Egg has stopped cheeping

[Nicky S]

We have two eggs in lockdown that mamma left in the nest after the first baby hatched. We don’t know their exact age as this was a very staggered affair, but we did our best guess with candling and moved these two from one incubator with earlier eggs to another identical one that we’ve put in lock down. It’s a Nurture Right 360, and the lockdown one has humidity 60-70 with the vent fully open. Last night we heard cheeping from the eggs several times. This morning humidity had dropped to 50, but is now back up again though it took a little while. We have not heard a peep all day. I’ve played chick noises too but nothing. I know that the hatching process can take a while, but we are over 20 hours not hearing anything (though we’ve been in and out), no signs of external pipping yet. Should we be as worried as we are? Could the drop in humidity last night have affected things? My son is desperate to candle but I’ve said no so far. We also have another egg that should probably be locked down - is it ok to open for a second to put it in?

 

[BelovedBirds]

We have two eggs in lockdown that mamma left in the nest after the first baby hatched. We don’t know their exact age as this was a very staggered affair, but we did our best guess with candling and moved these two from one incubator with earlier eggs to another identical one that we’ve put in lock down. It’s a Nurture Right 360, and the lockdown one has humidity 60-70 with the vent fully open. Last night we heard cheeping from the eggs several times. This morning humidity had dropped to 50, but is now back up again though it took a little while. We have not heard a peep all day. I’ve played chick noises too but nothing. I know that the hatching process can take a while, but we are over 20 hours not hearing anything (though we’ve been in and out), no signs of external pipping yet. Should we be as worried as we are? Could the drop in humidity last night have affected things? My son is desperate to candle but I’ve said no so far. We also have another egg that should probably be locked down - is it ok to open for a second to put it in?

Safety holes can be made 18-24 hours after internal pip if there is no sign of an external pip. After 24 hours the chick will start to run out of oxygen and is at risk of not making it, since you are 20 hours in, I would go ahead. But of course it is up to you- It only needs to be a very very small hole, like a pin sized hole, and candle the egg first to ensure the chick is not in the way. Go very slowly, don't rush to put the egg back in, as you could end up making a bigger hole than intended.
I'll send you this, have a little read and familiarise yourself, you will probably find it super helpful!!
assisted hatching
Best of luck!!

 

[Nicky S]

Safety holes can be made 18-24 hours after internal pip if there is no sign of an external pip. After 24 hours the chick will start to run out of oxygen and is at risk of not making it, since you are 20 hours in, I would go ahead. But of course it is up to you- It only needs to be a very very small hole, like a pin sized hole, and candle the egg first to ensure the chick is not in the way. Go very slowly, don't rush to put the egg back in, as you could end up making a bigger hole than intended.
I'll send you this, have a little read and familiarise yourself, you will probably find it super helpful!!
assisted hatching
Best of luck!!

Thank you! Yes that was super helpful. We made a little hole but there are still no sounds or movement, I think something must have happened

 

[Yardmom]

It might be time to do a quick candel to see if there is movement.

 

[Nicky S]

It might be time to do a quick candel to see if there is movement.

We did and couldn’t see any movement , but we have a hard time candling. It looked like it was internally pipped. We made a little hole but still can’t hear anything, so I’m not very hopeful. We checked the humidity with a second meter and it said in the upper 80s, but that was only for lockdown - the other incubator looked correct at 50. No idea what happened

 

[3KillerBs]

We did and couldn’t see any movement , but we have a hard time candling. It looked like it was internally pipped. We made a little hole but still can’t hear anything, so I’m not very hopeful. We checked the humidity with a second meter and it said in the upper 80s, but that was only for lockdown - the other incubator looked correct at 50. No idea what happened

I'm sorry.

In my first hatch I had one that made an internal pip but never progressed past that.

I also have one that I assisted because she was half-zipped and we thought she was only hindered by dry membranes, but she's crippled with a splayed leg and a folded-up foot. I suspect that the one that didn't make it would also have had issues.

 

[Nicky S]

I'm sorry.

In my first hatch I had one that made an internal pip but never progressed past that.

