Day 24 and no peeps, pips or chicks

[codyboyk]

Hello,

So this is my first time hatching chicks from eggs. I have a still air incubator that I kept between 100-102 degrees and about 50% humidity. At day 18 I quit turning the eggs and raised the humidity to 70-80%. I had a chick hatch on Tuesday which was day 22 and one pip. The one that pipped never did anything else and I left it for 24 hours. I just hatched him and he was dead hadn't absorbed the yolk sac and when I was hatching him there was no blood. I decided to check for internal pips today and I don't see any. I had one egg yesterday that I could feel the chick moving but today nothing. So out of 30 eggs I have one that hatched and I don't hear anything or see anything that leads me to believe that the rest of the eggs will hatch. So my questions are should I keep them in the incubator and for how much longer? What did I do wrong? Do I contact the person I got the eggs from (I got them locally after reading about shipping eggs and issues seen with that)? Also, how long should I leave the one chick I got in the incubator. Its all dry... I had read that the peeping and nudging of the chick helps the other chicks hatch. Does it need a friend like ducks?

Thanks
Amy

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Unfortunately, it sounds as though your hatch is done. Late hatches typically indicate low temperatures. Did you calibrate all of your instruments before stating incubation?
Your humidity sounds a bit high as well. I know the manual for just about every incubator states to set the humidity at 50%, but that quite high for most folks needs. I run mine around 30-45% (depends on how low I can get it), monitor air cells for proper growth for the first 18 days and adjust the humidity according to the needs of the eggs. An egg should loose about 13% of its total mass over that 21 day period. To track that weight loss, you can either weigh them or watch the air cells. There are charts online that show proper air cell growth for each day to compare to.

Honestly, at this point, I'd open the eggs up (break them open on the fat end) and see if any are still alive or if they're all gone.

If you don't have a bunch of clear eggs in there, theres nothing the seller can do. They provided fertile eggs, and when you took them, it was out of their hands after that. If fertility in their eggs was good, you get your instruments properly calibrated and decide to try again, contact them for some more eggs

Sorry it didn't work out, but it happens to the best of us. Go back to the drawing board, make a few tweaks and figure out what works the best for your particular incubator.

Yes, chicks definitely prefer company. Try to find another chick or two, or put a stuffed animal, feather duster or mirror in the brooder if you can't.

Best of luck

 

[FridayYet]

howfunky gave you some good advice. I find 35% is the best starting humidity for me, and then I adjust weekly depending on how the air cells look. If they are not big enough, I hold off lockdown for a day so the chick will have enough space to breathe when they internally pip.

At 24 hours after the last one hatches, I check for life and turn off the incubator if nothing is going on.

Good luck on your next hatch!