Carbon dioxide and hatching

[silkienrescues]

With my major number of hatchings...2! I noticed at pipping there were times of increased CO2 production in the incubator, they seem to correspond with times when external pips happened soon after, and before zipping etc. My humidity meter measures CO2 also, most times its sitting 550-700ish, but once action starts,, rocking tapping noises, its more 800+, with drops down and after spikes of 1000+ (my alarm goes off then) I aw increases in pipping and zipping.
Made me wonder if chick activity raises co2 levels in its environment, which in turn stimulates its twitching of the neck muscles of it and other chicks. if thats so then maybe the problem with opening incubators at lockdown isnt humidity but carbon dioxide?
People who have watched hens at lockdown...do they refresh the air around the eggs regularly by lifting up a bit or ruffling feathers??

Just putting this observation forward for discussion, could be totally wrong.

 

[kuchchicks]

Kind of makes sense... humans use a CO2 drive to stimulate breathing... this could cause the chicks to pip to gain O2. I often wondered what caused them to start to pip on the days that they do. Cool!

 

[kuchchicks]

Just found this...
"Exposure to this gaseous environment in the air cell stimulates the lung and air sacs to be filled. And after a period of time, the chick pierces a small hole in the egg shell, defined as external pipping."

http://www.pasreform.com/academy/fr.../143-creating-the-ideal-hatching-climate.html

 

[lazy gardener]

I read a study, I think it's still in the learning center regarding the correlation between CO2 build up in the egg around the time of hatching. As the oxygen gets depleted, and CO2 builds up, it triggers a change in the chick's movement patterns. The legs thrust simultaneously. (instead of a reciprocal movement pattern which is seen before and after this time.) These movements are exactly what is needed at this exact time to allow the chick to hatch. Too much CO2 at the wrong time, or total depletion of oxygen before vascular and yolk systems are absorbed, and the chick dies. Also, the normal pipping position places the chick's head under one wing (I forget which one... I think Left) Researchers also found that if they took newly hatched chicks and placed their head under the wing, it would elicit the leg thrusting behavior seen in a hatching chick.