Day 23 No Chicks

[kjadelipscomb]

Help! I started the incubation process 23 days ago, and still no signs of pipping. I have candled the eggs and noticed which ones had embryos & which did not develop past the yolk stage.

Is there anything I can do to ensure that the babies are indeed alive? I haven't noticed any chirping or movement, but I'm not really sure what that looks like. I'm hatching these for my classroom and this is my first year doing this! Feeling nervous & need some insight from someone other than google.

Thank you

 

[0wen]

You can try lightly tapping the egg with your fingernail and then listening to hear if they tap back. You'll probably need to put your ear to the egg, but it's not uncommon to be able to feel the pecking back while holding the egg.

Also - what incubator are you using? Did you count the day you set them as day 1 or day 0?

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Welcome to BYC!

Is there any peeping? What was the humidity and temp throughout the incubation period and lockdown?

Depending on your answer, you might want to make some pips. I do this by carefully tapping the thick end of the egg - where the air cell is - with something like the side of a pocket knife that will break the shell. Then peel off some of the shell from there, and you should be able to tell if the chicks are alive.

Hope all goes well!