need a little advice

I am a new hatcher. This is my 2nd attempt with an incubator. Too many issues with the bator the 1st time (the fan actually stopped working and we had to move eggs to a new bator at day 19, also had humidity issues throughout the incubation). None hatched. Of 29 eggs, 1 developed but didn't hatch. Anyway, new batch of eggs bought on line (as were the 1st eggs), yesterday I heard 1 egg peeping and tapping. Today is say 29 and I saw an egg wiggling today. I'm not kidding about the day, it's really day 29. I read somewhere that eggs bought on line could be late hatches. My question is how late? I'm of course nervous and frustrated. So far 1 baby hatched a week ago but died after 4 days. I don't know how long the eggs sat around waiting to be shipped.

I made sure the incubator was working this time before putting eggs in, and they sat for 24 hours after arrival. I have a thermometer and hydrometer in the bator and the numbers have been fine this time. I just need a little reassurance that there is still a good chance for it to hatch. No peeping today, just a lot of wiggling this afternoon.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Day 29 is really late and I honestly don't think you're going to get any more to hatch - did you mean yesterday is when you heard peeping and tapping? That is very late and the only thing that could cause that would be a very low temperature. Even then I haven't heard of eggs hatching past day 25.

Can you give us a run down of your incubator setup like what type of incubator you are using, the temp and humidity? Have you calibrated the thermometer and hydrometer to make sure they are reading correctly?

Have you been doing eggtopsies on these eggs to tell what went wrong?

Also shipped eggs are much harder to hatch than local eggs. I suggest for your next hatch you practice with some local eggs before trying shipped eggs again.

Yes, yesterday I heard peeping and tapping. I agree, 29 days is really late. I don't know of the brand of incubator - it's my neighbor's, it has a yellow lid, it's digital, clear bottom, has egg rotator, holds 48 eggs. No name or brand anywhere on the bator. I kept the temp around 99 degrees and humidity at 50-55% until day 19, then at 65% (or as close as possible). I have a back up thermometer and hydrometer inside the bator and relied on them instead of the digital reading. This is the back up bator from the 1st batch.

With the 1 batch of eggs, all but 1 never developed. With this batch, several never developed, 1 hatched last weekend then died Wednesday. 8 look like they have chicks in them (1 of those 8 is the wiggler).

The problem with trying local eggs is I'd like to have silkies and or cochin bantams and I don't have those breeders around here. That's what these eggs are - silkies and cochin bantams (the wiggler and the chick I lost are cochin b's). I also have 4 hens which were broody over the summer and of course aren't now. No rooster - not allowed to have chickens.

The incubator you're describing is a really cheap one I often see on Amazon, eBay etc and it's really unreliable.

How have the air cells been looking? For me the humidity you're keeping it during the first 18 days would drown the chicks in their shells. Did you open any of the others that failed to hatch? Was there a lot of liquid in there?

99 degrees would be a half degree low, but that shouldn't cause them to be as late as yours seem to be. Especially since they are bantams, which if anything usually hatch early. I would definitely get another thermometer and double check the one you have is reading correctly.

Also, keep in mind shipped eggs are a gamble. Even with the most experienced hatchers and excellent incubators, you're lucky to get 50% to hatch.

Yes, it is from ebay and unfortunately I found out the hard way that it's unreliable. I followed the instructions it came with and tried to keep humidity and temp at recommended settings.

The air cells look ok, even now. The 1 chick that developed but didn't hatch did have liquid in with it but I don't think it was too much. The other eggs I opened were just yolks.

I think after this experience, I'll stick to live day old chicks from a hatchery. I seem to have better luck with them than hatching eggs.

Thank you so much for responding. I'm going to leave these eggs alone for a few more days and see what happens. I'll post results once I give up - probably next weekend.