Febuary hatch a long

[TherryChicken]

8 little ones

 

[Desiree Brown]

I could hardly see any movement on day 18 because so much space was being taken up by the chick. I don't think the internal pip is supposed to happen that early but maybe someone more experienced can tell you. I didn't open the incubator at all when I went on lockdown so I didn't candle at all from day 18 until it hatched on day 21. I also did not see the egg move AT ALL until after it had made an external pip. My temps were mostly spot on, but they fluctuated from 98 - 100 during the whole three weeks with no ill effects. The only reason I didn't have more hatch is because the rest of the eggs from that batch were infertile. My humidity was at 30-35% until lockdown when I bumped it up to 45-50%

Hope that helped. I have 9 more in the incubator who seem to be doing fine even though they were on lockdown too for the older eggs to hatch. I'm curious to see if the temporarily high humidity had any effect on them.

Good luck!

When should I start hearing chirping? If I don't hear chirping is it ok? Sorry if that's a silly question

 

[Desiree Brown]

Could someone explain what lock down is? Just so I know I have the right idea. Do I need to cover the incubator ? Can't open it? Can open it? What I did is take eggs out of turner. Added 2 glass cups with water n sponges to increase humidity. I laid down newspaper under the metal floor thing ( is that ok?) I'm so nervous!! Lol and excited. I have 9 eggs in lockdown . I have 4 JG eggs, 2 maran eggs, 2 OE eggs, 1 EE egg. One of the OE eggs I think might be infertile but I can't tell bc it's so dark. Is it ok that I left it in?

 

[redhen689]

You won't hear chirping until they pip internally, which means they break into the air cell and start breathing.
It sounds as if you are doing everything right. There are lots of opinions and statements floating around about lock-down, but not all of them are based on scientific fact.
I just opened my incubator to do a quick candling of the eggs. None of them have pipped internally yet, but I could see that they seem to be working at it. I could see the membrane moving in some of the eggs. If you do open the incubator, do it for a very short period of time. You want the membranes to stay moist.

Edited to add... 3 hours later: I just checked again and one had pipped internally. I could hear faint chirping when I held it up to my ear. The eggs are due to hatch tomorrow and I'll be out for 14 hours. What was I thinking? At least it will keep me from interfering. I always want to help them hatch. I'm not good at keeping my hands off.

 

[Drache]

This is the first time I have done a hatch in an incubator, so I did a lot of reading very recently to find out what to do. Based on the dozens of articles and posts on this forum and others, lockdown is a period starting at approximately day 18 when you stop the eggs from turning in the incubator and do not open it until they hatch. It seems to me that most people will also add extra water to increase humidity inside the incubator, which is supposed to help keep the membranes inside the egg from having a "shrink-wrap" effect on the chicks as they are attempting to hatch. Some people will take the eggs out of the trays and put them on a flat surface, some people leave them in the trays. Some people will open the incubator but only to add water when the humidity starts to drop. Some people do not add more water and do a "dry hatch".

Some people do not do a "lockdown" at all, but will keep opening the incubator to candle and check for things like internal pipping and movement. Personally, I found the articles recommending a lockdown (ie, not opening the incubator at all) to be fairly compelling, so that is the method I personally chose. It makes sense to me that handling the eggs during such a sensitive time could be detrimental, and it also reduces your humidity each time you open the door. Not a chance I was willing to take, but I'm sure it works well for other people. Lockdown worked perfectly for the first egg I hatched, and it seems to be going well for the 9 Bantam Ameraucanas that I just put into lockdown about thirty minutes ago. We'll see!

For the record, with my first egg I did not see the egg move at all until it had already pipped, and I did not hear any chirping until the chick had hatched. So don't give up on eggs that have been quiet. And finally, good luck!

 

[redhen689]

I currently have 7 eggs in the incubator. This is the end of day 21. I think all have pipped internally. One has pipped externally.
These are late for me. I am used to eggs hatching on day 20-21.
Hopefully I'll wake up to some fluffy chicks in the a.m.!

 

[tnmommy]

My two Australorp chicks have pipped externally and I have heard at least 3 separate chirps from inside the eggs. Two of my BBS Orps are wiggling like crazy

 

[tnmommy]

Two Australorps hatched at midnight tonight. The Orps are moving in the egg but haven't pipped yet. Today is day 21. I am done for the night, going to sleep

 

[sasimpson77]

I have a baby Day 21 was saturday for 35 eggs and this is the 1st baby so glad to have one it seems very healthy despite hatching out of the small end of the egg.

 

[redhen689]

Two hatched early this morning, Two are zipping. The others... we will just have to wait and see.