Day 20, no wiggling anymore - help!!

[Indio Gigante Lover]

You are probably using a cheap uninsulated hobbyist incubator that cannot control the temperature and humidity accurately. Upgrade to a small breeder grade incubator. I think it is not really fair to the chicks to hatch them without perfect control over the temperature and humidity. They can hatch with deformed legs, their organs outside their body and other problems which will make it necessary to kill them.

Get a good used incubator instead of crappy new one. It can be chinese and look cheaply made, but it has to have the following features:

A well insulated box.
Egg racks that tilt back and forth on a timer.
A circulating fan.
A water pan with a heater so the humidity can be automatically adjusted.
Controls for precisely setting temperature and humidity.

If it doesn't have all of these features, it's asking for trouble.

She said it’s a Brinsea Mini Eco. Not the best of the best, but certainly not cheap. Definitely needed separate hygrometer & thermometer though

 

[bravecoconut]

Please dont assume they are dead, we made several mistakes like that, and watched in horror as our chickens ate live babies from the eggs we threw out because we didnt see movement

That's horrific.

 

[tviss711]

Aaaah!
Nothing on day 21, and all day 22, except for two little cheeps heard by me at 9am (but I wasn’t sure I didn’t imagine them)…
Then at 4,30pm! Two (of 4) eggs pipped!!!!!!
Very excited we all were. I woke at 4.15am and one had come out, gosh the relief!! I got the kids up .
We all witnessed chick 2 zipping and emerging at 7am.
Egg the third had pipped then, we’re still waiting for that one, hopeful……however the other two have been bumping it around and covering its pip with the other shell at times, so I’m worried it’s having to try twice as hard…(so maybe having an extra long rest).

Egg the 4th no pip, nothing.
But we have currently two active curious chicks so we’re very happy!!
Thanks again everyone for your support!
I will still get myself a hygrometer. And we’ll try another hatch maybe this season, but from locally fertile eggs hopefully instead of shipping them. Bit by bit, learning more as we go.

Glad some of your chicks hatched! What fun! And you’ll be so much better prepared for your next hatch.

Well done and congrats on your new chicks!

 

[Chixnbacn]

That's horrific.

I know , not trying to make anyone sad but it happened .

 

[Chixnbacn]

We did learn and have hd alot of successes since

 

[Mark Park]

Aaaah!
Nothing on day 21, and all day 22, except for two little cheeps heard by me at 9am (but I wasn’t sure I didn’t imagine them)…
Then at 4,30pm! Two (of 4) eggs pipped!!!!!!
Very excited we all were. I woke at 4.15am and one had come out, gosh the relief!! I got the kids up .
We all witnessed chick 2 zipping and emerging at 7am.
Egg the third had pipped then, we’re still waiting for that one, hopeful……however the other two have been bumping it around and covering its pip with the other shell at times, so I’m worried it’s having to try twice as hard…(so maybe having an extra long rest).

Egg the 4th no pip, nothing.
But we have currently two active curious chicks so we’re very happy!!
Thanks again everyone for your support!
I will still get myself a hygrometer. And we’ll try another hatch maybe this season, but from locally fertile eggs hopefully instead of shipping them. Bit by bit, learning more as we go.

The problem is your incubator.

Get rid of it and get an insulated one with an automatic turner and humidity control.

 

[PaigeWells]

I’d just like to say it’s like being pregnant- everyone has horror stories… The fact that you had a 75% hatch rate on shipped eggs, your first try, learned a lot, AND your kid got to witness some of them hatching is a HUGE success! You can be proud, and you can learn a whole bunch from this site before your next hatch- don’t forget to clean and disinfect the incubator after and before each hatching! Good Job.

 

[Chixnbacn]

I’d just like to say it’s like being pregnant- everyone has horror stories… The fact that you had a 75% hatch rate on shipped eggs, your first try, learned a lot, AND your kid got to witness some of them hatching is a HUGE success! You can be proud, and you can learn a whole bunch from this site before your next hatch- don’t forget to clean and disinfect the incubator after and before each hatching! Good Job.

I second that. We also have learned alot. We have been incubating two years and we realize the float test is OFTEN wrong and the only real thing that works for us is cracks in eggs or smell to tell us theres an issue. We have a nurture right and it works very well for us as long as we pay attention