Day 18 Lockdown Questions

[CarlieO]

Hello! I'm a newbie to the whole hatching thing so I have a few questions for all you pros. I have 25 eggs in my incubator, all from my awesome hens and my 3 roosters. I've candled on day 10 and day 18 (today). Both days show viable, moving embryos in 22 of the 25 eggs. 3 are questionable. So with today being day 18 I took them off the automatic turner (removed the turner from the incubator altogether) and placed them on their side on the wire mesh floor of the incubator (above the water trays for humidity) as the instructions say.

Am I doing it correctly so far? I know the temp will be cooler on the floor of the incubator, I have a thermometer to appropriately adjust to maintain 99.5 down there.

At this point do I just let them be and wait for them to hatch?

Also, when they do hatch do I leave the chicks in there until they all are hatched and dry or do I take them out one at a time as they hatch and dry and place them in my brooder? I just wanna do it right! Fingers crossed I haven't done something wrong!!

Thank you in advance for all the advice I hope will come.

 

[Jessshan8]

You are doing everything right so far. A couple things though:
-99.5 is a standard not the rule. The temp could go down to 98.5 and everything will be just fine( much debate in this area though among individuals )
- chicks can hatch anywhere from 20 to 23 days of incubation most if not all will hatch on the 21st day.
- chicks do not immediately need water and food and can live for three days on the absorbed yoke.
******* do not open incubator during the hatching process. you will loose much needed humidity. (you might feel the need to "help a chick hatch" this will likely injure the chick and possibly kill it)******
Have the brooder ready with food and water colorful marbles in the water dish will help protect chicks against falling into it a drowning but attract them and help them find water. ( I personally wait till the end of day 22 to quickly open ( if not all hatched) the incubator and move the chicks to the brooder pen.
I hope this helps and if you have any specific questions ask away there are many knowledgeable people here willing to help.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

exciting hu? i just put eggs in today and i have made 10 trips over there to look. lol they say to leave the babies in there after hatch because if you keep opening the bator the humidity drops and the rest has a hard time hatching. remember that they have their yolk sac to carry them for a couple days with no food and water. with that being said, i do take mine out very quickly every few hours or so. i wont wait over 6 hrs. besides the fact that they are knocking the pips all over the place. i have also made little circles out of wire to enclose the piped eggs to protect them from the hatchlings. pretty sure none of that is necessary. have fun.

 

[CarlieO]

Thank you both so much! I'm glad to know so far everything is good! My brooder is almost ready.

Another question: When I placed the eggs on the wire mesh they kinda rolled around a bit before they settled into place. Of course, I panicked but didn't want to mess with them too much so I just left them where they lie. Some eggs are touching others, is that ok? The mesh is too stiff and doesn't lay completely flat so the eggs moved a bit as I put the next egg down next to another egg. I'm hoping that's ok. I didn't want to disorient the chicks too much by constantly adjusting and re-adjusting their position.

 

[StewedMammal]

They will be fine wherever they rolled, and yes it is ok if they are touching each other.

 

[Jessshan8]

That is fine the chicks will move themselves into a hatching position to come into this world. This is the purpose for the "lockdown" period. Just leave the eggs as they are. Everything is as it should be.

 

[CarlieO]

Ok great. Sounds like all I do now is wait!! Oh the suspense!

Oh, one more thing...I did leave the 3 'questionables' in the incubator since I wasn't 100% sure they were dead. I could see an air sac the same size as the obviously viable eggs and I could see some faint shadowing but these 3 weren't as dark inside as the others. Also I didn't see any veining and only about half the egg was obscured. The other half I could see through.

LOL, after typing this all out it sounds to me like I should just remove those 3 and toss them. I think I answered my own question. I just read so many stories about people tossing what they thought were dead eggs only to find out they were viable. These don't smell rotten. I just don't want them exploding.

 

[Jessshan8]

I would set them anyway they might surprise you. if you are worried about them you could bend some cardboard in a circle and place them inside it(a kind of cage within a cage if you will).

 

[CarlieO]

Well it's day 19 and I see my first pip! It's an external pip and had to have happened in the last few minutes as I'm checking them frequently. I'll leave it be and not disturb it. I have to work a 12 hour shift tomorrow so I'll be eager to check the progress when I get home. Just an update since you guys provided me with such helpful info.

 

[chickencrazy999]

Fingers crossed for your hatch