Egg has stopped cheeping

[Nicky S]

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

Thanks so much - I had not thought about candling in place, we’ll give it a go as we’ve been going to a closet to get it dark enough.

We’ll definitely wait to move the eggs across - I’m guessing I should stop the automatic turner and manually turn the earlier ones?

What should I do with the remaining egg that went too early into lockdown? My son says the air cell is large, so can I assume it dried out enough?

Thanks again, I’ll take another read of the article, it’s been very helpful!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thanks so much - I had not thought about candling in place, we’ll give it a go as we’ve been going to a closet to get it dark enough.

We’ll definitely wait to move the eggs across - I’m guessing I should stop the automatic turner and manually turn the earlier ones?

What should I do with the remaining egg that went too early into lockdown? My son says the air cell is large, so can I assume it dried out enough?

Thanks again, I’ll take another read of the article, it’s been very helpful!

I usually candle in the evening/at night, turn off the light and candle quickly, then put the light back on and close the incubator up- but see if you can get the room dark enough! Depending on the egg shell thickness and colour sometimes you can get away with it easier-

If some of the eggs are filled up and mostly black, then they don't need to be turned. If some still have a lot of liquid in, and the embryos are smaller, then you can continue to turn by hand, it is tricky with staggered hatches. This should be safer than locking them down together and raising humidity too soon though.

If the air cell is large, or perhaps dropping down to one side slightly, then I would leave this egg in lockdown as it could be close-on that note let me see if I can find a diagram! It will show the stages of air cell growth

And yes! It is a very good article!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thanks so much - I had not thought about candling in place, we’ll give it a go as we’ve been going to a closet to get it dark enough.

We’ll definitely wait to move the eggs across - I’m guessing I should stop the automatic turner and manually turn the earlier ones?

What should I do with the remaining egg that went too early into lockdown? My son says the air cell is large, so can I assume it dried out enough?

Thanks again, I’ll take another read of the article, it’s been very helpful!

Can't seem to download any diagram/images of air cells (ugh phone)
But here is a link to another thread which has a diagram:
Thread here
(It's worth noting that the OP and comments are refering to the duck egg diagram, not the chicken egg)

Of course it will depend on humidity, but this is a rough guide that may help, the lowest line indicates the size of the air cell before lockdown

 

[Nicky S]

Can't seem to download any diagram/images of air cells (ugh phone)
But here is a link to another thread which has a diagram:
Thread here
(It's worth noting that the OP and comments are refering to the duck egg diagram, not the chicken egg)

Of course it will depend on humidity, but this is a rough guide that may help, the lowest line indicates the size of the air cell before lockdown

Thanks so much - I'll check it out and see if I can figure this business out - it's such a steep learning curve. So many hours researching Come on babies, don't put me through a failed hatch again please! I have lowered the humidity a bit in the non-lockdown incubator as it was creeping up to closer to 55, so I'm aiming more for 40/45% I'll update once I know a little more, we're going to try candling in place shortly with the blinds down.

 

[Nicky S]

Thanks so much - I'll check it out and see if I can figure this business out - it's such a steep learning curve. So many hours researching Come on babies, don't put me through a failed hatch again please! I have lowered the humidity a bit in the non-lockdown incubator as it was creeping up to closer to 55, so I'm aiming more for 40/45% I'll update once I know a little more, we're going to try candling in place shortly with the blinds down.

Egg number 2 started cheeping last night - we heard around 10.30 when we went to candle. We decided to make a safety hole just in case seeing as something had gone wrong with egg 1. We put a humidifier in the room to bump up general humidity. Baby was cheeping fine when we put them back in with just a teeny hole (we candled to check position) and we could see and feel them tapping the shell. We then thought no point staying up all night as it could be a long while before anything happens, but my son woke me at 2 because the chick was cheeping very loudly. It was quiet by the time I went in to see, but did another cheep for me when I tapped the incubator. It’s now 5 and after much vigorous tapping of the incubator I got one cheep, not a loud one. No signs of external pipping. I know they rest, and it’s not been even 12 hours since we heard them first, but after egg 1 and our guesswork during incubation I’m very worried. Of course they might have pipped internally earlier than we we first heard too. The membrane by the hole we made is white - it really is a teeny hole, should we remove more? How long do we wait? I was so hoping to see signs of progress this morning! Off to read the article yet again!

