Accidentally went into lockdown too early!!

[ChickieMum]

Hey guys! New to incubating and just had a quick question about lockdown. So I have been following a chick hatching chart that I printed from saltinmycoffee.com/hatching. Apparently I have been following the days wrong and thought today was day 18, when it is actually day 17. I'm hatching Silkie chicks and set the eggs on Sunday, March 26th. I followed instructions for lockdown this morning at 10:30. The humidity is set at 65% and I should mention it is a diy still air incubator. Did I screw up big time? Should I open it up and let some humidity out and start again tomorrow? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Pyxis]

It's okay, locking down a day early won't hurt anything

 

[ChickieMum]

Thanks! I left it alone and I'm hoping for the best!

 

[lazy gardener]

How are your air cells? That is the deciding factor re: increasing humidity during lock down, IMO. If my air cells at lock down date are still on the small size, and I can be around to monitor, I don't kick the humidity up until I hear that first internal pip. IMO, it's not a bad thing to go into lock down as early as day 14. If my eggs are in cartons for incubation, I like to get them laying down around or shortly after day 14 if I can control the temp and humidity. They can always be turned by hand in the flat position. But if I'm having temp variance, and it's easier to keep them in cartons so I can rotate all eggs through warm/cooler spots, they stay in their cartons as long as possible.

 

[ChickieMum]

Going off of everything that I have learned from internet research, and comparing my air cells with others, they look great except for one. That one is just more on the side of the egg than top though, no big deal. I used cardboard cartons during incubation and turned 3 or more times a day. These were shipped eggs from eBay. I'm in NC and they came from FL. It's been a very good experience so far. I ordered 13, had to toss 3 in the first week due to no development and 1 in the second week due to a blood ring. It's possible that one had sat too close to the bulb. When they arrived, 2 of the eggs were dirty and though aware of dirty egg issues, I decided to clean them with a soft damp cloth and made a separate incubator for them. It just didn't feel right to toss them when they had such potential!

Back to the matter at hand, now I'm thinking it's possible that I have drowned them or will drown them by upping the humidity a day early. None have pipped yet but they looked good when candling yesterday before locking down. Should I candle again and maybe lower the humidity for 24 hours to balance it out? It's been exactly 24 hours now since lockdown. It seems my temp and humidity jumps right back up within an hour. What do you guys think?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

24 hours won't make a difference. If your air cells are small go two more days dry then up the humidity to 70%. Drowning of chicks is not caused by increasing humidity last few days of incubation. It is caused by not incubating the first two weeks to 19 days at too high of humidity causing no or inadequate air cells. What happens is the chicks rotate in the shell to position themselves to pip and zip. This is the time a few days before hatch you see the eggs wiggle. They rotate putting head on air cell side of egg, when internally piped into this cell of air if it's too small they drown. So again, if your air cells are good size leave it alone. If you feel they are small then pull out all water and go dry for another two days or until you see any egg movement if sooner.

Here is a diagram I'm sure you've seen or something similar. These are not meant to be exacting so don't stress over details. General size is what matters. If your air cells are as big as day 14 on this diagram your perfectly fine. They can even be a bit smaller but I like to see them at least the size of day 14 indicated.

Another point of note is you say you're still air incubating. Temperature for incubation on still airs has been determined to be best monitored at top level of eggs and set to 101.5F. Many people incubate at a lower temp when first using still air. This will delay your hatch by as much as two days if you incubated at 99.5F measured at top level of eggs.

 

[kruegerfarms]

I agree with everyone else, a day early has never upset our hatching cycles either. Good luck!

 

[lazy gardener]

Going off of everything that I have learned from internet research, and comparing my air cells with others, they look great except for one. That one is just more on the side of the egg than top though, no big deal. I used cardboard cartons during incubation and turned 3 or more times a day. These were shipped eggs from eBay. I'm in NC and they came from FL. It's been a very good experience so far. I ordered 13, had to toss 3 in the first week due to no development and 1 in the second week due to a blood ring. It's possible that one had sat too close to the bulb. When they arrived, 2 of the eggs were dirty and though aware of dirty egg issues, I decided to clean them with a soft damp cloth and made a separate incubator for them. It just didn't feel right to toss them when they had such potential!

Back to the matter at hand, now I'm thinking it's possible that I have drowned them or will drown them by upping the humidity a day early. None have pipped yet but they looked good when candling yesterday before locking down. Should I candle again and maybe lower the humidity for 24 hours to balance it out? It's been exactly 24 hours now since lockdown. It seems my temp and humidity jumps right back up within an hour. What do you guys think?

That is not possible. By increasing the humidity outside the egg ( in the incubator), the most that will happen is that those eggs will not loose further moisture at as fast a rate as they would if the humidity was lower. You could even dunk them in a bowl of water, and the air cells would not get any smaller. By laying them flat, with the dip in the air cell up, you give those chicks extra time to orient themselves for a good hatching position.

You are the only person who can see what your air cells look like. You are in charge of this hatch. Go with your gut. If those air cells look good, that's great. If you'd like to see them a bit larger, you could remove some water.

 

[ChickieMum]

Oh, I see what you mean, I am so relieved! I didn't pay attention to how I laid the eggs down though, I hope that's okay...

 

[HH0611]

What about lockdown a day later? Like day 19? I am a school teacher and do not have access to be able to get into the building on Sunday (Day 18), and will need to do day 19. Thoughts?