19.75 days and 5 eggs are pipping!

[Kakaruk]

7 of 12 hatched, they are so cute and different colors from yellow to gray to brown to black and in-between! Sad thing is, I candled the other 5 and none seemed viable at this point. I don't know what happened but maybe a temp or humidity issue. Maybe my cheap incubator is not calculated correctly? IDK

 

[Kakaruk]

Morning thought: after candling I did see that of those 5 that didn't hatch, mostly had very large air sacs. I wonder if I maybe should have started lockdown on day 17 because the 7 that did hatch mostly were pipping on day 19 and then a couple early on day 20. They were all hatched well before day 21 was completed. I don't know if those 5 were still viable but since I didn't see them pipping I did remove the 7 chicks and egg shells to clear out the space. I did it very fast and kept watching for the humidity to stay high. I suspect if they were still alive that I 'shrinkwrapped' them at that point. Next time I will not break the cardinal rule of lockdown, for three days right? DO NOT OPEN the incubator!

 

[101atworld]

Morning thought: after candling I did see that of those 5 that didn't hatch, mostly had very large air sacs. I wonder if I maybe should have started lockdown on day 17 because the 7 that did hatch mostly were pipping on day 19 and then a couple early on day 20. They were all hatched well before day 21 was completed. I don't know if those 5 were still viable but since I didn't see them pipping I did remove the 7 chicks and egg shells to clear out the space. I did it very fast and kept watching for the humidity to stay high. I suspect if they were still alive that I 'shrinkwrapped' them at that point. Next time I will not break the cardinal rule of lockdown, for three days right? DO NOT OPEN the incubator!

I’m not sure why they hatched so early. How long did you leave the unhatched eggs in the incubator? Some people will leave them until day 25! You didn’t shrink wrap them if they’re was no external pip. I hope you have fun with your little chickies!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I don’t think you did anything wrong. Sometimes eggs just don’t hatch. I opened mine all the time and took the chicks out as they hatched

It was perfectly fine.

Your humidity may have been too high. 70 sounds awfully high to me. I think closer to 50s or 60s may have been better. Or lower.

I dry hatch and try to keep it in the 20s-30s during incubation, sometimes it goes a bit higher, and 40s during lockdown. Have a lot of success that way and also pipping will raise the humidity.

Did you have a calibrated thermometer and salt tested hygrometer in there too?? Those are also important. You cannot trust the ones on the incubator. And it sounds like if they hatched so early then the temp might have been running a bit high.

Sounds like you still had a good hatch though!!! Sometimes some of them just don’t make it.

 

[Jennc-123]

I think you're temp may have been too high if they pipped early. I've had that happen. I currently record and weigh everything. I hate that kind of disappointment