Air Cells Not Growing Properly.. Day 16

[ENGEC35]

Hi All!

First hatch, and while I feel like we've learned so much, I think we may have learned a little too late.

I have 7 fertile (and very active!) baby chicks growing. They are speckled Sussex, and the egg colors are all dark and make candling hard, as we're not able to find/track the air cell growth as we get closer to lock down day.

We mistakenly ran the humidity at 75-90% from day 1-12. We tried to run dry afterward, but the lowest humidity we have gotten has been 20-25% (more often its 30) and thats with rice and paper towels stuffed inside the incubator as well.

Can anyone offer me their experience and a prognosis here? Should I expect the chicks to be able to hatch? We're coming up on "lock down" day and I know I should postpone-- but for how long? A day? Two? More?

When we candle, the baby chicks bounce and jump all around inside their shells. We're already so attached-- I'd hate to lose them

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What is the ambient humidity in the house?
Make sure there no water at all in there now. Then, in addition to the rice, crack the lid every time you think of it for the next few days to try and evacuate as much moisture as possible. Each time you crack the lid, some humidity will escape making the hot air inside more capable of taking on more. Other than that, there isn't much you can do. Continue till day 19 or so. In my mind, lockdown day doesn't have to be set in stone. You just want it closed up when pipping starts.
Always expect chicks to hatch, till they don't.

 

[ENGEC35]

Thanks for your reply! I have a question about what you mentioned, popping the incubator lid to allow humidity to escape. Our incubator was a small cheap one-- I'm not even sure if it has a fan or not. The heat is generated from within the lid. if I pop the lid, I'm taking the heat source further away from the eggs with room air having a way into the eggs without being at the right temperature.

Is this ok?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You don't want to keep it open, you just want to open it for 5-10 seconds at a time and allow it to heat up again.

That shouldn't affect the internal egg temperature.