First I want to preface that this is my first hatch ever, I have 16 eggs of various breeds in the incubator. Tonight, I was just in the process of candling and locking down my eggs at the beginning of day 18, which is 10:00pm. I was getting baskets ready to separate the eggs by color ready to put in, when I swore I heard peeping from inside the incubator. I thought that I was probably hearing things, so I had my husband come take a listen, and sure enough, a few moments later, he heard it too--peeping chicks! I have to admit the sound made me feel giddy, because even though I have read and researched what to do, I was wondering if the whole process we would end up with any chicks hatching!
I figured that you must be able to hear the peeping when the chick pips internally, but as I was positioning the eggs for lockdown, I felt a bump on the shell of an egg! It pretty much scared the crap out of me, and I jumped internally when I realized it was an external pip! I carefully set it down with the pip up and went to position the next egg and also a pip! So that means that 2 out of the 16 eggs in the incubator are already pipped! I am excited, but a bit worried that they are so early! Is this normal? I know it can take up to 24 hours from pip to hatch, but that is STILL 2 days early!! My temps were pretty much 99 degrees though I had a couple times they fluxuated higher or lower, but not for long, because I checked the incubator often.
Also I put a wet towel in the incubator to raise the humidity, and have all the plugs out, but I am reading humidity at 73%. I am concerned that this is above the 65-70% and wonder if I should open to remove the towel, or if it is ok!
Thanks in advance!!
This is a photo of the two pipped eggs. You can see the pips on the right sides of the eggs. I marked them because they are kind of hard to see otherwise. These eggs are both green and from Americaunas. I just snapped the photo really fast, because I wanted to get the incubator closed ASAP and the color is all off because of that.
I figured that you must be able to hear the peeping when the chick pips internally, but as I was positioning the eggs for lockdown, I felt a bump on the shell of an egg! It pretty much scared the crap out of me, and I jumped internally when I realized it was an external pip! I carefully set it down with the pip up and went to position the next egg and also a pip! So that means that 2 out of the 16 eggs in the incubator are already pipped! I am excited, but a bit worried that they are so early! Is this normal? I know it can take up to 24 hours from pip to hatch, but that is STILL 2 days early!! My temps were pretty much 99 degrees though I had a couple times they fluxuated higher or lower, but not for long, because I checked the incubator often.
Also I put a wet towel in the incubator to raise the humidity, and have all the plugs out, but I am reading humidity at 73%. I am concerned that this is above the 65-70% and wonder if I should open to remove the towel, or if it is ok!
Thanks in advance!!
This is a photo of the two pipped eggs. You can see the pips on the right sides of the eggs. I marked them because they are kind of hard to see otherwise. These eggs are both green and from Americaunas. I just snapped the photo really fast, because I wanted to get the incubator closed ASAP and the color is all off because of that.
