Babies hatching on day 18?!

[theycallmechickmagnet]

You can calibrate a thermometer with icewater (should read 32F, and if it doesn't, that tells you how far "off" it is).

oh okay, thank you. but ours are little square ones with holes in it that also shows the humidity. they also run on batteries. wouldn't that break it? i know they are cheap little plastic things but they've helped in the past a lot.

by the way our last chick from the first batch just pipped (3 days late) and we have some pipping right now in the 2nd batch (day 18) so i just put him in there with them. Kinda sad the front of the incubator is colder than the rest tho

 

[theycallmechickmagnet]

It may be that certain places in the incubator are slightly warmer than others.

yeah i think that may be the case. just with the front tho. could it have anything to do with putting the water in the front hole of the incubator? i haven't looked inside the incubator to see where it all goes so i wouldn't have any idea. i know there is a back hole for water during lockdown tho

 

[theycallmechickmagnet]

front row hasn't hatched yet which I'm presuming is nearest the viewing window, ie the coldest spot in the incubator.
The fastest I have hatched a bantam was 19 days and 12 hours.
18 days is quite impressive but it does indicate temps are possibly a degree too high but if you lower temps then the temps on the front row might be too low.
As long as they are born healthy that's the most important.

my front row hatched up to 4 days late and one didn't make it (probably because the ones that hatched were spinning the eggs)
I think the hatch rate was quite good tho. out of 41 eggs, 3 stopped developing and 1 couldn't pip. We had to move babies that had been in there 48 hours already, so the humidity dropped and 2 got shrink wrapped. The swollen legs looked pretty painful, I had to take the eggshells off them and move them to the small incubator and they recovered over night. Now all the babies are healthy and well. Just turned day 18 a few hours ago and we have one bantam pipping already

 

[SpicyDill]

oh okay, thank you. but ours are little square ones with holes in it that also shows the humidity. they also run on batteries. wouldn't that break it? i know they are cheap little plastic things but they've helped in the past a lot.

by the way our last chick from the first batch just pipped (3 days late) and we have some pipping right now in the 2nd batch (day 18) so i just put him in there with them. Kinda sad the front of the incubator is colder than the rest tho

I assume you're running a Govee? You can put the Govee in a thin Ziploc, squeeze the air out, and submerge it in icewater. Leave it there for 30-60 minutes (if the ice doesn't melt by then, ymmv). It should read 32F, and if it's off, you can adjust it from inside the app to read accurately.