Day 20-21, what to expect?

[ChickenCrazy93]

Hi Everyone,
I am hatching from an incubator for a the first time, a little giant, and I am now at day 21. Currently the eggs are still and no pips, so I decided to water candle(early, I know, my nerves just couldn’t handle it). Of the 40 eggs everyone seems very alive except 4 still eggs and 1 dud which we had known from earlier candeling. I did open the incubator for this, but it is back up to 75-80% humidity and temp of 38c within 5-10 minutes and no pips to be seen . When I candled, I had a few eggs start to chirp when I dropped them in the water. I immediately put them back. My question is, will me removing them while the air sac is broken (but no pip) interfere with their hatch? Has anyone else had this happen with good results?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm not sure putting hatching eggs in water is such a good idea. Eggs are porous. Hopefully they are okay.

Generally you shouldn't assist until they pipped and they aren't making progress after 12-24 hours I believe. Helping too soon can be deadly.

 

[aart]

Agrees that 'water candling' to look for movement is not a good idea.

I had a few eggs start to chirp when I dropped them in the water.

But this did make me chuckle....see they were telling you! Just gotta be patient!

So @ChickenCrazy93 ...how did your hatch turn out?

 

[ChickenCrazy93]

Agrees that 'water candling' to look for movement is not a good idea.

But this did make me chuckle....see they were telling you! Just gotta be patient!

So @ChickenCrazy93 ...how did your hatch turn out?

The water candling was 100% accurate so far, 4 of the 39 viable eggs showed no movement and those are the last eggs in the incubator. Hopefully they still hatch, but I have my doubts. I don’t think the candling effected the eggs at all, I checked all eggs for pips/cracks before putting in the water and majority are only in the water 10 seconds or less.

I wasn’t sure about this technique and I knew it may have consiqences, but seemed to work really well. I don’t think I will do it as early the next time, but I am happy I tried it and know it actually is a good indicator.