did I do wrong?

[teutschb]

My chicks are overdue to hatch, so I decided to check!! Well, I saw movement inside 2 eggs when I candled but they were not through the inside lining! When does shrink wrap happen? Are they still safe since they are still within the inside linning? I hope I didn't make a mistake. I was loosing hope of any hatch. I did have 2 eggs that died, which I removed. Just wondered if I hurt them. These are my swedish hens. I started with 15 eggs and now I have 4. I'm very nervous! Dear husband may skin me if I lose them!

I did increase humidity at lock down and temp has been steady. I've hatched before with great sucess. These just seem to be very slow! Thanks for reading this. Hope someone can help!!

 

[sonew123]

what are your temps-humidity-what day are you on? have you openes the bator after lockdown? how many times??

 

[teutschb]

My tem is 98 and my humidity is 58. I am at 23 and I only opened it once but tried to leave the lid on as best as possible. When I found live chicks, I didn't candle any further. I has two dead chicks in first eggs I checked. They were out and back in in seconds. One eggs I didn't even remove from the incubator. What do you think?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I hatch at 100*... it could be the cooler temp making them go a couple days longer....

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
98 is too low I agree with WMR I try for 100-200.5 every time.

 

[teutschb]

Ok, I was checking my incubator, and it says 99.8. I was a little off on my reading. But, what I wondering, is if the eggs aren't through the inner membrain of the egg yet, can they still shrink wrap?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I don't think they can shrinkwrap until they have externally pipped, unless the humidity is SUPER dry... They can drown though if it's too high... I found I've had the best luck with humidity at 55-65%. Best advice I can say is don't open the bator.

 

[deerman]

First if incubator is a still air(no fan) then temp need to be 101 top of egg......sound like temp may have been to low. late hatch main reason are low temps.

 

[HetaChick]

Well if I remember correctly, 99.5 is a hen's body temperature, so aiming for 99.5 to 100.5 is ideal. 98 is a bit low and if it isn't too low your chicks were bound to be late. When I first started hatching chicks I had a menagerie of troubles, (before I found such a great chicken community such as this.)

I hope your chicks hatch, try to stay out of the incubator is the only thing I can think of, and remedy the temperature, although it may be too late now. =/

 

[RareBreedFancier]

What kind of incubator are you using? Does it have a fan? 98f is too low either way and could cause them to be late. 99.8 is ok if it has a fan but still to cool if it's a still air.

Also are you sure the thermometer is reading right? One of mine reads a degree higher than it really is and I have one I don't use that is off by several degrees.

I hope your chicks hatch for you, I don't think they will be shrink wrapped unless they have internally piped. Good luck!