Day 18, small air cells

[Apriljc]

This morning will mark day 18. I have been concerned about the air cell sizes in my eggs so I've been running dry for a few days. Some cells have gotten a bit bigger, some not so much. One chick has a lot of fluid - I huge portion of the eggs still glows when candled but it IS alive.

I know they will grow a lot in the next 3 days but still...

I'm considering continuing to run dry until I see the first egg draw down. (My understanding is some people move eggs to a hatcher when they see drawdown occur so I don't think gently handling the eggs at that point is a huge deal.)

Thoughts on extending the dry time? What humidity is considered "dry" but not too low?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm probably wrong but it was my understanding that draw down is a term for the air cell growth. Chicks starting to hatch is not contingent on the air cell rather temperature and time.

Regardless if I don't know what the term is the chicks will be internally piping once they're developed enough. Prior to that they will shift position in the shell causing the egg to wiggle. If you want to run dry until you see wiggling that would work. I'd take the eggs out of the turner now and be ready with the amount of water you'll need to get the humidity where you want it for hatching. The hatch I'm finishing up right now took two coffee cups of surface area to reach 61% RH. I put the containers with water right into the incubator.

The only danger of running dry is if they externally pip while your still dry incubating but you should see some wiggling late tonight or tomorrow to warn you it's time to up the humidity. I've seen candling pictures of people having air cells the size of day 14 and chicks hatch just fine. I'd not risk the hatch waiting for the ideal size.