Day 26 Slow chicks....

So I have an incubator that I started with 24 eggs. 22 of them made it to day 18, and I locked down after candling to check for movement. I didn't have any hatch until day 25 (yesterday). I have one little guy who is pretty happy and healthy, and one that hatched last night and is still fluffing in the incubator. Those two are the only ones who have gotten out, and they had incredibly thick membranes and ended up needing help to zip. The humidity has been 75-80 since lockdown, so I'm not sure why that is. Today, I floated the other eggs and none of them popped out of the water, only the air cell rises out of the water. But no pips, and no noises from eggs. Is there anything I can do for my other eggs?

AlyMillard said:

So I have an incubator that I started with 24 eggs. 22 of them made it to day 18, and I locked down after candling to check for movement. I didn't have any hatch until day 25 (yesterday). I have one little guy who is pretty happy and healthy, and one that hatched last night and is still fluffing in the incubator. Those two are the only ones who have gotten out, and they had incredibly thick membranes and ended up needing help to zip. The humidity has been 75-80 since lockdown, so I'm not sure why that is. Today, I floated the other eggs and none of them popped out of the water, only the air cell rises out of the water. But no pips, and no noises from eggs. Is there anything I can do for my other eggs?

Click to expand...

There is not anything you can do for them unless they are able to pip themselves. At day 25 I would not expect to see more action. Hatching at day 25 is a big sign the temps in your bator were extremely low, I'd say 2-3 degrees. The lack of others hatching could be due to the delay weakening them or to high high humidity days 1-17.

May I ask what bator you are using and whether you have your own checked thermometers/hygrometers in the bator and what your hudmidity was das 1-17?

I'm using a still air incubator. A Hova-bator. I have two thermometers and the temp started out high,and I had a hard temp getting it down. It got to 101-102, and I got it down to 100 for most of the incubation. The only time they got cooler was when I opneed it to candle. I lost two eggs in the first 18 days, but the other 22 were very active and looked healthy. Humidity has been hovering around 65 until I filled the second water reservoir for lock down.

AlyMillard said:

I'm using a still air incubator. A Hova-bator. I have two thermometers and the temp started out high,and I had a hard temp getting it down. It got to 101-102, and I got it down to 100 for most of the incubation. The only time they got cooler was when I opneed it to candle. I lost two eggs in the first 18 days, but the other 22 were very active and looked healthy. Humidity has been hovering around 65 until I filled the second water reservoir for lock down.

Click to expand...

Still air should be 101-102F taken near the tops of the eggs. Are you saying that your humidity was staying around 65% for the entire incubation?

Yeah the humidity was around 65 until day 18, and I bumped it up for the hatch. I could not get the temperature up after I took the turner out

AlyMillard said:

Yeah the humidity was around 65 until day 18, and I bumped it up for the hatch. I could not get the temperature up after I took the turner out

Click to expand...

65% humidity for the first 17 days is extremely high for table top incubators. I will almost bet that the chicks drowned. I seldom see anyone hatch successfully with humidity that high. As a matter of fact, I am always amazed with the handful of people that claim to have success at 50%+. Humidity is regulated to reglulate the moisture loss of the eggs which in turn causes the air cells to grow. In most cases (and there are exceptions to every thing) 65% humidity is going to prevent the eggs from loosing the moisture that they need to loose, which is going to mean the air cells don't grow and when the chick goes to make an internal pip they either can't reach the too small air cell and drowns or they are able to pip and excess fluid in the egg rushes into the air cell via the pip and drowns them. Another effect is chicks that grow too large and can not turn to hatch.

Eggs have different porousity and shell thickness therefore making it possible for a chick here or there to have the egg loose enough moisture for a successful hatch, but they most likely would be few and far between. Add that to slightly low temps causeing a delay in development and you are at a higher rate for weaker chicks that can't overcome the two together.

I highly suggest doing eggtopsies if you can when you decide the hatch is done and look for malepositioned chicks and very wet chicks with excess fluid in the shell. That will be a strong indicator that humidity was the main issue.

I would highly suggest trying to tweak it up to 101F and running a low humidity incubation for the first 17 days and monitoring the air cells for guidance on when and how to adjust the humidity. If you'd like more detailed info on this you can check out: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
this is the method I use and have great success with. (Unless you are in a high altitude, high altitudes do need a higher average humidity.)

Sorry that the hatch has not gone as you expected.

I am at a high altitude. I live in Colorado. 65 is the humidity the chicken farmers here use. Also, the air cells were all a good size. And still are. That's why I'm confused. The eggs pass a float test, air cells look good, no bad smells. There is no indication that the chicks are dead, but there is no indication that they are alive. It's very mysterious and frustrating.

Rather than talking about my next hatch, I would really love input about anything I can do for the chicks at this point. Should I try assisted hatching, or open an egg up, should I just leave them longer? I'm at a loss for these eggs

AlyMillard said:

I am at a high altitude. I live in Colorado. 65 is the humidity the chicken farmers here use. Also, the air cells were all a good size. And still are. That's why I'm confused. The eggs pass a float test, air cells look good, no bad smells. There is no indication that the chicks are dead, but there is no indication that they are alive. It's very mysterious and frustrating.

Click to expand...

Float tests don't tell anything unless the egg floats and it wiggles. High altitudes are harder to hatch in. I can share ifo on high altitude hatching, but it is hard to follow, but you might find something in there usefull. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/2908/incubating-eggs-at-high-altitudes/

AlyMillard said:

Rather than talking about my next hatch, I would really love input about anything I can do for the chicks at this point. Should I try assisted hatching, or open an egg up, should I just leave them longer? I'm at a loss for these eggs

Click to expand...

There is nothing you can do. Without a chick exterally pipping and being given 24 hours after pip for the vascular system to shut down, you're hands are tied. You can't just go into an egg and get a chick out. The probability would be causing a chick that is still dependant on the chick to egg vascular system to bleed out and die. You are looking at going into day 27. The chances of anything still being alive are slim to none and the chances of one being alive and hatching healthy are close to non existant. (Miracles do happen, true, but I wouldn't expect it.) The farther you get away from "hatch day" the less chance that survivors would hatch healthy. There's always exceptions mind you. But it's unlikely.

@AlyMillard Did any end up hatching? We are sadly on Day 26...