day 24 Should I give up?

[moonrvr64]

I bought a dozen eggs online from a reputable breeder. Also bought a new Farm Innovators pro series incubator with turner and humidity/temp recorder. Put eggs in bator (5 days old) on March 2nd. Followed directions to a tee. Temp at 99/100 and humidity at 57/60. Increased both on day 18 and took out the turner. Tried candeling at 7 and 14 days but didn't really know what to look for. Just saw shadow?. Not perfectly clear so I believe they were fertile. Well it"s now day 24 and nothing has happened. Do I take them off life support?? Is there still a chance they'll hatch? What could have possibly gone wrong? This is my first experience into the world of chickens and I must say I'lm very dissappointed. That 3 weeks was like 3 months!! Any input appreciated.

 

[FarmGirl01]

The most important question...were they shipped eggs?

 

[SierraView]

60% humidity is to high for day 1 - 18. You can see if the chick is alive by putting the egg in a glass of warm water and seeing if the egg moves at all. If its perfectly still it's probably dead.

 

[SierraView]

Want to add that days 1 -18 I run humidity as close to 35% as I can, staying between 30% and 40%. At hatch I run it at 65%

 

[moonrvr64]

Yes, they were shipped eggs and they arrived promptly and in perfect condition. Two of the eggs in the batch in the incubator were given to me by a friend and were not shipped. I was doing the temp and humidity according to directions in Story's Book of Raising Chickens and the directions on the incubator.

 

[moonrvr64]

Maybe the higher Humidity is the problem. I guess tomorrow I'll pull the plug. Will let you know what I find. Thanks for response.

 

[FarmGirl01]

Did you candle the eggs before placing them in the bator. Shipped eggs can have loose air cells. I just bought 12 eggs last week and all had loose air cells and none developed. I broke open most of them and the yolks and white were mixed up.

 

[Arielle]

Temp at 99/100 and humidity at 57/60. Increased both on day 18 and took out the turner.




[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Not sure what you mean here. DId you increase the temperature on day 18?? The temp should be kept the same and the hatching chicks may drive up the temp anyway. Eggs need to lose moisture, candling helps to verify the loss as the air cell increases.[/FONT]

Candling is to check the air cell development. HEre is some basic info that may help for the next try.

















How To Incubate & Hatch Eggs Using The "Dry Incubation" Method - BackYard Chickens Community

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/635856/a-how-to-guide-to-hatching-your-own-chicks

Hope you will try hatching again!! It takes a bit of learning to get it right. Your're not alone.

 

[moonrvr64]

My mistake, I did decreased the temp to 98.5 on day 18 and increased the H to 70%. That was helpful about the candling.. and will check the info now. I've decided to buy some peeps
AND try to hatch more eggs. That way I can enjoy the peeps and not have to wait so long with unsure results. Just won't spend so much next time. I'm going to check the eggs tonight and will let you know what I find tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[SierraView]

Hatching eggs is very fun when everything goes right. There are some great guides to follow, the more you do it the better you get.

I think you should start more eggs asap