I also have one that I assisted because she was half-zipped and we thought she was only hindered by dry membranes, but she's crippled with a splayed leg and a folded-up foot. I suspect that the one that didn't make it would also have had issues.

It’s tough. We weren’t planning on hatching any, and certainly didn’t want an incubator - so of course we ended up with one hatched by mamma and two separate incubators . We’ve tried really, really hard for these babies - hoping the rest of the bunch do better.

 

[BelovedBirds]

It’s tough. We weren’t planning on hatching any, and certainly didn’t want an incubator - so of course we ended up with one hatched by mamma and two separate incubators . We’ve tried really, really hard for these babies - hoping the rest of the bunch do better.

I hope so too!
There is a chance that the chick could be resting, but if there was no movement at all that is concerning
One other thing you can try is tapping on the shell gently, and listening for any peeps or taps from inside, but I would have expected this response when making the safety hole... I hope the rest do better

 

[Nicky S]

I hope so too!
There is a chance that the chick could be resting, but if there was no movement at all that is concerning
One other thing you can try is tapping on the shell gently, and listening for any peeps or taps from inside, but I would have expected this response when making the safety hole... I hope the rest do better

Confirmed today that the chick didn’t make it . My husband and son opened up the shell as if they were doing an assisted hatch but the chick had already died as we thought would be the case. They said the chick looked fully developed, nothing externally wrong with it (my husband is a vet so even though he doesn’t do chickens normally he has a good eye). The humidity has been around 50% for incubation since we removed them from our broody (she stole 9 extra eggs without us realizing, so it’s a very staggered hatch with no proper dates), and then the eggs we thought were ready for lockdown were at 70% humidity. I think we may have put them in lockdown a bit too early, however. We now have one egg in lockdown and 4 in the other incubator. Is there anything I should do for the lockdown egg? I think I’m going to candle again to check the air sac size in case it’s been too humid and it isn’t big enough. Would making an air hole after internal pipping help if the air sac hasn’t grown enough? If we have doubts, is it better to put the other eggs in lockdown sooner or should we wait until later? Many thanks - I’d hate for the others to go the same way as this first one.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Confirmed today that the chick didn’t make it . My husband and son opened up the shell as if they were doing an assisted hatch but the chick had already died as we thought would be the case. They said the chick looked fully developed, nothing externally wrong with it (my husband is a vet so even though he doesn’t do chickens normally he has a good eye). The humidity has been around 50% for incubation since we removed them from our broody (she stole 9 extra eggs without us realizing, so it’s a very staggered hatch with no proper dates), and then the eggs we thought were ready for lockdown were at 70% humidity. I think we may have put them in lockdown a bit too early, however. We now have one egg in lockdown and 4 in the other incubator. Is there anything I should do for the lockdown egg? I think I’m going to candle again to check the air sac size in case it’s been too humid and it isn’t big enough. Would making an air hole after internal pipping help if the air sac hasn’t grown enough? If we have doubts, is it better to put the other eggs in lockdown sooner or should we wait until later? Many thanks - I’d hate for the others to go the same way as this first one.

I'm sorry about the chick!! It's hard to lose them, I know the feeling of assisting a hatch turning into an "eggtopsy", it's a terrible disappointment...

You have two options for lockdown, either guessing the day that they are on and putting into lockdown, or perhaps the safer route of waiting for air cells to drop/ for an internal pip before increasing humidity-
Not turning the eggs isnt really an issue, as long as they were turned consistently during the first half of incubation, you're unlikely to have any problems not turning them once they have filled up the egg.
At that point you can leave them be, candle often, daily, (if you have a flashlight on your phone you can candle them in the incubator without moving them) and once the air cell begins to grow/draw down you know they're getting ready. You might even see them pushing the membrane, at this point you could raise the humidity up for lockdown.

When to make the safety hole is entirely up to you, but personally I only do so if they havent externally pipped after internally pipping 18-24 hours ago- some people go the safer route of doing a safety hole straight after internal pip- but this can cause delayed hatches as they don't feel the urge to externally pip as urgently.
You can read more here: Assisted hatching article