Day 22

[Blalock0830]

It is day 22 and i have 10 eggs in the incubator.
None of the eggs have pipped yet .
A couple of the eggs seem to have turned a darker shade of brown almost like a shadow on the egg.

Anyone know what i shoud do?
Open the incubator or No?
Bottom right egg?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. Have you candled them?

 

[Blalock0830]

Dont know if i should open the incubator?

 

[debbier98]

It is day 22 and i have 10 eggs in the incubator.
None of the eggs have pipped yet .
A couple of the eggs seem to have turned a darker shade of brown almost like a shadow on the egg.

Anyone know what i shoud do?
Open the incubator or No?
Bottom right egg?
View attachment 3382682

I notice the eggs are not in an egg turner in your incubator, so do you turn them a few times every day? Also, what temp and humidity is your incubator set at? Also, check the eggs. Pick them up and see if you feel any movement from the chick assuming they're fertile. Another way to check on the chicks is with a light egg candler. The light won't give you a definitive answer on the health/viability of the chick, but you should be able to see some type of movement/development. If you are certain that the eggs have been in the incubator for 22 days, and if your certain the eggs are fertile, you may want to gently open a small hole (assist) in 1 of the eggs. Having said all that, when incubating eggs, it is critical that the eggs be turned either manually or by the use of an egg turner a few times a day every day. If the eggs are just simply put in an incubator and never turned, the eggs may not hatch. Also, you may want to checkout the article by "Hatch Assists" by member "littleMiss92 from Dec. 23, 2022. Here is a link to the article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hatch-assists.78239/

 

[Blalock0830]

Welcome to BYC. Have you candled them?

Dont know if i should open the incubator

 

[Blalock0830]

I notice the eggs are not in an egg turner in your incubator, so do you turn them a few times every day? Also, what temp and humidity is your incubator set at? Also, check the eggs. Pick them up and see if you feel any movement from the chick assuming they're fertile. Another way to check on the chicks is with a light egg candler. The light won't give you a definitive answer on the health/viability of the chick, but you should be able to see some type of movement/development. If you are certain that the eggs have been in the incubator for 22 days, and if your certain the eggs are fertile, you may want to gently open a small hole (assist) in 1 of the eggs. Having said all that, when incubating eggs, it is critical that the eggs be turned either manually or by the use of an egg turner a few times a day every day. If the eggs are just simply put in an incubator and never turned, the eggs may not hatch. Also, you may want to checkout the article by "Hatch Assists" by member "littleMiss92 from Dec. 23, 2022. Here is a link to the article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hatch-assists.78239/

I took them out of the egg turner on day 18 when i put them on lockdown

 

[casportpony]

Dont know if i should open the incubator

Yes, open it and carefully candle all of the eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If there are no pips you can open it quickly and carefully. What is the temperature and humidity? Have they been second checked with other thermometers and humidity sensors? Have you candles them at all while incubatin?

 

[Blalock0830]

If there are no pips you can open it quickly and carefully. What is the temperature and humidity? Have they been second checked with other thermometers and humidity sensors? Have you candles them at all while incubatin?

The temp is 37.5 c and humidity is 72%
I have not double checked the incubator readings .
I candled the eggs on day 18 and i think i have 6 live in the egg if i seen them correctly.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Dont know if i should open the incubator

Personally I would not, I don't see a reason to. If I have an emergency during lockdown or hatch I will open it but I don't see an emergency. There is a slight risk you could shrink wrap a chick by opening the incubator during lockdown so in general I avoid that, but I'll take that slight risk if I need to.

Did you count the days right, that is a common mistake on here? An egg does not have a day's worth of development the instant you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for the egg to have day's worth of development so you say "one" the day after you start them. An easy way to check your counting is the day of the week you start them is the day of the week the 21 days is up. If you set them on a Sunday the 21 days are up on a Sunday.

The 21 day thing is not definite. It is not unusual for chicks to hatch as much as 2 days early or late, whether in an incubator or under a broody hen. There are several different reasons for that like heredity, humidity, how and how long the egg was stored before it was set, and just basic differences in eggs. The reason people are asking about temperature is if the average incubating temperature is high the eggs can be early. If it is low the eggs can be late. It is real common for the incubator factory presets and any thermometer to be off a bit unless it has been calibrated to make sure it is reading correctly. If your incubator is running a degree or so cooler that the reading your eggs could easily not hatch until day 24 or even day 25.

A couple of the eggs seem to have turned a darker shade of brown almost like a shadow on the egg.

I assume that darkening has just shown up? Some eggs can have that when they are laid. I don't know what would cause an egg to darken like that late during incubation. It doesn't look like bacteria getting inside which would be my concern. It just doesn't look right for that. If you want you can open the incubator and sniff that egg to see if it smells rotten. To me it looks more like it was set on something that stained it. If the stain is new, maybe when you candled?

Personally I would not candle them. I don't know what information I'd get that would change what I'd do anyway. You just candled them when they went into lockdown. I don't know of any information I'd gain that would cause me to do anything that would change the outcome for the better. Candling will not tell you if one is rotten, sniffing will. With that dark area showing up sniffing them could be reasonable.

Since the 21 day thing is just a target, not a law of nature, I would not do anything until Day 25. Let us know how it goes.