Advice please, day 20 - First timer!

[Dorisismyfavourite]

Hi! First time poster , I have had 5 frizzle eggs in my brinsea eco mini since noon 26/10 ,( first time incubation also) currently early day 20 - just before noon today uk time ( at the very end of day 19) i happened to be watching and one of my eggs had a huge wiggle and started cheeping, Im assuming this was an internal pip ? ( none of the others seem to be doing the same, nor am i watching it constantly ) its now 5 hours since it did that and i have seen it move since though very gently and the cheeping has stopped, up until this point i had been calm - i know the hatching takes a while my concern is how long is too long before she external pips? I seem to be reading conflicting advice on timescales for this stage.
They,ve been incubated in a brinsea mini eco with stable temps of 37.5 throughout, i have had one well filled days 0 -18 and then topped up the second well as per instructions - i do not have a hygrometer in there.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

By my count, Monday the 15th was day 21
If you set on a Monday, they hatch on a Monday.
At this point, there really isn't anything you can do. Sometimes, in spite of best efforts and even intervention, they just don't make it.

 

[Dorisismyfavourite]

Im in the uk , i set them Thursday october 26th, at noon.

 

[Ridgerunner]

First relax, you are doing great. Your counting looks correct but there is something important to remember, that 21 day thing is just an approximation. For many possible reasons, some in your control and some not, it is pretty normal for the eggs to be one or even two days either early or late. Hatching is just not that precise.

The chick has a lot of work to do before it hatches. It has to dry up blood vessels and absorb the blood, absorb the yolk, get in position to internal pip, get in position to external pip, do something with that fluid it is living is so it dries fluffy instead of the down being all matted down, the list goes on and on. Some chicks do a lot of this between internal pip an external pip. Some are procrastinators and wait after internal pip to do a lot of this.

All that means there is no set clock for a specific time between internal pip and external pip. There is no set time between external pip and zip. Some of these chicks can drive you to drink waiting on them. As frustrating as it is, patience is your best friend.

If I have my time zones correct you should be six hours ahead of me, which means you are probably in bed. Hopefully you will wake up to one or more chicks. Let us know.

 

[Dorisismyfavourite]

Thankyou for your reply - Im hearing lots of cheeping coming from the incubator now, Im more than happy to observe - still nothing on the outside which i know technically i'm not into day 21 yet so im not worried as such , so its quite safe for them to be pipped internally and not externally for a while ? I guess that is my concern , although i suppose i could easily have missed it had i not been at home today and been none the wiser for 6 hours at least.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes it's fine. Everything sounds so normal.

 

[Dorisismyfavourite]

Thankyou, and the setting up camp next to the incubator for the night, is that also normal ?

 

[Dorisismyfavourite]

My first chick arrived at 645 am uk time, pipped at midnight last night and started zipping at 630 am- perfect hatch no issues- currently causing complete mayhem in the incubator!
My internal pip from yesterday has pipped this morning also, I will be very happy with 2/5 but its still day 20 for me so fingers crossed for the 3 others that are getting bashed about.