Air cells too small, day 19....

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AnneInTheBurbs

AnneInTheBurbs

Crowing
6 Years
Sep 8, 2013
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Bucks County, Pa
First time using an incubator, usually use broodies. I have a GFQ Styrofoam still with a turner. I had gotten shipped eggs from fellow BYCer but the shipment was delayed, so we both expected poor viability. That was correct, none of them developed. I also included four of my own girls' fertile eggs in case we had a lone hatch from her stock. Mine have all developed well, and tomorrow is lockdown, day 18. So only my four eggs remain.

I just candled the eggs this morning, and the air cells don't look big enough. I was a jerk and didn't weigh them before I put them in, so I don't know the weight difference.

It's not a big deal if they don't hatch, but I'd like to at least learn. Is there anything I can do now? I had been running the humidity at 35%, but sometimes it got up to 40%. Our house is pretty dry right now.

I will try to post pics tonight of air cells.
 
If you're sure the air cells are small, this is what I would do. (many will disagree with me)
Take all the water out of the incubator and open it periodically for a minute. Any moisture that comes out of the eggs will dissipate and you may get some more drawdown in the next day or two. Add water at the start of day 20.

As you can tell, I don't believe in lockdown. I do believe the incubator needs to remain closed with higher humidity when they start pipping but that doesn't have to happen on day 18 unless you expect them to hatch early for some reason.
 
ChickenCanoe said:
If you're sure the air cells are small, this is what I would do. (many will disagree with me)
Take all the water out of the incubator and open it periodically for a minute. Any moisture that comes out of the eggs will dissipate and you may get some more drawdown in the next day or two. Add water at the start of day 20.

As you can tell, I don't believe in lockdown. I do believe the incubator needs to remain closed with higher humidity when they start pipping but that doesn't have to happen on day 18 unless you expect them to hatch early for some reason.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm not 100% sure the cells are too small, I'm going to mark them tonight and post pictures.
 
Here are some pics I took tonight. Sorry for the poor photos...

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ChickenCanoe said:
If you're sure the air cells are small, this is what I would do. (many will disagree with me)
Take all the water out of the incubator and open it periodically for a minute. Any moisture that comes out of the eggs will dissipate and you may get some more drawdown in the next day or two. Add water at the start of day 20.

As you can tell, I don't believe in lockdown. I do believe the incubator needs to remain closed with higher humidity when they start pipping but that doesn't have to happen on day 18 unless you expect them to hatch early for some reason.
Click to expand...

I know this is an older post, but very helpful for me today. Thank you!
 

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