day 20 today help!

[Sweetlilbaby]

I am upset. it is day 22 now and still no signs of pipping. I woke up to the incubator at 105 degrees. without thinking i just opened it letting the air out. Someone please help. Are they dead?

Give it a few more days. Even though it got really hot, you still might have one or two of them hatch. On day 25 I would candle them and see if there is any movement if not toss them.

 

[cochins1088]

Did you candle at all during incubation? You could try candling a few now. Just shine a flashlight into the egg in a dark room. The egg should be completely dark other than the air sac and if they have internally pipped, then you will see a beak sticking up into the sair sac moving around. If anything looks a clear, or only a small black area then they are not goging to hatch, they either died early or were infertile. You can also try doing a water test tomorrow. Just google it, there are many links out there but you have to make sure none have pipped before putting them in. These are both ways to see if they are still alive. Usually by now even if it's a late hatch, you will see eggs moving around and hear peeps from inside the eggs because of the internal pips.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Opening the incubator if they have not pipped is not a big deal. The problem with opening the incubator is, if they have pipped, it is possible to shrink-wrap them. If they have not pipped, you won't shrink-wrap them. If they had not pipped when you opened the incubator, don't worry about that. You did no harm.

A drop in temperature or a short spike is not a death sentence. It takes a while for the core temperature to change enough to harm the chick inside. But if that temperature was high enough for a long enough time, yes it could have caused serious harm. There are plenty of people on this forum that have experienced short spikes and gone on to good hatches. It's obviously not good, but not necessarily that bad. it just depends on how high that core temperature got and that depends both on the actual temperature and how long it was at that temperature.

What I suggest is that you wait until tomorrow. If you have not seen any movement, heard any peeps, or seen a pip by then, do the float test. Get a container of warm water, somewhere around 100 degrees but no hotter, and put the eggs in there. They should float. If they sink, well, they are not any good at this stage. But you are not just looking to see if they float. If there is a live chick inside, that egg will rock and move on its own. To do this test, you are going to let them settle and look for movement. If an egg moves on its own, put it back in the incubator because it has a chance. If it does not move on its own, it is no good.

I'm not trying to sugar coat this at all or just saying any of this just to make you feel better. You are still within the boundaries of possibly getting a good hatch. We'd all love for out eggs to hatch at exactly 21 days but it just does not always work that way. I understand your anxiety. I've been there. It does absolutely no good to freak out or panic. Being patient is the best thing you can do.

 

[alexthechicken]

i tried candling one of the eggs and saw nothing inside it was so dark. it was not clear. it was dark. i could not see the airsac. Help!

 

[cochins1088]

Well an egg has to have an air sac, try again maybe, look all around the egg, it's a completely clear open area on one end of the dark mass. And if it was dark and didn't smell that means it's probably a fully developed chick, did you see movement of any sorts? Try candling more than one egg. I can think of a sinero in which the air sac wouldn't appear, but more than likely something like that wouldn't happen. And the egg would smell if it did.

 

[alexthechicken]

it doesnt smell. its not moving either.

 

[cochins1088]

Sorry if you don't get a great hatch, but what your describing could very well be a fully formed chick. Something could have gone wrong, but for now give it more time. On average, what tempature did your incubator run at? And is your incubator still air, or forced air?

 

[SeattleLeah]

Im going to jump in here and say that this thread is giving me new hope about my first hatch. My eggs turn 21 days old in 5 hours. I havent seen any movement or pips or anything and had begun getting really worried. Now I realize its still (hopefully) too early to jump to any conclusions.

Im using a foam hovabator with a computer fan installed. My temps have been steady around 99.5 the whole incubation. I tried the dry hatch method and my humidity hovered in the low 20's most of the time. Day 18 I added a bunch of water and wet paper towels and spiked the humidity up to almost 100%, oops! I removed the paper towels after about 6 hours and humidity settled and has remained steady at about 69%. Im fairly confident a few hours of high humidity wouldnt harm them on day 18 since they couldnt have internally pipped yet and my air sacks were plenty big due to the relatively low humidity throughout incubation. But any input would be greatly appreciated!

I last candled at day 15 and everything looked great, lots of movement. This is my first try and I would really like to be successful. Its amazing how much you get emotionally invested in these eggs in just 3 weeks! If I feel this way about 16 shipped eggs, I can only imagine how I'll feel when Im pregnant LOL!!!

 

[cochins1088]

Im going to jump in here and say that this thread is giving me new hope about my first hatch. My eggs turn 21 days old in 5 hours. I havent seen any movement or pips or anything and had begun getting really worried. Now I realize its still (hopefully) too early to jump to any conclusions.

Im using a foam hovabator with a computer fan installed. My temps have been steady around 99.5 the whole incubation. I tried the dry hatch method and my humidity hovered in the low 20's most of the time. Day 18 I added a bunch of water and wet paper towels and spiked the humidity up to almost 100%, oops! I removed the paper towels after about 6 hours and humidity settled and has remained steady at about 69%. Im fairly confident a few hours of high humidity wouldnt harm them on day 18 since they couldnt have internally pipped yet and my air sacks were plenty big due to the relatively low humidity throughout incubation. But any input would be greatly appreciated!

I last candled at day 15 and everything looked great, lots of movement. This is my first try and I would really like to be successful. Its amazing how much you get emotionally invested in these eggs in just 3 weeks! If I feel this way about 16 shipped eggs, I can only imagine how I'll feel when Im pregnant LOL!!!

I know what you mean. Everytime I hatch, I get super anxious around hatch day. I mean I kinda brought these guys life, hand turning twice everyday. I feel like I have to go check the incubator every half an hour on day 21. And those who honestly can't hatch, I help. I know that sometimes means they aren't right, and once I even helped one that only had one leg. Each is so special, though I can't keep them all. Your tempatures sound right, but if they are even a degree low, like if fthe thermometer was off, then you babies will hatch a day or 2 late, so you are right not to give up hope.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Broody or incubator, I always get real interested around hatch day. It is exciting either way, broody or incubator.

I have a broody that started hatching last night, two full days early. She had a half-dozen out this morning. I think our hot weather the first couple of weeks had a lot to do with some eggs being two full days early. 21 days won't be up until Thursday evening.

Each hatch is different. That's why I recommend patience. They can be later as well as early. It doesn't always work out, but I don't know anything you can do to improve the situation, but you can do things to hurt the situation.