Air sac

[ChickyChickymamma]

I just need a little piece of mind and possibly some advice. I am scared my babies air sacs are to small and we are on evening of day 17th. I took these pictures just a couple of minutes ago. Are the air sacs okay or do I need to do something quick so they don't drown on hatch day? I have them in a homemade still air incubator and I had terrible terrible luck with thermometers and hygrometers. I did all the calibration stuff with the salt and they all were within a descent range and I took note of the differences but once they all went into the incubator they are all over the place as in 5-10 degrees difference and sometimes 10-20 percent difference. What do I do?

 

[ChickyChickymamma]

I am scared to follow lockdown directions tomorrow afternoon if the air sacs are to small and if I turn up the humidity it will be devastating...

 

[LikeTurkeys]

I think those air cells are okay. Mine were like that at day 18 and they all hatched (though one did have fluid coming out of the pip which I had to dab with a paper towel). It looks like they haven't dropped down yet which can make them look small. I would go ahead and raise the humidity.

Good luck with your hatch, let us know how it goes!

 

[ChickyChickymamma]

I think those air cells are okay. Mine were like that at day 18 and they all hatched (though one did have fluid coming out of the pip which I had to dab with a paper towel). It looks like they haven't dropped down yet which can make them look small. I would go ahead and raise the humidity.

Good luck with your hatch, let us know how it goes!

Thank you so much. I will keep you all posted! I'm nervous and excited. It's my first hatch

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Thank you so much. I will keep you all posted! I'm nervous and excited. It's my first hatch

Good luck. How many eggs do you have set? Also, if I may ask, you have these asterisk like marks on the top of your eggs, what are they for?

 

[casportpony]

What temp have you been at? My method might be a little unorthodox, but I usually wait until they pip internally before I raise humidity.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

What temp have you been at? My method might be a little unorthodox, but I usually wait until they pip internally before I raise humidity.

@casportpony, I think you are right. High humidity is so that the chick doesn't shrink wrap, am I correct? So if the chick hasn't internally pipped yet then there is no need to raise the humidity (I actually followed this when hatching my own eggs).

 

[casportpony]

Right, and some of those air sacs do look a little on the small side to me.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Right, and some of those air sacs do look a little on the small side to me.

Yes, a little bit on the small side. By the way, when a chick drowns, do you know how small the airsac is? Like with pics? Has it happened to you? Just out of curiosity...

 

[ChickyChickymamma]

Good luck. How many eggs do you have set? Also, if I may ask, you have these asterisk like marks on the top of your eggs, what are they for?

I set 30 and we have 21 so far. 7 were not fertilized and the others had blood rings. I marked them all as I was candling, the ones that were doing good. That's what those marks are from. A couple others I put question marks on because I couldn't tell if I liked what I seen or not. That way I could watch and make sure they were developing and know which ones I was unsure of.