are my eggs dead??

[newchickinflock]

I am incubating 6 chicken eggs and yesterday ( day19) i could hear them chirping through the shell and now today ( day 20) i haven't heard them at all. Im worried they are all dead....im very new to this does anyone have any insite on this??

 

[mhaddon]

Are you sure they were chirping? I ask because I swore mine were and I realized it was the birds outside Is your humidity high enough and have you left it unopened after adding humidity for hatching? I was so worried about mine and they came out. But like I said it wasn't them peeping after all.

 

[newchickinflock]

Yep I'm sure, I was up at 3am feeding my baby when I first heard them... I thought it was weird so I listened at the incubator and it was definitely them chirping. All the windows were shut as well Tomorrow is day 21 so hopefully they start coming through.

 

[newchickinflock]

These are actually hatching at my sisters house and she doesn't have any chickens these chicks will be her first ones. I hope they are ok!

 

[newchickinflock]

oops we are both replying under the same name

 

[AinaWGSD]

They're probably just fine. You can try chirping at them and see if they answer you back, but even if they don't I wouldn't start to worry about it until after day 22 or 23. It's a lot of really hard work to get out of an egg, and chirping uses up energy so they won't chirp constantly in order to save some of that energy for the actual hatching. They also aren't likely to be active the entire time, maybe they're just "sleeping" and resting up for the big moment. Chicks do take breaks during hatching to rest and regain some energy as they struggle to get out of the shell.

 

[newchickinflock]

Thanks Ill try that. I haven't seen any movement today (day 21) or heard anything, so I hope they are fine. I will have a very sad 3 year old if they don't hatch. This is our first time doing this at home. I have done it before at school (I am a elementary teacher) but I cant say I know enough about it. We are just using a simple still air incubator that I fill the water reservoir in the bottom. I have kept it full and the temp has stayed between 98-101 the entire time.