Feeling discouraged :(

[CrystalStevens]

It's day 21 and no chirps or pips or movement or anything. My third shot at hatching. I think I'm going to give up. Placed 12 eggs and 7 had movement on day 17 water candling. Day 18 candling showed great air cells and saw movement in most eggs . Should I wait or give up? I wish just one would hatch

 

[FridayYet]

I haven't pulled them out to candle since lockdown for fear of shrink wrapping. Should I check them?!

They won't shrink wrap unless there is an external pip. I'd check them.

 

[FridayYet]

Just candled and water rested. I put 5 of 13 back in the incubator. The other 8 were not good...

Did you open any of them to get clues of what went wrong? It can be helpful to know if they were fully developed, if the yolk was absorbed all the way and if they were really wet, dry, or just right inside. I know not everyone can stomach it, but it can really help for next time.

Ps: you should take Amy up on her offer.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We are in the same boat... no pipping and just started day 22. First timers and just learning about water resting. I just candeled about 8 of the 28 eggs. A few are not developed but most look ok but not seeing any movement yet. Should I wait to water rest them? Or just give it another day?

. I'm not a big fan of water candling, or float test as it is often called. It can be very misleading. If it floats and wiggles on it's own, it's still viable. But people have had sinkers they've opened that were still alive and had floaters that gave them hope and did nothing. If you do float test you want to candle first and make sure there's no internal pips or cracks unseen to the naked eye before you put them in water. I would give it another day.

What kind of incubator are you using, what have your temps and humidity been?

 

[privett1961]

Wait. Last night made day 21 for me .3pipped at 11.00 pm Have 5 hatched and 22 more pipped .I was weary last night .Please give it a couple more days .

 

[privett1961]

Just checked two more has hatched. My incubator is an old still air Little Giant. I sure wish you great luck

 

[CrystalStevens]

Still nothing. Oh well guess I'll just buy some peeps

 

[FridayYet]

What do they look like when you candle the air cell? Any internal pips? If your temp was low you still could have some hatch.

 

[CrystalStevens]

What do they look like when you candle the air cell? Any internal pips? If your temp was low you still could have some hatch.

I haven't pulled them out to candle since lockdown for fear of shrink wrapping. Should I check them?!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you wait another day at least. It’s not that unusual for hatches to be off a day or two. If your incubator is running a little too cool they can hatch late.

Another thought, how are you counting the days? An egg does not have a full day’s development the instant you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day’s worth of development and you can say “1” when you count days. An easy check, the day of the week you put them in is the day of the week they should hatch. If you put them in on a Friday, they should hatch on a Friday. But that is a “should”. They can still be off a couple of days.

After 23 days, you can take any that are not pipped and do the float test. To me this is a desperation measure just before you abandon the hatch. But take a bowl of still calm water and put your eggs in it. If they have not pipped they will not drown. If there is a chick alive inside that egg that late in the incubation, the egg will wiggle on the water. If it wiggles put it back in the incubator. If it does not wiggle, there is nothing alive in there, toss the egg.