First lockdown, going fine, just need some clarification

thebulg

Chirping
Aug 20, 2015
289
36
88
North carolina
I'm on day 20/21 (i set mid-day on april 19). Lockdown was screwy at first, but i got everything controlled by saturday afternoon and am darn near positive i've seen bits of movement from all my eggs. 3 eggs, homemade still air incubator, eggs from the nesting box, everything is going swimmingly.

This morning my most active chick pipped sometime between 1am and 430am. It's doing great! Strong chirping sounds, nice white, flappy membrane around the pip hole, moving around. I suspect it will work its way out by this evening! The other two have no signs of breaking through yet, but there is also no smell, so i have no reason to believe anything is amiss.

I just wanted to clear up a few things

1. The eggs were gathered over 2 days, but set at the same time. Is it reasonable to expect the other 2 eggs to pip within 24 hours of the first egg? Or do people expect the eggs to HATCH within 24 hours of each other when they were set together? Expect isn't a hard and fast term for me, more of a guideline to help me keep an eye on things.

2. If they dont pip, and there's no movement (i havent seen any movement in at least 18 hours but i think that's good from what i reading-get into position, rest, pip, rest, zip) waiting until day 22 or 23 to make a pip hole is the game plan, right?

3. Are there any signs that a membrane is going bad once the pip hole has been made? Does it discolor or stop being so flappy? Right now it moves like tissue paper (real life, i disinfected a pipe cleaner and put it through the vent hole just to see what the membrane moved like because i am an overly curious person).
 
I'm on day 20/21 (i set mid-day on april 19). Lockdown was screwy at first, but i got everything controlled by saturday afternoon and am darn near positive i've seen bits of movement from all my eggs. 3 eggs, homemade still air incubator, eggs from the nesting box, everything is going swimmingly.

This morning my most active chick pipped sometime between 1am and 430am. It's doing great! Strong chirping sounds, nice white, flappy membrane around the pip hole, moving around. I suspect it will work its way out by this evening! The other two have no signs of breaking through yet, but there is also no smell, so i have no reason to believe anything is amiss.

I just wanted to clear up a few things

1. The eggs were gathered over 2 days, but set at the same time. Is it reasonable to expect the other 2 eggs to pip within 24 hours of the first egg? Or do people expect the eggs to HATCH within 24 hours of each other when they were set together? Expect isn't a hard and fast term for me, more of a guideline to help me keep an eye on things.

2. If they dont pip, and there's no movement (i havent seen any movement in at least 18 hours but i think that's good from what i reading-get into position, rest, pip, rest, zip) waiting until day 22 or 23 to make a pip hole is the game plan, right?

3. Are there any signs that a membrane is going bad once the pip hole has been made? Does it discolor or stop being so flappy? Right now it moves like tissue paper (real life, i disinfected a pipe cleaner and put it through the vent hole just to see what the membrane moved like because i am an overly curious person).
Generally what's going to hatch usually hatches by 48 hours after the first hatch, with exceptions of course. Eggs that are in a hot or cool spot in the bator (and even forced air bators have them) will hatch earlier/later (respectively).
Smell means nothing. Seldom will a quitter smell and let you know it's actually quit, especially late term quitters.
Each egg and chick is different so you can't judge one by another.
As for making a pip hole, if there are no internal pips, putting a hole in the egg is NOT going to help a single thing. Now if you have an internally pipped egg that has been internally pipped for 24 hours, then making an artificial pip is understandable, (though it won't hurry things up any.)
If the membrane becomes brown/yellowish and starts looking leathery that's a sign that the membranes are drying and I would pull it and moisten the membrane and check to make sure that the inner membrane isn't drying and glueing to the chick.
If the first one hatches and you still have no other external pips and you are curious enough, you can, (yes, you can open the incubator) candle and see if there is any sign of internal pipping or movement.
 
