Do I keep waiting?

[walker1229]

I am hatching my first set of eggs in my incubator, I originally had 15 from our local feed store. 6 were not fertilized, so that left me 9 (8 I could see movement and chicks 1 I was unsure about) at lock down, on day 21/22 I had 3 eggs hatch, it is now day 24 and there are no pips nothing, how much longer should I give them? I feel bummed that I only got 3 from 15 eggs

 

[Tanichca]

Sometimes, that happens. Give them two more days, and candle tonight. Maybe open up one egg, to see if the chick died of something (shrink wrapping, drowning, and disability are all possibilities.) Hatching is, sadly, not an exact science, and even the most experienced hatchers have crappy hatch rates for seemingly no reason sometimes.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I am hatching my first set of eggs in my incubator, I originally had 15 from our local feed store. 6 were not fertilized, so that left me 9 (8 I could see movement and chicks 1 I was unsure about) at lock down, on day 21/22 I had 3 eggs hatch, it is now day 24 and there are no pips nothing, how much longer should I give them? I feel bummed that I only got 3 from 15 eggs

Personally I would candle and check for internal pips and movement. If there was none, I would proceed to eggtopsy. Generally (with exceptions as always) any chicks that are going to hatch usualy do so within 48 hours or so after the first hatch. I you had on time hatchers, I wouldn't expect to have anymore this late in the time frame. (Not impossible, just improbable.)

If you are more comfortable waiting another day or two, there is nothing wrong with that, I just don't like prolonging the inevitable.

 

[walker1229]

Well I opened them one had nothing at all, 2 had started to develop but stopped pretty early, 2 had really developed but still had good size yolks on them, and the last had a completely absorbed yolk but its head was really deformed so I am guessing it couldn't pip. Trying to decide if we should even try again I really wanted more than just 3 but can't afford buying day old chicks online because they cost so much

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Well I opened them one had nothing at all, 2 had started to develop but stopped pretty early, 2 had really developed but still had good size yolks on them, and the last had a completely absorbed yolk but its head was really deformed so I am guessing it couldn't pip. Trying to decide if we should even try again I really wanted more than just 3 but can't afford buying day old chicks online because they cost so much

If you'd like some help and tips to give it a second try I'm more than willing to share my experiences and I'm sure others are as well. What kind of incubator are you using? (My first attempt at hatching I ended up with 1 out of 17 and almost gave up. So glad I didn't. Every hatch since then has been over 80% from lockdown rate and over 70% from set rate. My last was 100% from lockdown 95% from set. I use an LG 9200)

 

[AmyLynn2374]

BTW:

 

[walker1229]

We decided to try again, I am using a homemade incubator, I have a digital thermostat, fan and two bulbs in it, the temp was between 99 and 100, the humidity was between 50-60 during turning time and 60-70 during lock down. On day 18 I stopped turning and left them until the first two hatched, then I let them sit 24 hours until dry none had pipped so I took them out and closed it right back up, the next day our last one pipped and hatched that evening. Any tips would be great, also I was curious on the one that were full grown but still had yolk they had some white stuff that looked like big chalaza on them I wasn't sure if that was normal or not...any tips would be great, I wasn't 100% sure my temp was right, I put two extra thermometers in with the thermostat but they both read different from each other and the thermostat so I got the thermostat calibrated to one that seemed the most accurate.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We decided to try again, I am using a homemade incubator, I have a digital thermostat, fan and two bulbs in it, the temp was between 99 and 100, the humidity was between 50-60 during turning time and 60-70 during lock down. On day 18 I stopped turning and left them until the first two hatched, then I let them sit 24 hours until dry none had pipped so I took them out and closed it right back up, the next day our last one pipped and hatched that evening. Any tips would be great, also I was curious on the one that were full grown but still had yolk they had some white stuff that looked like big chalaza on them I wasn't sure if that was normal or not...any tips would be great, I wasn't 100% sure my temp was right, I put two extra thermometers in with the thermostat but they both read different from each other and the thermostat so I got the thermostat calibrated to one that seemed the most accurate.

If there's no fan, (still air) you want 101-102 for temps. If it's fan forced 99.5 is goal so those temps would be ok. Humidity, I would suggest a low humidity incubation and monitoring the air cells to adjust humidity. In my opinion 50-60% is pretty high for the first 17 days. I run 30-35% and 75% at lockdown (I run high lockdown because I open during hatching.) If you check the air cells during the incubation it will let you know if your humidity is working for your eggs. Here's my method: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity My guess would be the ones that developed fully and didn't make might be due to not enough moisture loss. Were they quite wet, had excessive moisture in the shell?

 

[walker1229]

I'm not sure, they hadn't pipped or anything, they did have moisture in the shell but had a good size air sac.

 

[walker1229]

Oh I read your thing and I was confused before, I thought more humidity meant the air sac would get bigger and the lower the humidity the smaller the air sac, my guess would be that would be the problem, I kept it high thinking it would help so I will keep it lower to start and then about where I had it this time for lock down.