 

[Cerci]

Sorry you are not watching "The Perfect Hatch". I can really sympathise with you as my last hatch was one from "hell". Out of 13 eggs, only two made it to lockdown. No peeps or movement from either two, until late on day 18 when small pip appeared on one egg, and, in the middle. Couldn't see beak, movement or hear peep until day 19. One live chick hatched early. The other died before it was able to absorb egg yolk. I never interefered at any stage as live baby started hatch really early and I wanted it to finish its yolk absorption as much as possible. 20 days of anxiety and only one little lavender fluff butt to show for it! Hopefully yours will pickup pace and you get joy at the end of it all!

 

[Nicky S]

Sorry you are not watching "The Perfect Hatch". I can really sympathise with you as my last hatch was one from "hell". Out of 13 eggs, only two made it to lockdown. No peeps or movement from either two, until late on day 18 when small pip appeared on one egg, and, in the middle. Couldn't see beak, movement or hear peep until day 19. One live chick hatched early. The other died before it was able to absorb egg yolk. I never interefered at any stage as live baby started hatch really early and I wanted it to finish its yolk absorption as much as possible. 20 days of anxiety and only one little lavender fluff butt to show for it! Hopefully yours will pickup pace and you get joy at the end of it all!

Oh no, it’s so hard! So glad one little one survived for you. Once I’ve heard them cheep is when it gets hard for me - they are so close to making it! Holding off for now as I’m hearing cheeps from time to time, but I’m glad I made the air hole because the first egg didn’t survive the night. It’s been so much guesswork as this is one of the eggs my broody stole at some point during her incubation, so I really don’t know how old it is

 

[BelovedBirds]

Egg number 2 started cheeping last night - we heard around 10.30 when we went to candle. We decided to make a safety hole just in case seeing as something had gone wrong with egg 1. We put a humidifier in the room to bump up general humidity. Baby was cheeping fine when we put them back in with just a teeny hole (we candled to check position) and we could see and feel them tapping the shell. We then thought no point staying up all night as it could be a long while before anything happens, but my son woke me at 2 because the chick was cheeping very loudly. It was quiet by the time I went in to see, but did another cheep for me when I tapped the incubator. It’s now 5 and after much vigorous tapping of the incubator I got one cheep, not a loud one. No signs of external pipping. I know they rest, and it’s not been even 12 hours since we heard them first, but after egg 1 and our guesswork during incubation I’m very worried. Of course they might have pipped internally earlier than we we first heard too. The membrane by the hole we made is white - it really is a teeny hole, should we remove more? How long do we wait? I was so hoping to see signs of progress this morning! Off to read the article yet again!

Since baby has an air hole, there should be plenty of air for him for now- so he shouldnt be in any immediate danger. It's best to take these things slow, one step at a time, but believe me I know how nerve wracking it is!!
How is baby doing now? Since you mention the membrane looking white, is there any way you could take a photo of the safety hole without opening the incubator? (difficult with some incubators, sometimes the plastic is rather obscure)

 

[BelovedBirds]

Oh no, it’s so hard! So glad one little one survived for you. Once I’ve heard them cheep is when it gets hard for me - they are so close to making it! Holding off for now as I’m hearing cheeps from time to time, but I’m glad I made the air hole because the first egg didn’t survive the night. It’s been so much guesswork as this is one of the eggs my broody stole at some point during her incubation, so I really don’t know how old it is

it's worth mentioning that after chicks internally pip, they feel a sort of urgency to externally pip as they are running out of air- when they have a safety hole, it means they won't run out- but removes that initial urgency-
This isn't anything bad, but it can make for a slower hatch than usual, so don't be alarmed if baby keeps you waiting a little longer than you would expect!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Oh no, it’s so hard! So glad one little one survived for you. Once I’ve heard them cheep is when it gets hard for me - they are so close to making it! Holding off for now as I’m hearing cheeps from time to time, but I’m glad I made the air hole because the first egg didn’t survive the night. It’s been so much guesswork as this is one of the eggs my broody stole at some point during her incubation, so I really don’t know how old it is

While in the eggs peeping, chicks actually encourage eachother through hatch, since its just this one internally pipped (?) You could try playing some chick chirping noises near the incubator, it may encourage him!