying 300 eggs their first laying year.