RyGrowsWild
In the Brooder
- Jul 30, 2022
- 5
- 7
- 11
This was my first hatch on my own, but not in my life so I felt confident I could do it, but now feel just terribly guilty and not super sure what went wrong.
These were shipped eggs, and they all arrived with wobbly air cells so I incubated them in egg carton cups to hold the air cells upright. Incubator is an off-brand but has worked in the past just fine, and I leave the styrofoam on it to protect it a little more.
Temps were stable throughout, used 2 thermometers and a hygrometer. Hand turned gently after a few days of resting the air cells. Kept humidity around 40% until lockdown when I jacked it up to 75%, and on Day 21... nothing. I resisted the urge to candle them and waited. Day 22: cheeping from the incubator! Day 23: silence. I made safety holes on Day 24. Nothing, no cheeping or movement or pips. Today is Day 25 and I just eggtopsied to discover mostly quitters but 2 fully formed chicks in shell. One had internally pipped, but the membrane looked a bit dry and I'm not sure if this was a shrink wrapping or not. The other had not pipped at all and membrane still looked healthy, but i couldn't see a beak so wondering if it was malpositioned.
I knew these shipped eggs were a viability gamble, but I didn't expect them to die in the home stretch and I feel terrible. I really want to do better by my next hatch.
Should I have made the safety holes sooner? Within 12 hours of hearing the cheeps?
What do you all think went wrong here?
If something I did was stupid, please be gentle. My heart is busted up over these little chicks today and I'm here so I can do better in the future.
These were shipped eggs, and they all arrived with wobbly air cells so I incubated them in egg carton cups to hold the air cells upright. Incubator is an off-brand but has worked in the past just fine, and I leave the styrofoam on it to protect it a little more.
Temps were stable throughout, used 2 thermometers and a hygrometer. Hand turned gently after a few days of resting the air cells. Kept humidity around 40% until lockdown when I jacked it up to 75%, and on Day 21... nothing. I resisted the urge to candle them and waited. Day 22: cheeping from the incubator! Day 23: silence. I made safety holes on Day 24. Nothing, no cheeping or movement or pips. Today is Day 25 and I just eggtopsied to discover mostly quitters but 2 fully formed chicks in shell. One had internally pipped, but the membrane looked a bit dry and I'm not sure if this was a shrink wrapping or not. The other had not pipped at all and membrane still looked healthy, but i couldn't see a beak so wondering if it was malpositioned.
I knew these shipped eggs were a viability gamble, but I didn't expect them to die in the home stretch and I feel terrible. I really want to do better by my next hatch.
Should I have made the safety holes sooner? Within 12 hours of hearing the cheeps?
What do you all think went wrong here?
If something I did was stupid, please be gentle. My heart is busted up over these little chicks today and I'm here so I can do better in the future.
I made the safety holes after I heard the cheeping (internal pip) but I think I may have waited too long? I'm hard of hearing and it's possible I didn't hear the chick right away when it started making noise (I don't always have my hearing aid in at home) so maybe it pipped the day before. I feel pretty badly about it, but growing up we always just watched for movement rather than hearing peeps. Neither of these eggs rocked at any time. Next time I'll be on them with my hearing aid cranked up by day 19!
