Day 27 of first ever incubation...

[kristinandray]

this is our first time incubating eggs.... per the directions i have kept the water resivoirs full in the incubator and kept the temp at 99.5
i removed the turner @ day 17 and candled. there were two that i removed.
day 21 came, and day 21 went
NO pipping No anything.
two days ago my husband decided i was crazy and must not have seen anything when i candled.
he decided to hatch an egg himself and check
there was a baby... just not quite ready yet
sooo.... why is it taking so long? what is going on?
i still notice no pipping or anything. tomorrow morning is a week overdue?
please help, what should i do?
i thought it would be really more right on 21 days,thanks in advance

 

[Rhondax6]

I haven't hatched any with an incubator yet but I have read that if your temp is low it'll take longer?

Good luck with the wait!

 

[Orpimom]

First off...Is it chicken eggs? Other things like ducks,guineas, and pheasants etc take longer than 21 days. If it was chicken eggs,when your husband cracked it open,was it actually still alive? How formed was it? It is quite possible that the chick died well into formation.27 days is way too long for a chicken egg.How was your humidity? Too much humidity and the chick could have drowned in the shell.Not enough could affect it also.

 

[kristinandray]

yes theyre chicken eggs. and it was alive when he cracked it... but not ready ..... still blood etc... i dont know what to do? i dont have a humidistat but have kept the water rings full in the incubator and the temp at a constant 99.5 as the directions with the incubator said to....
soooo, what now?
thanks for the help!

 

[nurse_turtle]

I have never heard of chicken eggs hatching to survival after day 27. Even when the chicks are ready, there will be blood vessels that will bleed if disrupted. If there is still some yolk in the egg, then it was not ready. I would question if the day count is off somehow. Weird.

 

[kristinandray]

day count is right on... when he did crack the egg there was still blood and yolk... so not fully developed but it was Alive as well as anything ive ever seen.. which in turn made me feel HORRIBLE like an accomplice to murder.....

i know that they are "just chickens" but they are my pets and part of our family as any dog or cat would be ....
i just dont know what to do or what is going on

hopefully when my silkies grow up they are broody and can hatch the eggs for me instead of this incubator stuff.. too much confusion and worry for me! and my reds have Zero interest in hatching their eggs.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Sounds like you are having humidity problems.

You need to put a hygrometer in there, go get one for $4 from Petco and it will tell you what your humidity is. It needs to be roughly 35-45% during incubation, and 55-65% during hatching.

99.5 degrees is fine, that's about what I run in my Forced Air Brinsea.

 

[kristinandray]

i will get one in the morning! thanks for your help.... do you think i can save them this far past their "due date"?

 

[ranchhand]

Not enough info- is it a still air or forced air incubator, and how accurate is your thermometer?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:

As stated above we need to know what kind of incubator, and what type of thermometer, but *generally* I would say no it's too late for them.