Day 21 of Australorp Incubation, heard some chirping about 24 hours ago, but now nothing

[teisenhand]

Last night, I heard one of the chicks chirping away in its egg. There was no crack in the outside of the egg at all. Today, I don't hear any noise and there is still no cracks in any of the eggs. Are the chicks still Ok? It will be day 22 tomorrow. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bobbi-j]

I wouldn't worry about it yet. The 21 days is merely a guideline - not a steadfast rule. Sometimes they hatch out a day or two earlier, and sometimes they hatch out a day or two later. It's normal for them to peep inside the egg a couple of days before hatching, and no, they don't peep continually (they've gotta sleep sometime!).

 

[teisenhand]

Thanks for your advice, maybe you could answer some more questions for me? First of all, do the chicken eggs move much before they hatch? Second, do they chicks always peep while in their egg? and, if they do move around, is that an indication that they are really close to hatching? Thanks.

 

[cochins1088]

I can try to help. Here's the basic process of the hatch. First the chick pips the internal membrane so that it's beak is in the air sac. It is now breathing air, so it can peep which they usually do, after they internally pip, they rest for a while. Once the air sac runs out of air, the chick must externally pip. You see the cracks of the external pip. It can once again breathe. It will then usually rest again. Then the chick will turn around the shell chipping away as it goes, this is called zipping and will appear as a circle of cracks around the shell. The chick may rest again afterwards before pushing the 2 halves apart and hatching, it's a very long process that can take 48 hours. Also, throughout it's struggle it absorbs the remainder of it's yolk sac and absorbs the blood from it's outer vessels As the chicks move around in their shells trying to get into "hatching position" the eggs rock, it does not mean that they are ready to hatch. Even if one makes and external pip, it may not be ready to hatch. They need to struggle to absorb their yolk sac, and if they don't they may die outside of their shell. So don't go in and help thinking that they are stuck. I usually see rocking eggs and hear peeps on day 20 and then they begin pipping on day 21, they then complete their hatch late day 21 to day 22, but like bobbi-j said, they can hatch sooner and later depending on tempatures. I've had chicks hatch day 18 because of slightly high tempatures, as well as chicks hatch on days 25-26 because of slightly low tempatures.

 

[teisenhand]

When the eggs rock, is it very noticeable, or do you have to look very closely at very small movements of the eggs? Because I only see a little rock (not very noticeable) and I dont see it very often.

 

[cochins1088]

They aren't extremely noticeable, but you can see it. My first hatch I got extremely excited over the eggs that were moving. It's just a little rocking here and there, it's not like they are literally rolling around. Not totally sure how to explain it. Did this help?

 

[cochins1088]

And no, they don't rock all the time, just once in a while. To see it you'd have to be staring into the incubator for a bit.

 

[teisenhand]

Thanks for your help! Hoping the babies hatch tomorrow!

 

[silkie chic]

Hi I am in the same postion as you right now. New to egg hatching I have my first batch of silkies in a LG incubator with the fan kit and am on day 20. I do not see any signs of hatching yet should I? I also have not seen the eggs move but I only check on the incubator like 4 times a day. What are the chances I would see any of them moving? If I set my eggs in the pm then the next day starts day one right? I hope if not then I guess this is day 21. Any help or info would be great. Thanks in advance
Becky

 

[cochins1088]

Hi I am in the same postion as you right now. New to egg hatching I have my first batch of silkies in a LG incubator with the fan kit and am on day 20. I do not see any signs of hatching yet should I? I also have not seen the eggs move but I only check on the incubator like 4 times a day. What are the chances I would see any of them moving? If I set my eggs in the pm then the next day starts day one right? I hope if not then I guess this is day 21. Any help or info would be great. Thanks in advance
Becky

oops sorry, I don't check the old threads very often. On day 20 you may or may not see signs of hatching. It depends on how your trmperatures ran. You should probably see sign of hatching on day 21, but don't give up hope until at least day 25. I've seen chicks hatch as late as day 26. The eggs rock back and forth while trying to hatch, but it's not constant and you have to be staring at your eggs to see it. If you set them in the pm, then the number of days change at the pm. So the night of the following day would be day 1 and then the night following day 1 would be day 2 and ect... So how'd your hatch go?