Air cells small day 17, HELP

[boilermom]

hello there. i candled my eggs today before lockdown and noticed the air cell smaller than anticipated for this stage of incubation. i have a mini brinsea incubator that has been running at 99.5 with one water channel filled at all times. humidity 55-60%. is there anything i can do at this point to increase the size of the air cell? should i be concerned or will the chicks be ok. the eggs began rocking today and i could see movement during the candling. any information would be greatly appreciate. thank you!

 

[AmericanMom]

Not really much to do at this point but wait and see... Small air cells = not enough evaporation during incubation... You may be surprised and get an awesome hatch rate... Be prepared though, you also may have to deal with a lot of sticky chicks, I would not raise the humidity to much during lockdown.

I was having a lot of the same issues, but then I read this https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method and my way of hatching and hatch rates drastically changed for the better

Good luck with your hatch!!!

 

[boilermom]

Thank you so much! I will definitely use this technique next time. I lowered my humidity a little bit and a few of the air cells are getting slightly bigger. I've read so many posts about the importance of increasing humidity toward the end. Would you suggest increasing it as soon as I know they have internally pipped??

 

[AmericanMom]

Thank you so much! I will definitely use this technique next time. I lowered my humidity a little bit and a few of the air cells are getting slightly bigger. I've read so many posts about the importance of increasing humidity toward the end. Would you suggest increasing it as soon as I know they have internally pipped??

That is a personal decision, I typically cut a sponge in small strips, wet those and that's all the humidity I ad , I let the hatching chicks create the humidity needed for the hatchlings.. If there is a long pause between hatching I might rewet those strips., But I live in Oregon....

I can tell you since I have started dry incubating my hatch rates went from below 30% to 97,98 and 100% of those that make it to lockdown.

 

[AmericanMom]

Your so close and those air cells will get bigger as the chick moves into position, I wouldn't probably do anything drastic this time around.. This last hatch even tho I dry incubate there was some with smaller then I like air cells and they hatched fine, a bit wet but it worked out.. Relax, you have come this far....

 

[boilermom]

Thank you so much for your helpful information. This is my 3rd attempt at incubation our eggs. Ive read many blogs, articles, and forums seeking for the most adequate information to help me have a successful hatch. It honestly makes my head spin at times. lol. im very hopeful this hatch will be successful and want to do everything i can to help it. right now the humidity is in the 30's. over the past 12 hours i have slowly allowed it to decrease. i think my big concern is that with my other two hatches, the chicks internally pipped where i could hear them peeping, and then died. when i examined them, their membrane was too dry. if i had a broody hen, i would more than anything be happy to have her hatch the eggs however all my girls wander and when i left the eggs alone, the girls paid no attention to them. today would be day 17 for 3 and day 18 for 2. im thinking of keeping the humidity down another 12 hours and then candling the eggs again and and also adding some moisture at this time. what would you recommend keeping the humidity at so it is efficient but the chicks do not drown.

 

[AmericanMom]

I know you don't want it that low at hatching although I do not track the humidity within my incubator my guess would be keeping it at 50-55 once the first one internally pips. hopefully someone with more experience will chime in. I started incubating a year ago, my first hatch was wonderful, I followed directions that came with my incubator, I was so excited but it was short live, the next four hatches were awful... I took info from here and there and came up with my own way of doing it, what works for me in my climate may not work for everyone,its all trial and error until you figure out what works... it

 

[boilermom]

My chick hatched!!! She first made a pip somewhere between 10pm and 4 am yesterday. unfortunately her pip was below the air cell. i went ahead and decided to make sure she had adequate air flow by opening the membrane a little more and gently chipping away a little of the shell. i upped the humidity to remain between 70 and 80 as well. i left her alone for approximately 12 hours. she was peeping and moving quite a bit, but never making progress. i am guessing this is due to malpositioning. at around 3 pm yesterday, i went ahead and gently peeled away a bit more shell, making sure to stop if any blood was seen and putting triple antibiotic ointment on the membrane to keep it moist when i put her back in the bator. i did this again around 5 then left her alone until close to 10. she continued to make absolutely no progress on her own so after reading several articles, forums, and information in books; i decided it would be best for me to help her "zip" due to her malposition. i went ahead and slowly zipped her all around as if she would have done this herself. as i zipped her, i placed her shell on a warm wet washcloth. i only zipped the shell and left both membranes intact so i found going slowly and being patient was the best thing. after i completed her zip, i wet her membrane with a q-tip and then placed triple antibiotic ointment on it to keep it wet. placed her back in the bator and set my alarm to check on her at 2 am..............and this is what i found!!!! so very exciting. she was moving around a lot and kicking my 4 other eggs all around so i decided to put her into the brooder around 10 after drying off a bit. she is doing well in there and i have found two other pips out of my 4 eggs left! praying these babies do just as well. im hopeful my experience will be able to positively help and encourage anyone else who may come across a difficult situation as this. Thank you all!!!

 

[AmericanMom]

My chick hatched!!! She first made a pip somewhere between 10pm and 4 am yesterday. unfortunately her pip was below the air cell. i went ahead and decided to make sure she had adequate air flow by opening the membrane a little more and gently chipping away a little of the shell. i upped the humidity to remain between 70 and 80 as well. i left her alone for approximately 12 hours. she was peeping and moving quite a bit, but never making progress. i am guessing this is due to malpositioning. at around 3 pm yesterday, i went ahead and gently peeled away a bit more shell, making sure to stop if any blood was seen and putting triple antibiotic ointment on the membrane to keep it moist when i put her back in the bator. i did this again around 5 then left her alone until close to 10. she continued to make absolutely no progress on her own so after reading several articles, forums, and information in books; i decided it would be best for me to help her "zip" due to her malposition. i went ahead and slowly zipped her all around as if she would have done this herself. as i zipped her, i placed her shell on a warm wet washcloth. i only zipped the shell and left both membranes intact so i found going slowly and being patient was the best thing. after i completed her zip, i wet her membrane with a q-tip and then placed triple antibiotic ointment on it to keep it wet. placed her back in the bator and set my alarm to check on her at 2 am..............and this is what i found!!!! so very exciting. she was moving around a lot and kicking my 4 other eggs all around so i decided to put her into the brooder around 10 after drying off a bit. she is doing well in there and i have found two other pips out of my 4 eggs left! praying these babies do just as well. im hopeful my experience will be able to positively help and encourage anyone else who may come across a difficult situation as this. Thank you all!!!

Congrats on the hatch!!!! Look forward to seeing more as the remaining chicks hatch

 

[Frizzlett98]

Aww! Congrats! I've always wanted to see a chick hatch but my incubator has failed me. I'll be getting a new incubator in a few weeks and I'll get some eggs to put in. It is starting to get cold but I don't want to wait until Spring to see this exciting moment! I'll leave them inside as long as I have to until they can go outside. I'd much rather use a hen but mine are too young to lay eggs, let alone go broody. Good luck with the rest!!!