Generally what's going to hatch usually hatches by 48 hours after the first hatch, with exceptions of course. Eggs that are in a hot or cool spot in the bator (and even forced air bators have them) will hatch earlier/later (respectively). 
Smell means nothing. Seldom will a quitter smell and let you know it's actually quit, especially late term quitters. 
Each egg and chick is different so you can't judge one by another.
As for making a pip hole, if there are no internal pips, putting a hole in the egg is NOT going to help a single thing.  Now if you have an internally pipped egg that has been internally pipped for 24 hours, then making an artificial pip is understandable, (though it won't hurry things up any.) 
If the membrane becomes brown/yellowish and starts looking leathery that's a sign that the membranes are drying and I would pull it and moisten the membrane and check to make sure that the inner membrane isn't drying and glueing to the chick.
If the first one hatches and you still have no other external pips and you are curious enough, you can, (yes, you can open the incubator) candle and see if there is any sign of internal pipping or movement.


YESSSSSSS. Thank you!!!!!!! This is exactly what i needed in one spot! I have everything set up, including emergency supplies which i doubt i will need, and then i sat here thinking "well shoot, i have no real idea when to intervene or any loose guidelines to help me decide" so i kept searching but it was hard to find everything in general terms. A lot of it was emergency situations instead of what happens before.

Thanks a million! Egg number one is still chirping loudly, nothing from eggs two and three, but i will gladly give them 48 hours after this one hatches and candle if this one hatches before i get an external pip. Thank you for explaining to candle to look for the internal pip first!
 
YESSSSSSS. Thank you!!!!!!! This is exactly what i needed in one spot! I have everything set up, including emergency supplies which i doubt i will need, and then i sat here thinking "well shoot, i have no real idea when to intervene or any loose guidelines to help me decide" so i kept searching but it was hard to find everything in general terms. A lot of it was emergency situations instead of what happens before.

Thanks a million! Egg number one is still chirping loudly, nothing from eggs two and three, but i will gladly give them 48 hours after this one hatches and candle if this one hatches before i get an external pip. Thank you for explaining to candle to look for the internal pip first!
If you get in a bind and end up need help assisting, or when to, you can always jump on over to the hands on thread, there's usually someone hanging around periodically that can help. It's a thread for people that want to help or are more hands on to get together without critisizm from the other way of thinking.
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You are always welcome to jump in there, it's : https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1081034/hands-on-hatching-and-help
 
Ooooh i might go check it out. I was wondering what that hread was about. I will say, i did figure out that the opening the door warning is definitely a rule that is given very conservatively. I can tilt my little window up about 1/4 of an inch and use a pencil wrapped in a paper towel to "windshield wipe" the glass without even having a drop in humidity. But i have them in my bathroom and have been lucky that it has been a bit humd here and that i have enough stuff to keep the room at 65% humidity too. So if it's a quick opening, i'm not letting in dry air, and i can keep a humidifier on and aimed at the incubator to help me out. Anyway, i figured out pretty quickly that there is wiggle room with that rule, so i am betting the hands on group might be up my alley.
 
Ooooh i might go check it out. I was wondering what that hread was about. I will say, i did figure out that the opening the door warning is definitely a rule that is given very conservatively. I can tilt my little window up about 1/4 of an inch and use a pencil wrapped in a paper towel to "windshield wipe" the glass without even having a drop in humidity. But i have them in my bathroom and have been lucky that it has been a bit humd here and that i have enough stuff to keep the room at 65% humidity too. So if it's a quick opening, i'm not letting in dry air, and i can keep a humidifier on and aimed at the incubator to help me out. Anyway, i figured out pretty quickly that there is wiggle room with that rule, so i am betting the hands on group might be up my alley.
LOL We'd love to have you!
 
One of the air sacs doesnt appear to have grown since 3 days ago. At all. The other grew by about an eighth of an inch. No internal pip on either, no movement. Still some blood vessels at the bottom of each egg. I'm thinking they're both lost.
 
I looked inside the shell of the hatched egg. The air cell in there is the same size as the final line i drew around the egg at day 18. So i am not going to count the other egg out yet. I will give it until tomorrow after i drop off my son at school, float test it, and make a decision from there. Not getting my hopes up, but also not going to give up. Not yet anyway ;)
 

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