Day 24, alive but not hatching help!

[Crazychickenlady93]

Hi! I'm fairly new to hatching chickens. Have had a few successful hatches but right now not so much. It's day 24 and I can see movement but none are pipped internally yet. What do I do?? Thanks!

 

[Pyxis]

!

What date did you set the eggs on? What has your temperature been? Is the incubator you are using still air or forced air?

And finally, just to make sure, what are you hatching?

 

[Crazychickenlady93]

I don't remember the exact date but my incubator keeps track of the day. It's got a fan... 37.5 C so around the 99.5 F... the humidity has been between the 60-68 the majority of the time. .. they are a couple of blue stars and EE.. I had 5 and now down to 3. The other 2 died in the shell not pipped yet

 

[Pyxis]

That humidity is very high For the first 18 days, 30% is usually where I like to have it. I only have it 65% and higher for the last three days. With it so high the first 18 days, they may well have drowned in the shell due to not enough moisture being lost.

Also, are you trusting the incubator for these values, or did you use your own outside thermometer and hydrometer that you know to be accurate to keep track? The built in ones on certain incubators are notoriously unreliable.

 

[EggMan1991]

I agree with Pyxis, You never trust what the incubator says, unless you get commercial hatchery incubators(even then, I would probably trust my own instruments).

A separate, reliable thermometer and hygrometer will go a long ways in terms of hatching success. I've done it without Hygrometers, mostly because I can gauge what the humidity is by condensate, temp spikes from the Incubator, etc.

I usually incubate at 40% humidity, for the first 18 days, in Texas, but it mostly depends on the time of year and general humidity in your neck of the woods. The last few days are always hard to keep right, but you don't need to let it fall below 60%. I've had chicks stick to their membranes in the shell after Pipping because my humidity was too low.

If it's really day 24 then your incubating temps early on were probably too low, that's one reason for them being delayed and still moving.