Any first timer want to start with me? Eggs go in 4/1. ;)

[ams3651]

woohoo! me too. I have one egg pipping, i can hear chirping. She is kind of pecking it a little and moved the eggs around so it was right below her neck. Is her pecking a little normal?
Im taking pictures for my sons class, they have been talking about eggs hatching lately.

 

[backpack09]

TIC TOC TIC TOC.

I set them the night of the 1st... it took another day to get the temps back up...

no signs of life this am...

.... come on ... come on comeon.

 

[Suess hens]

Quote:
I'm right there with you! I just checked. And we have all these baby birds around our house so anytime I hope I hear peeps it turns out to be them. ARG! Stinky house sparrows.

 

[crazymom]

I am on day 21. Nothing yet..... I candled last week and 10 were moving

The humidity was perhaps too low.

I am not sure. I'll post when we have results.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

I was told to leave mine til day 24 just in case. I guess even if the temp was .5* low it could cause a day or two delay in them hatching. My second pip was still trying on day 22 but then died. I have also read that depending on what kind of chicken it is, they could come as late as day 25. I left mine in til day 24 before I pulled the plug! I would give it til day 24-25 if you don't smell anything bad....couldn't hurt.

Good Luck!

 

[crazymom]

Thanks!

I just opened up the incubator and took an egg out. I could hear a pecking sound in the egg!!! A second egg was silent. We didn't check anymore of them. We were really adding a wet sponge to increase humidity.

Hopefully we'll see something today or tomorrow.

Our incubator has been inconsistent with temperatures as well as humidity. Plus I'm not sure if it is a forced air incubator or not. (It has a cpu fan to push the air around) I was unsure of the best temp/humidity since it depends on incubator type as well as who you ask. I basically winged it reasoning that a chicken has little control over its environment.

Hopefully we'll get something. I'll keep you posted.

 

[e from NC]

Argh! What a day... after all the shenanigans last night, the two that pipped yesterday have made virtually no progress in ~20 hours. I've been helping them out veeeeeeery carefully, and one should be out pretty soon. His/her membrane seems really dried out, but it seems eager to get out of there. The other one may take longer- the membrane is still very wet & veiny, so I'm going to let it be and hope he/she will figure it out.
Still don't know about the other three eggs, but I'll leave them alone & hope for the best. It's day 22, so there's still time. The 2 that hatched yesterday seem fine, if a little bit tired. I'm sure they'd like some company in the brooder, though.

 

[ams3651]

oh the suspense is killing me! Its all I can do not to help it out a little bit. Its got a dime size hole in the membrane and a quarter size or so shell off and starting to crack around the middle. Its just peeping away.

its so hard!

None others yet, only one I shook sounded like it may have died before fully developed, kind of knocked around when i shook it lightly. The others sound full. Out of 9 I hope at least a couple hatch.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Crazymom, if you have a fan, it would be forced air. Mine is still air, but plan on getting a fan for it because it holds temp & humidity easier. I chose to go with 30%-40% hum days 1-18 and 45%-55% last 3 days. Like you said, everybody had their own opinion on what works best for them and they are all different. I had a hard time keeping mine between the 45-55% so I think thats what messed things up. I had all kinds of bowls and sponges in their. Plus my thermo/hygro might be off so I need to calibrate them before next times use. I would definately recommend it to everyone too. Its literally a matter of life and death if they are off. If I'd known about it before I started my hatch, I may have had some fuzzy butts jumping around. I hope you get more!

e from NC, Im glad your helping them out! Alot of people don't agree with it, but I wish I would've helped my baby out. I believe she would've still been alive. It is up to us to make sure everything goes well for them to hatch and they have absolutely no control over anything...unlike mama hen. I now know that my humidity levels were too low and she was dry & couldn't get out of the egg herself. That didn't mean she was a weak chick... I believe it was my fault. Next time, I WiLL help out if I notice it is dry and they are struggling!

Lets go FUZZY BUTTS!!!

 

[e from NC]

I helped out most of the ones that my broody kicked out of her nest last year, before I knew any better. All of them hatched, and all of them were healthy chicks and are now healthy adults, even the ones that needed the most help. If these guys were continuing to zip okay, I'd leave them alone, I figure if they haven't made any progress whatsoever in almost a day... I'll give them a little nudge.