Day 28 - No Sign of Hatching

[Midnightman14]

No matter how much you want to DO NOT open the incubator at all for any reason from 3 days before the hatch till at least two after they were supposed to be due. If you open it you're letting all the humidity out which will shrink wrap the chicks in the eggs and kill them. Most of the time chicks dying in the eggs is either an issue with incubation temperature or humidity.

 

[allbirds4me]

No matter how much you want to DO NOT open the incubator at all for any reason from 3 days before the hatch till at least two after they were supposed to be due. If you open it you're letting all the humidity out which will shrink wrap the chicks in the eggs and kill them. Most of the time chicks dying in the eggs is either an issue with incubation temperature or humidity.

I really don't like to disagree with anyone and am not trying to flame anyone but that advice really is not the best , IMHO.
I speak from a LOT of experience hatching eggs for over 30 years now.
Truth of the matter is... eggs have pores.
Those pores take in oxygen which is badly needed the entire incubation time, ESPECIALLY near the end.
Open that incubator door, especially near the end, but ONLY for a few seconds at a time.
That humidity will climb right back up to where it needs to be asap , as will the temp. when you shut the incubator back up.
By opening the incubator briefly you are getting bad air out ( carbon dioxide ) & good air back into the incubator environment...it can only help.
IE: total lockdown is bs for the most part, IMHO.

 

[DylansMom]

Here in the peafowl section many of us have learned that absolutes do not really exist for us. What works great for one may not work at all for another. I personally think lockdown is BS as well. I am in that bator constantly those last 3 days. I just add some moist paper towels and the humidity shoots back up as soon as I close it. Shrink wrapped eggs have never been much of an issue. Find what works for you and you will be good.

 

[EyeKeyYou]

I think that people forget that in order for them to get true shrink wrapped they have to pip first. And then when they do get shrink wrapped you notice they keep pecking at the same hole so can help them along. I think a lot of people that don't track weight loss confuse lossing too much moisture during incubation with shrinkwrapping. You should also candle before placing in lockdown that way you can throw away the bad ones and also note the malpositioned chicks. As far as humidity and oxygen i think that when you balance 10square inches of water surface with breather holes to get to 70% humidity in a hatcher they are getting plenty of oxygen. If your water surface is smaller than this i think opening the hatcher momentarily helps especially if it is quick to go back to temperature.

 

[Midnightman14]

I really don't like to disagree with anyone and am not trying to flame anyone but that advice really is not the best , IMHO.
I speak from a LOT of experience hatching eggs for over 30 years now.
Truth of the matter is... eggs have pores.
Those pores take in oxygen which is badly needed the entire incubation time, ESPECIALLY near the end.
Open that incubator door, especially near the end, but ONLY for a few seconds at a time.
That humidity will climb right back up to where it needs to be asap , as will the temp. when you shut the incubator back up.
By opening the incubator briefly you are getting bad air out ( carbon dioxide ) & good air back into the incubator environment...it can only help.
IE: total lockdown is bs for the most part, IMHO.

If you have a properly functioning incubator CO2 won't be a problem. Even a few seconds of opening it can drop your humidity 20-30% which is not good

 

[KsKingBee]

I agree more with Allbirds, DylansMom and EyeKey You. Very important to candle before going into the hatcher and maintaining humidity is not a problem if you have enough water surface area. I maintain 85% and sometimes it will top out at 99% while they are popping out. I can open the hatcher and inspect the eggs and take out the little ones and the humidity comes back up very rapidly.

 

[casportpony]

Long story, but I just had Muscovy eggs pip, zip and hatch while the humidity was at only 25%.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I must have opened the incubator 10 times this day and it didn't get shrink wrapped or dry out:

Same with this duckling:

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

We had a beautiful hatch today. 10 eggs in the hatcher/hovabator 8 hatched superclean and full of energy. I will try to get some pics of them tomorrow. The other 2 were malpositioned and could not pip internally.. no shrink wrapping and I was in there at least once an hour. My cancer treatment side effects are horrible right now and if I didn't have the eggs hatching I would be going crazy. These birds are literally keeping me sane at this point. And of course everyone at BYC as well thank you all so much!

 

[casportpony]

We had a beautiful hatch today. 10 eggs in the hatcher/hovabator 8 hatched superclean and full of energy. I will try to get some pics of them tomorrow. The other 2 were malpositioned and could not pip internally.. no shrink wrapping and I was in there at least once an hour. My cancer treatment side effects are horrible right now and if I didn't have the eggs hatching I would be going crazy. These birds are literally keeping me sane at this point. And of course everyone at BYC as well thank you all so much!

Congrats on your hatch, and sorry you aren't feeling well.

-Kathy