So hi! It's my first post, and I will go straight to the point. (long post ahead)
We, my family, have been incubating eggs using a DIY incubator for 5 batches of 10-6-10-6-10 eggs. (It's like every week we put on a new batch of eggs since we only have 2 hens and they are RIR, so they rarely hatch the eggs themselves).
Right now, we are in the 4th batch of eggs to hatch (6 eggs). 2 have gone bad early on and this time, we tried to spread out the eggs (the remaining 4) to "experiment" if our upper level can sustain hatching and incubating an egg. We put 2 eggs in it. (it's a forced-air incubator that reads the middle of our incubator and the sensor is supposed to turn on the incandescent light when it is 37.2 degrees C up to 37.8 degrees celsius).
THe problem:
It is in their 18th day on the incubator, and we should be doing the lockdown and should raise the humidity. (but we don't raise the humidity because there is still another batch waiting to hatch next week; humidity is on 55-57%). I have checked and candled them last night, and the 2 eggs in the middle of the incubator are developed and you can see the chicks; for the other 2 eggs on the uppermost level, I can identify them as on the day 11 or 12 based on their development, and they are alive and kicking. (according to this picture: https://poultryworld.tripod.com/embryo.htm).
As soon as I found out they are late in development, I put them down 2 levels, closer to the light and am planning to continue on turning them as if they are on day 18. But I'm not sure, so I want to ask you guys,
Should I continue turning the other 2 eggs, as if they are not on day 18? or should I just put them on lockdown?
If we should continue turning them, how long should I wait to put them on lockdown?
We, my family, have been incubating eggs using a DIY incubator for 5 batches of 10-6-10-6-10 eggs. (It's like every week we put on a new batch of eggs since we only have 2 hens and they are RIR, so they rarely hatch the eggs themselves).
Right now, we are in the 4th batch of eggs to hatch (6 eggs). 2 have gone bad early on and this time, we tried to spread out the eggs (the remaining 4) to "experiment" if our upper level can sustain hatching and incubating an egg. We put 2 eggs in it. (it's a forced-air incubator that reads the middle of our incubator and the sensor is supposed to turn on the incandescent light when it is 37.2 degrees C up to 37.8 degrees celsius).
THe problem:
It is in their 18th day on the incubator, and we should be doing the lockdown and should raise the humidity. (but we don't raise the humidity because there is still another batch waiting to hatch next week; humidity is on 55-57%). I have checked and candled them last night, and the 2 eggs in the middle of the incubator are developed and you can see the chicks; for the other 2 eggs on the uppermost level, I can identify them as on the day 11 or 12 based on their development, and they are alive and kicking. (according to this picture: https://poultryworld.tripod.com/embryo.htm).
As soon as I found out they are late in development, I put them down 2 levels, closer to the light and am planning to continue on turning them as if they are on day 18. But I'm not sure, so I want to ask you guys,
Should I continue turning the other 2 eggs, as if they are not on day 18? or should I just put them on lockdown?
If we should continue turning them, how long should I wait to put them on lockdown?
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