Day 25 (hatching possibly in progress)

[DrunkenPony]

On 6/26, I set a dozen Trader Joe's eggs in a homemade styrofoam incubator equipped with a desk lamp, 25w bulb, tray/sponge, digital thermometer/hygrometer, top and side viewing windows, and the top of the egg carton for the eggs to set in. Needless to say I hadn't expected much from this hatch seeing how it is my first try at hatching eggs, for 3 weeks my temperature was flying all over the place, and I never succeeded at getting my humidity higher than 28%. However, I stuck with it hoping for a chicken miracle

Week 1: 10 out of 12 were fertile and began developing

Week 2: 5 out of 10 quit on me and developed huge blood rings

Lockdown: 3 out of 5 looked behind in development (shadowing only 1/4 of the egg) that I decided to give a chance and not throw out. 2 out of 5 had fully developed and active embryos.

I managed to convince the DH on day 18 to let me hi-jack the bathroom where I successfully got the temperature to stabilize at 102 and can get the humidity up to 65-67%. Mind you he only agreed to this thinking it was only going to last 4 days.

Day 21: Nothing happened; no pips, zips, peeps, rocking. Researching like crazy on BYC, I determined it was due to my low temperatures.

Day 22: Nothing again...feeling super discouraged at this point.

Day 23: Nothing once more, planned to give up and toss the eggs and order a Hova Bator Genesis to start anew. Thought it wouldn't hurt to candle them before tossing.. The 3 that looked behind had gotten bigger, but no movement. However, the 2 that were developed and moving just before lockdown appeared even larger and moving much more at this point. I put them back in the bator, recovered the temperature and humidity, and continued to wait it out.

Day 24: Nothing yet again, but I still had hope. Unfortunately, after having checked on the bator every 30 minutes for over 3 weeks, I sat down to help the DH write a couple essays which took up a couple hours. Finished, I ran in to check the eggs only to find that the temperature had spiked to 108 (humidity at 55%). I freaked out, removed the eggs, cooled the bator down and upped the humidity. My first thought was to candle the two I had hopes for to hatch to what damage I had done...no movement and veins looked dark. I put everything back as it was (still correct temperature/humidity) and told myself I'd clean up in the morning.

Day 25: Getting ready to disassemble everything, I candled the two eggs once more. One of the eggs (I have already named Hokey) had shifted its head towards the air sac, nearly shadowing the entire space of the egg (besides the air sac) and showed flickering signs of movement. The other egg (which I have already named Pokey) had also shifted its head towards the air sac and is obviously poking vigorously at the air sac. I currently have the temperature stabilized on 102 and had the humidity at 67%. The humidity as of 5 minutes ago has shot up to 74% with no shower on, but I can't see any pips yet.

Just wanted to share this emotional roller coaster experience with everyone. Any input, advice, or happy hatching thoughts are greatly appreciated while I anxiously wait this out. I really appreciated all the experiences, coaching, and educational advice that the BYC community has provided. I don't think I would have made it this far in my hatch had it not been for all of you. Thanks!

Note: Pokey's egg was the largest in the dozen (jumbo size) and has an elongated shape. Hokey's egg was the smallest in the dozed (bantam size) and is almost perfectly round. Should either of this egg shapes be a concern?

 

[Lacrystol]

No, egg shape isn't going to be a concern, if temp was to low, you will definitely have late hatchers. Keep the temp up there, 102 seems kind of high to me, exspecially at a constant, I like to keep mine at 100 to 101, your humidity will flexuate but this usually happens when they are out. Once one gets out, the other will follow right behind, as long as you can see movement, I would wait. I usually have my humidity at 60 to 65 during lockdown. Sounds like you are on the right track but I'm a little concern about that temp being at 102. if you can i would lower it just under that. 101.5 or something. You don't want to make a huge drop right now. So if you can do it gradually. 108 is a HUGE alarm but as long as it wasn't at that for a long amounts of time, you still should be OK, sounds like it wasn't other wise you would not see the last two moving or pulsing at the membrane..

I have had my last hatching temp drop down into the 80's because our electric went out and this was two days into Lockdown. I put candle's in there to help a little in getting the temp up. it was not easy because there was no oxygen going into the incubator so the candles kept going out, I did have the fan on but it wasn't helping as far as keeping the candles light.. LOL however because of this hatching day was delayed..

 

[sumi]

I had a day 25 surprise chick once. She was hatched under a hen. She grew into a beautiful, happy hen.
Good luck with your hatch

and keep us posted!

 

[DrunkenPony]

Well...Hokey and Pokey are at rainbow bridge now. After waking up to no progress, I candled and saw no movement. I gave them a little bit longer before deciding to open them up. Neither had broken through the air sac and both were dead upon opening, although fully developed. I did notice that Hokey had very deformed looking feet and was wrapped very tightly in a ball. I'm thinking the fact that the egg was so small, it could not position itself to pip. Pokey on the other hand was pressed up against the air sac, but looks as if it could not break through. The only odd thing was one side of it's head looks as though it's bulging compared to the other side. I did take lot's of pictures and will post later this evening if anyone is interested.

Thank you two for the good wishes and advice. This was one heck of a learning experience and I'm definitely not going to give up on hatching, so will be ordering a Hova Bator 1588 towards the end of this month. I have not decided whether I want to give it another go with Trader Joe's eggs or try some from a local breeder. Decisions, decisions.