1st hatch lockdown- Did I mess up?!

[amunk01]

(Using a Forced air 4250 farm innovators, temps have been "stable" between 99-101 (still learning my bator) but i'd say 90% of the time it's been 99.5°-100°, humidity in the 40s til last night when I increased to 65%-70%)
I currently have 13 eggs (silkies, polish, wyandottes) that went into lockdown last evening. Air cells looked great on everything but too small on the Wyandottes.
Technically i was supposed to start lockdown at 7:30pm yesterday, but I couldn't get to it til about 1am. So I moved all of them out of the autoturner, upped the humid (~65%), and Candled before shutting them in. I'm really worried I messed up by candling them so late. I saw movement in every egg, and some were barely rocking once laid down, but i havent seen anything since or heard anything. I thought i was supposed to candle, but after reading more today apparently I was supposed to do it on day 18, and by moving them too much last night I could've messed up their positioning to pip?.. I'm so worried! Am I just being impatient? Paranoid? Or did I kill my chicks! Am I supposed to be able to actually hear them internally pip?? This learning process is rough! Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!

 

[Ducky0601]

Be patient, we candled them on day 20 or 21 the first time. Nature makes every effort to correct the mistakes we make. All of ours that we saw were alive in the egg ended up hatching. Don't open the lid of the incubator anymore if you can, If you have to add more water, put sponges below holes, so you can squirt water into the sponge with a syringe. So be patient! And FYI it can take around 12-24 hours from the time they pip, to the time they hatch. One of hours pipped, then didn't end up hatching until 2 days later. So don't give up hope! Good luck, and good night!

 

[amunk01]

Thanks Ducky! That makes me feel better. I won't open the incubator, I have aquarium tubing prepared for adding water should the need arise. Humidity is holding steady at 67% so far. As far as I could tell, none of the chicks had pipped when I candled, but I saw 2 that appeared to be looking up toward the air cell though. Man, I hope I didn't hurt any. I washed my hands like crazy beforehand, and moved as quickly as possible before locking it down. I'm a nervous wreck today!! I can see how this is so addicting, and at the same time feel like I never want to feel this way again!
So was I supposed to candle on day 18? I want to do it right next time (if I survive this hatch!)

 

[Ducky0601]

You don't have to candle at ALL if you don't want to! The first hatch can be pretty stressful, but now we put them into the in incubator and see what happens! We have some in the incubator right now in fact! We are on day 15. (orpingtons, dominickers, silkies) Oh, and if you have broody hens, then I wouldn't recommend letting the hens sit on the eggs unless you have a heat source outside during the winter. We had a silkie hen sitting on her eggs. There were 6 eggs and only 2 of them hatched. Also, make sure to socialize a LOT with your chicks! Good luck!

 

[Altfrizzle]

I saw 2 that appeared to be looking up toward the air cell though

That sounds like an internal pip, to me! The beak up into the air cell. Looks like a little triangle. I'm wondering if you have external pips this morning, or can hear chirping?

 

[amunk01]

Still no chirping. I did see one egg moving around last night while i was setting up the brooder. AND one Wyandotte egg has a little break in it where it looks like a chick broke through but I'm not hearing anything or seeing any movement whatsoever. Can a chick drown even after it's broken through the shell? The little hole poked in the shell is right at the air cell line i drew. I hope it's just resting, but it's making me nervous.

 

[Altfrizzle]

Just at or even below the air cell line is just where they should pip (crack through) as the air cell grows after lockdown.

They’re going through a lot of changes now, shutting down the vascular system in the egg and learning to breath. They rest a lot. So, quiet and not moving at this stage is fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Being nervous and wondering of you did something wrong is really common on the first hatch. It gets less stressful as you get a few hatches under your belt but you can still occasionally have concerns.

From what you said you did nothing that would harm those chicks. If they have not external pipped your handling them like that will not cause them to shrink-wrap. Even if they had external pipped it does not cause shrink-wrapping that often but it is more of a risk. They are packed inside that egg pretty tightly, you are not going to mess up the internal pip by handling them. When the first chicks hatch they often play rugby with the unhatched eggs. That doesn't seem to bother them, they late ones still generally hatch.

So relax as much as you can. I know, easy for me to say, I'm not there. But I expect you to have a pretty good hatch form what you described. Good luck!

 

[amunk01]

My nerves are shot.. humid is skyrocketing. Sitting at 83%. Temps stable at 99.5. Do i need to lower humidity? Is that possible without opening it? Ugh. Well, 1 more shell has a new puncture but still can't hear anything. Well, I may have, but I think it may just be my mind playing hopeful tricks on me.. I'm worried the Wyandottes are all going to drown in their their tiny air cells. I need a scale to measure evaporation next time.. I'm positive next time I'll keep humidity in the 30s and evaluate the differences in air cell growth. OH MY GOODNESS the anxiety this causes is legit! Lol I can't quit staring at the incubator..

 

[Altfrizzle]

Humidity goes up when they start pipping. It's normal, and fine. Better to not open.

The air cells draw down further as the chick prepares to hatch, so their air cells are bigger than when you last checked.