Day 23 - No Pipping

[MrRedandCrew]

I am open for any and all advice! I decided to collect eggs on 3/18-3/21 to incubate for my sons pre-k class. With doing my math, day 21 should have been Monday, 4/7 for batch 1 (3/18 collection). Sunday the teacher called and said she could hear someone in there chirping and eggs "rocking". We have not heard much more chirping, but eggs are still moving. No one has hatched, zipped, or even made a pip. The teacher said she was having issues w/ incubator getting above 102, so she cracked the lid to get temp down, which I assume released humidity and could be causing the delay. I do not have a humidity thermometer in their and am hesitant to open and add one.If there is no progress by the end of today, should I candle to see if they have poked into the air sac? I know they are alive because they are moving, but we have 7 on day 23, 5 on day 22, 7 on day 21, a few on day 20 and 19. I know this is "lock down" time, so maybe I just need to be patient. It's so hard when you have lots of pre-k kids itching to see the babies.

 

[Dcat]

Far from an expert here and only on my second clutch but, my first clutch didn't start doing anything until day 23-24. Give them some more time and just watch, they will probably surprise you.

 

[chaase]

I am reading your post and have a question. You gathered your eggs over a period of days, but I assume they all went into the bator at the same time? In which case, they would all have the same hatch day, right? That might explain why they are progressing but haven't hatched yet.

 

[MrRedandCrew]

No, this is my first hatch so I didn't realize you could collect and put in incubator all at once. The collection dates are the same dates they went into bator.

 

[chaase]

oh, ok. well I am sure they will make their way out soon!

 

[MrRedandCrew]

Thanks Chaase - me too. It is one thing for me to be antsy about them hatching, but there are 3 classes of anxious little kids waiting too! I may end up sneaking to our farm store and buying day old chicks to stick in there if no one hatches by weekend. :-/

 

[MrRedandCrew]

I just talked to the teacher and she brought up a good point. When we removed the egg turner, that left a hole in the incubator where the cord for turner went through. She has plugged that and I have gotten a humidity meter, so hopefully we can make sure humidity is where it needs to be and we will have babies. Thank you everyone for your input!

 

[Farmer Viola]

I just talked to the teacher and she brought up a good point. When we removed the egg turner, that left a hole in the incubator where the cord for turner went through. She has plugged that and I have gotten a humidity meter, so hopefully we can make sure humidity is where it needs to be and we will have babies. Thank you everyone for your input!

that cord hole is ok, my incubator actually has 2 cord holes and I don't plug them.
my incubator also has 2 red vent plugs on the top; it is recommended to remove them at lockdown so the chicks can breathe oxygen (you don't want to seal up the incubator).
I actually do not use the red vent plugs at any stage of incubation.

the humidity needs to be raised once you have a pip. the reason for the high humidity is so that the membrane doesn't dry out and get stuck to the chick. opening the incubator when you have external pips can cause getting stuck (shrinkwrapping). if you have no pips, there is no risk yet (they are not open to the air). I am not saying do anything different, just trying to explain what's going on inside there I am sure you will have chicks soon!

 

[MrRedandCrew]

that cord hole is ok, my incubator actually has 2 cord holes and I don't plug them.
my incubator also has 2 red vent plugs on the top; it is recommended to remove them at lockdown so the chicks can breathe oxygen (you don't want to seal up the incubator).
I actually do not use the red vent plugs at any stage of incubation.

the humidity needs to be raised once you have a pip. the reason for the high humidity is so that the membrane doesn't dry out and get stuck to the chick. opening the incubator when you have external pips can cause getting stuck (shrinkwrapping). if you have no pips, there is no risk yet (they are not open to the air). I am not saying do anything different, just trying to explain what's going on inside there I am sure you will have chicks soon!

Thank you Viola! I will stop by after work and see what humidity is and keep that cord hole open. If humidity is low, should I add a wet sponge or something to increase humidity yet keep a good oxygen flow? We have not seen a single pip, but they sure are wiggling and wiggle even more when the teacher plays videos of baby chicks to her class.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Thank you Viola! I will stop by after work and see what humidity is and keep that cord hole open. If humidity is low, should I add a wet sponge or something to increase humidity yet keep a good oxygen flow? We have not seen a single pip, but they sure are wiggling and wiggle even more when the teacher plays videos of baby chicks to her class.

55-65% is ideal humidity for hatching, it will also spike when they start hatching and that's normal/expected, you don't need to do anything.

how are you adding water currently? I would continue to use that method to increase the humidity.
in my experience, a sponge will dry out and need to be re-wet every day. if you aren't there every day, that may not be best? a small dish of water would also work. humidity is increased by increasing the surface area of water. so a deeper pool of water still has the same surface area and still increases by the same amount as a shallow pool of water. the deeper water will just last longer in the incubator (if you're not there for a day or more).