Day 23. No pips. Is hope lost?

[N0rthernChicks]

I have an OppsDecor automatic incubator with egg turner. This is my first time ever trying to hatch chicks. They came from our own backyard flock so I know they are fertilized. Most of them are Easter eggers (which I find very difficult to candle) and a few barnyard mixes. 22 eggs total were set. Temp was maintained at 37.7 c and humidity for the first 18 days averaged 55. I bumped up humidity to 65-70 on day 18. When I candled at day 14 I’m pretty sure I saw good development in most of the eggs. Again, I find it very hard to see into the blue and green eggs so I’m not certain on some. We are halfway through day 23 and there has been no signs of hatching. I candled one of the lightest colored eggs that I knew I could see into and there is a full grown chick in there but I don’t think it has even internally piped. I tried to watch for movement but there’s really not much room left in the egg to move. Honestly I’ll be thankful if 1 measly egg hatches out of the 22. I’m starting to loose hope.

 

[rascal66]

Hm... Id be a tad concerned. A couple things could have been a problem. In my opinion, your humidity through out incubation is too high. If its too high, the air cell won't get large enough and the chicks will ultimately drown. (hope I worded this right).

I set my humidity to 43 throughout incubation. When on lockdown, keep it at 60.

I'd link an incubation article on here since there are lots of great resources, but I'm in mobile currently...

 

[N0rthernChicks]

I’m sorry 55 was a typo. I did mean to type 45 for the first 18 days. The air cell on the egg I candled today did look to be a pretty decent size.

 

[rascal66]

I’m sorry 55 was a typo. I did mean to type 45 for the first 18 days. The air cell on the egg I candled today did look to be a pretty decent size.

And no internal pips? I'd be stumped to why they haven't hatched yet. Well.. I suppose we can start to the very beginning if you'd like. (As far as egg collection and storing goes)

I feel like at day 23, and no movement would be a sign of death in shell. I'm not an expert, maybe others can chime in with their suggestions. Some people have claimed to have eggs hatch as late as day 25

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

What are you using to gauge temperature? It could be you are off and don't know it. Where did these eggs come from? Local or shipped? What day/time did you actually set?

If you don't have external pips personally I'd start investigate. Open the incubator and lift each egg careful to your ear without changing orientation. You should be able to hear scratching, taps or peeps from good eggs. If you don't hear anything at day 23 I'd be concerned. Could be time to open an egg if you feel up for an eggtopsy.

 

[rascal66]

After reading again, it is possible that your lockdown humidity could have been a bit too high as well?

 

[2 many chickens]

It's possible your temperature was a bit off or you may have colder spots in your incubator. I would candle again to see if any have internally pipped.

 

[Eggscaping]

Hm... Id be a tad concerned. A couple things could have been a problem. In my opinion, your humidity through out incubation is too high. If its too high, the air cell won't get large enough and the chicks will ultimately drown. (hope I worded this right).

I set my humidity to 43 throughout incubation. When on lockdown, keep it at 60.

I'd link an incubation article on here since there are lots of great resources, but I'm in mobile currently...

How do you 'set' your humidity? Our incubator has a place to add water, which we do very carefully, with an eye-dropper, because it will cause humidity to go up to 50ish or 60 with not that much water. But we don't have any way to 'set' the humidity. Right now I'm getting up at odd hours of the night to check and add water when it gets down into the 20% area. We are trying for a 40% humidity but it's a constant effort of watching and reacting. Is there a better way?

 

[N0rthernChicks]

What are you using to gauge temperature? It could be you are off and don't know it. Where did these eggs come from? Local or shipped? What day/time did you actually set?

If you don't have external pips personally I'd start investigate. Open the incubator and lift each egg careful to your ear without changing orientation. You should be able to hear scratching, taps or peeps from good eggs. If you don't hear anything at day 23 I'd be concerned. Could be time to open an egg if you feel up for an eggtopsy.

the eggs are from our Backyard flock. Definitely fertile. Stored in a cool dry basement for 3-5 days before setting.

I set them on March 17, 2020 around 11pm.

I’m starting to think the temp has been low and I didn’t know it. I’ve only been using the thermostat on the incubator. I just put a digital meat thermometer in there and it was hovering slightly over 36 c (don’t know how accurate that is). I’ll have to buy a second thermometer for my next attempt. But I want to give these eggs a chance if they have one. I’ve been seeing development all along. I guess I’ll just wait until day 25 and see what happens.

 

[rascal66]

How do you 'set' your humidity? Our incubator has a place to add water, which we do very carefully, with an eye-dropper, because it will cause humidity to go up to 50ish or 60 with not that much water. But we don't have any way to 'set' the humidity. Right now I'm getting up at odd hours of the night to check and add water when it gets down into the 20% area. We are trying for a 40% humidity but it's a constant effort of watching and reacting. Is there a better way?

Well I guess it depends on what kind of incubator you have? Some incubators have alarms for when it goes under or over your target humidity. I use a Brinsea Ova-Easy with a pump so it holds my humidity automatically. Otherwise, the way you do it now is probably the way to do it. I used to do that method as well when I had my old yellow top incubator (which was a bad incubator i might add, since the meters were off and bad)... I'm not so sure of a better way? What kind do you have?