Ok, a little back story first. I have three broody silkies. I'm using them to incubate some eggs and I tried incubating some inside. I don't think that the ones I was incubating inside are any good. They went under the silkies on day seven of their incubation. I brought in seven eggs that the silkies had been sitting on and put them in the incubator. The only thing I didn't know was that my thermometer is reading 5 degrees too high, therefore, when I thought that my incubator (forced air) was at 99.5, it was really at 94.5. For the eggs that are in the bator now, it is day 22. When I candled them yesterday they looked good, but no movement. Humidity is good, and now the temp is good. The eggs stayed at ~95 degrees for a full day and night before I even thought to check the thermometer...I feel like an idiot for not checking it sooner. Anyway, should I just leave them in the bator for a few more days, or what? I've started gathering eggs for the next batch that I'm going to try and incubate indoors. I've got to get it right eventually. The reason that I brought the eggs in is that I don't want the chicks outside right now. We have "neighbors" cats that wander across our property. I don't mind it right now, since they are helping to keep down the rodent population and they don't bother the adult chickens or the rabbits, but I don't want to have chicks out there with them around. Thanks, Emily in NC
I agree. My OEG hen has been brooding for a full 23 days, almost 24, and her eggs are finally starting to pip. I swapped her some dummies so I can add all the chicks back at once, and 3 of the eggs look ready, counting the pipped one, and 3 of them look like they still have a few days to go. With it being so cold, I believe it has slowed them down. Just candle the ones in the bator, you should see the veins. If they are still red, then the chick is still alive.
Definitely give them a few more days. Got my fingers crossed for you girl... don't give up!!!! I know how excited you are.
Just wait it out. You could still have a hatch even with the dip in temps for a while. Just give them a little longer than normal as it could have slowed development so you have a delayed hatch. Good Luck
Got woken up this morning at 5 am by a screaming pip, so I'm guessing they're still alive, lol. The little one hasn't made any more progress, but since they've taken their sweet time getting to this point, a little extra time now won't bother me, lol. What's so funny is that every time the little one that pipped this morning peeped or screamed, the seven babies in the brooder (1 1/2 weeks old) would stop whatever they were doing and look around and do their "What?!" sound. Thanks, Emily PS - Since the bator has been holding steady at 99.5 now, I think I'm going to plug up my other one to incubate my next batch of eggs. Hopefully I can incubate this batch completely indoors.
Ok, final tally - 2 little fuzzbutts out of six eggs. One of the eggs was rotten, and the other 3 had chicks of various stages in them, but all dead. At least I know that most of the eggs I'm getting are fertile. I've got a dozen mixed eggs ready to go in the incubator, so I'm off to clean it really well and get it warm again before setting them.
