Weird dent in some of the air cells. Help? Need answers pls.. Day 21 coming!

[Moochie]

I'm sorry I have no pictures.. I'll try to describe it as best as I can. My chicken eggs are on day 19 in the bator, lockdown yay! But, some eggs aren't quite right. Some of the air cells seem a bit small when I candled yesterday and some have downward dents in them. I don't think I've seen the dents before.. This is my first time using a bator. I normally use broodies. I don't have a hydrometer but I'm just following directions that came with the hova bator. It's a hova bator 1602N. I didn't fill the second trough all the way to the top because I still have two turning thingamabobs in there to turn the duck eggs, I don't want the ducks drowning when they hatch in a week or so.
Also some of the eggs don't look quite done yet. Maybe I'm just going loopy. When I candled yesterday some of the eggs still had visible veins but lots of dancing. Is this normal? Please answer as day 21 is on this coming Sunday!
The temps have been about 98 degrees, I can't seem to go any higher without accidently going over 100. Not sure on humidity percentage, the bator didn't come with a hydrometer so I figured I didn't need one. But the middle trough is filled and the outer one is partially filled. I really hope everything goes well. If not all chicken eggs hatch (12 eggs) then I'll try to look forward to the duckies.. I've been reading lockdown issues on here lately and I'm really afraid. I hope I'm doing everything right.

 

[cbabcock5]

Im not sure about most of your question but I thought you were supposed to take the turner out before lockdown? I thought I had read that somewhere ( though Im a complete newbie to this and just hatching my first eggs now) Hopefully someone can come along and answer your questions for you.

 

[adrian]

At 98F you're going to see a much later hatch, if you manage to hatch at all. It is just rather low, I would suspect you will come across quite a few issues with temperatures that low. The dips (or dents?) you are describing vaguely remind me of how the air cells in eggs that have been shipped sometimes look. It is damage, though minor, to the air cell. Hard to explain exactly, but the air cell droops a little from the large end of the egg down the sides in places, to a greater or lesser extent, in sort of raindrop shapes.

Also someone mentioned taking the turners out -- I would be concerned about hatching eggs in an incubator with turners still running. The chicks might get into the turners and get injured. I would suggest hatching in a small plastic rubbermaid container or something of the like. Paper towel lining the bottom, shelf liner if you can get it, or anything that will give some grip. High sides will ensure the chicks can't leap onto the egg turners, where they may get caught.

However, at 98F, expect there to be at least a significant delay if not a handful of complications. I would suspect they may hatch a few days late. I have heard that hatch time can be delayed ~12 hours for every .5F below 99.5. Same with temps above 99.5. I think it was 12 hours, anyway. My suggestion is to stop turning sooner than later, anyway. At later stages the lack of turning is unlikely to cause many problems and it is better to risk not turning too early than turning too late in my opinion.

As for hatching while duck eggs are incubating, if you must do it, I don't think a humidity of around 60% would harm the duck eggs too much for a few days, especially if the eggs are early in incubation or have been developing in relatively low humidity so far. You can always compensate after the hatch by lowering the humidity quite a lot for a while, especially if they have some ways to go still.

But definitely don't hatch chicks while turners are still running.

ETA: just noticed you don't use a hygrometer. In this case, I would still suggest raising the humidity, and going mostly dry a few days after you hatch. Monitor the duck eggs' air cells. Some experts I know (although they hatch parrots, not poultry) even have two separate incubators set up, set at different relative humidity %, where they will move their eggs between as they reach different stages in incubation. For instance they might incubate at 35% for the first 10 days, then 45% for the next 12, then move to a hatcher, because they feel switching it up gives them the weight loss they are looking for. In the end all that matters is air cell size!

 

[Moochie]

Wait so, put them back in the turners? They can't get to the turners.. I know they would be caught so I duct taped a piece of cardboard seperating the two turners from the eggs. The duck eggs are on day 20 right now, along with the chicken eggs.
My suggestion is to stop turning sooner than later, anyway. At later stages the lack of turning is unlikely to cause many problems and it is better to risk not turning too early than turning too late in my opinion. This part kinda confuses me. So don't turn them (them=chicken eggs) because it's day 20? I think I got it lol.. I'm kind of noodle brained.
Right now it looks like this. And yeah I opened it.... When I opened it the temp went down fast. Will those yellow bar things at the bottom bother them at all? I moved some eggs around by the way, so they have more room. Anyways I can tape the edges with cardboard or paper towel if they'll be an issue aswell. Should I put paper towel on the bottom so those bar things don't get in the way?

 

[Moochie]

What other complications? And these eggs aren't shipped. I got them from the layers' nestboxes. The duck eggs are mine too. I don't buy eggs from other people lol.. My chickens are just as good as their's, even if mine are mutts.

 

[adrian]

Ah, sorry, I didn't see that it was a few days ago that you'd posted this topic, so I wasn't sure if you'd stopped turning. Heh. Now I can't seem to find a site that references it, but low temperatures from what I remember usually give you a weak, larger baby, just as high temperatures will give you a frantic, smaller baby. If they hatch at all, I figure there could be a higher incident of mortality or deformities where temperatures are not ideal.

As for your set up, it at least blocks the eggs from the automatic turners but I'd be sure the chicks are not in there so long that they start to try to jump over and run around. That'll mean opening it up more often than would be ideal, because it will let humidity out and you might see them becoming stuck in their shells.

I don't think the bars are too much to worry about, but putting paper towel down wouldn't hurt. Make sure your humidity actually does raise at least a little or you might see them getting stuck. Humidity is pretty important for hatching.

And, if your eggs weren't shipped, I sincerely have no idea what could be going on with the air cells.

How are they doing today? Any signs of hatching at all?

 

[Moochie]

No, no hatching, internal pipping, pipping, or zipping. I candled and the air cells are still small. If they don't hatch it's okay, today an OEGB hatched under a broody and her 2 other eggs have internally pipped. They should be start hatching tomorrow. (its day 23 for the eggs under the broody) Next time I'll try to get the temp higher in the incubator. This is all very new to me, but I'd say it's not bad for my first time incubating.. Atleast the eggs developed. I just hope the ducks are okay.
Is there anything I can do to get the chickies' air sacs bigger? With the eggs under the broody, on day 21 their air sacs took up almost half the egg. With the ones in the incubator, it's not even close to half, but there's visible veins in them and movement. How big should the ducks' air sacs be on day 21? I'll probably go search for a picture, but their's aren't taking up half of the egg either. Add more humidity or less humidity to make the air sacs bigger?
I read somewhere that if there's too much humidity ducklings will drown when the internally pip.

 

[Moochie]

No sad faces this week! It's day 24, and even though they say to throw out eggs on day 25, I'm gonna keep mine in longer than that! A crazy colored chick hatched today! Pipped on the wrong side of the egg (pointy end) but oh well. Some of the eggs' air sacs are getting larger too! They're late but they're coming! I just know it! Here's Mongo with his silkie buddies, which were hatched by a broody, we keep them inside.. Anyways!

 

[Moochie]

And the temperature is higher. It's 99-100 right now.

 

[CakePrincess21]

Mine went on lockdown today and th humidity is at 40 it wont go higher and the temp. is at 99. Is that ok? Its a incubator with fan