Day 25 In Incubator; no more pips! Advice?

[Cozy_Thylacine]

Day 22, 3 of my chicks hatched,
It is now Day 25 and I have three eggs that haven't had any progress. How much more time should I give them? Silkies are what I am hatching.

I mislabeled my post the first time and hope that doesn't hurt the reach

 

[DemeterAD9]

Candle them and see if there is movement or peeping. A safety hole in the air cells for any who are internally pipped might give them a chance to hatch on their own.

If you don’t see any sign of life you can assume they are goners. I personally like to open up the eggs starting at the air cell and try figuring out what happened. I also just like to make sure they aren’t alive before tossing them.

 

[Cozy_Thylacine]

Candle them and see if there is movement or peeping. A safety hole in the air cells for any who are internally pipped might give them a chance to hatch on their own.

If you don’t see any sign of life you can assume they are goners. I personally like to open up the eggs starting at the air cell and try figuring out what happened. I also just like to make sure they aren’t alive before tossing them.

One seemed to have pipped at night when I was checking so I put everyone back in just in case, but no progress today on their hole... I didn't see movement or hear anything when candling though, I'm very worried about doing too much and endangering them if they are making progress.

 

[Cozy_Thylacine]

I did go ahead to assist and none of the three were able to continue. Thank you for your help, I had never heard or saw movement from these three since lockdown started, and I wonder if I acted too slowly, but now I know for next time what to look out for when the time becomes worrying. Thank you.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Sorry they didn’t make it Usually, if the incubator is running properly so all the eggs are at the same temp throughout incubation, they should all hatch around the same time. If they are not hatching or at least showing progress all at once then there is usually something wrong with the slow ones. I like to give the slow ones and extra day after the first flush or chicks hatch, then I start helping the ones who have internally pipped by creating a safety hole. If they still don’t make progress after several hours then I do more assisting and hatch them myself so long as everything is absorbed. I know some prefer to never assist and let nature choose who lives and dies but I prefer to help when I can.

If all goes as it should by day 21 you will have chicks or at least pips. If you don’t then something is wrong with either the eggs or the incubator. Always trouble shoot when things go wrong by starting with the incubator. Check the temp with more than one thermometer, check humidity with a calibrated device. Where they turned properly? Was the heat spread evenly within the incubator? Did the eggs lose enough weight/moisture to allow proper air cell growth before hatching? The last one is directly related to humidity as well as how porous each egg’s shell is.

If the incubator is good then it was likely the eggs. Shipped eggs usually don’t have great hatch rates so if they were shipped I wouldn’t be too disappointed with a 50% hatch rate. But sometimes it just comes down to bad luck. You can do everything right and still end up with a bad hatch. It helps to focus on the live ones rather than dwelling on the ones that didn’t make it.

 

[Cozy_Thylacine]

Sorry they didn’t make it Usually, if the incubator is running properly so all the eggs are at the same temp throughout incubation, they should all hatch around the same time. If they are not hatching or at least showing progress all at once then there is usually something wrong with the slow ones. I like to give the slow ones and extra day after the first flush or chicks hatch, then I start helping the ones who have internally pipped by creating a safety hole. If they still don’t make progress after several hours then I do more assisting and hatch them myself so long as everything is absorbed. I know some prefer to never assist and let nature choose who lives and dies but I prefer to help when I can.

If all goes as it should by day 21 you will have chicks or at least pips. If you don’t then something is wrong with either the eggs or the incubator. Always trouble shoot when things go wrong by starting with the incubator. Check the temp with more than one thermometer, check humidity with a calibrated device. Where they turned properly? Was the heat spread evenly within the incubator? Did the eggs lose enough weight/moisture to allow proper air cell growth before hatching? The last one is directly related to humidity as well as how porous each egg’s shell is.

If the incubator is good then it was likely the eggs. Shipped eggs usually don’t have great hatch rates so if they were shipped I wouldn’t be too disappointed with a 50% hatch rate. But sometimes it just comes down to bad luck. You can do everything right and still end up with a bad hatch. It helps to focus on the live ones rather than dwelling on the ones that didn’t make it.

Thank you so much for your advice, they were picked up from a close by breeder and I've been testing the incubator like a madwoman lol,
I love my three I have now and look forward to the next time I incubate, whatever the chances fall into Thank you again! It was disappointing but a learning experience no less.