Egg went several days with low humidity.

[Tatuana]

I had some badly shipped eggs (no fault of the shipper) that all quit on me. I checked about four days ago and they were all blood ringed. I should note that I'm struggling with near crippling depression, so I just left it running and ignored it until I could toss them. I candled one last time last night because I like candling. And I'm glad I did! One of my dark green eggs for sure has movement in it.

But... I haven't given them water/turned them in like four days!! He was placed in the incubator on the 25th in the evening so he's due soon. What do I do?! What CAN I do?

I was SURE the little thing had a blood ring before I saw the definite movement. There was no movement when I checked last time. I triple checked the others and he's the only live one.

 

[katiek77]

I had some badly shipped eggs (no fault of the shipper) that all quit on me. I checked about four days ago and they were all blood ringed. I should note that I'm struggling with near crippling depression, so I just left it running and ignored it until I could toss them. I candled one last time last night because I like candling. And I'm glad I did! One of my dark green eggs for sure has movement in it.

But... I haven't given them water/turned them in like four days!! He was placed in the incubator on the 25th in the evening so he's due soon. What do I do?! What CAN I do?

I was SURE the little thing had a blood ring before I saw the definite movement. There was no movement when I checked last time. I triple checked the others and he's the only live one.

In my opinion low humidity is better than high humidity. I do 23-32% says 1-18 and 50-55% at lockdown

 

[LynnaePB]

I've heard that turning isn't as important after the 14th day, so the lack of turning this late into incubation hopefully won't be a problem. I don't think the drop in humidity would hurt too much, if your humidity was on the high side during incubation it might even help. How does the air cell look, does it look too small or too large? If the air cell grew too much you could lock down early and raise the humidity now, the egg is at day 17 right? If it's too small you could wait until sometime during day 19 or until you see an internal pip and lockdown and raise humidity then. I've had quite a few eggs hatch where the air cell was very large, too small has been iffier for me. Shipped eggs are tricky, if this little one doesn't make it I'd bet it's more likely due to damage from shipping than from not being turned and having low humidity towards the end of incubation. Good luck, I hope your little one hatches without issues for you!

 

[Tatuana]

I've heard that turning isn't as important after the 14th day, so the lack of turning this late into incubation hopefully won't be a problem. I don't think the drop in humidity would hurt too much, if your humidity was on the high side during incubation it might even help. How does the air cell look, does it look too small or too large? If the air cell grew too much you could lock down early and raise the humidity now, the egg is at day 17 right? If it's too small you could wait until sometime during day 19 or until you see an internal pip and lockdown and raise humidity then. I've had quite a few eggs hatch where the air cell was very large, too small has been iffier for me. Shipped eggs are tricky, if this little one doesn't make it I'd bet it's more likely due to damage from shipping than from not being turned and having low humidity towards the end of incubation. Good luck, I hope your little one hatches without issues for you!

When the eggs arrived they were too scrambled to find the air cell. I never marked it stupidly! I'm helping a girl figure out the best way to ship her eggs, so trial and error. The egg is a dark green one so by the time the air cell settled it was too far in and I forgot. He's still very much alive tonight. Madder than a wet hen at the light.


The top line by the 6 is the air. You still get a lot of liquid wobbling around it. I try to be careful. The bottom is where the baby never filled out the egg. I think he's due this Thursday or Friday? I'm rooting for him. If he makes it I have to pray IFA has some babies I can buy.

Since finding out he's alive I have a secondary problem.... I arranged with a lady last week to pick up some eggs locally. (To make sure it's not my incubator causing problems). She traveled two hours to bring them (her mother lives nearby and it's mother's day, but still). I now have a dozen eggs to go in that need to be turned. And my current baby is ready for lockdown! I'm hoping that since the eggs that I picked up we're laid this morning that they will be okay for a few days before I can put them in..

 

[katiek77]

When the eggs arrived they were too scrambled to find the air cell. I never marked it stupidly! I'm helping a girl figure out the best way to ship her eggs, so trial and error. The egg is a dark green one so by the time the air cell settled it was too far in and I forgot. He's still very much alive tonight. Madder than a wet hen at the light.


The top line by the 6 is the air. You still get a lot of liquid wobbling around it. I try to be careful. The bottom is where the baby never filled out the egg. I think he's due this Thursday or Friday? I'm rooting for him. If he makes it I have to pray IFA has some babies I can buy.View attachment 1773626 View attachment 1773627

View attachment 1773624


Since finding out he's alive I have a secondary problem.... I arranged with a lady last week to pick up some eggs locally. (To make sure it's not my incubator causing problems). She traveled two hours to bring them (her mother lives nearby and it's mother's day, but still). I now have a dozen eggs to go in that need to be turned. And my current baby is ready for lockdown! I'm hoping that since the eggs that I picked up we're laid this morning that they will be okay for a few days before I can put them in..

The new eggs should be fine for a week. Store them in an egg cartoon fatside up and elevate an end up and switch off to elevate the other end. Do this a couple times a day.

 

[LynnaePB]

The size of the air cell looks pretty good to me, if it were my egg I'd probably wait until day 19 to raise the humidity since there is enough white left to slosh around in the air cell. I've never had an egg with a broken air cell make it to lockdown but I believe I read somewhere about someone who managed to hatch one like that. I'd maybe recommend trying to hatch in a cut down egg carton with the fat side of the egg elevated, it will reduce the likelihood of drowning as long as the baby isn't malpositioned on the wrong side of the egg, I normally wouldn't suggest it since if the baby is malpositioned it could prevent it from hatching but I think with a broken air cell like that the benefit probably outweighs the risk (I've never done it myself but I've read a lot of people have more success with it with shipped eggs with damaged air cells).

I agree with katiek77 regarding the new eggs.

Good luck, that egg could be a tricky one to hatch with the damage to the air cell, I'm rooting for you and the little one!

 

[Tatuana]

I can't find movement in the egg this morning. I'm hoping he's just sleeping and didn't pass overnight. Last night he was VERY active. He's a little trooper so he has to make it.

I have him or her set up with the big end pointed up. I'll have to see if I can squeeze in the new eggs with it. It's a tiny incubator so I may not have enough room.

 

[LynnaePB]

Aww I'm sorry to hear that, I hope he is just resting as well, It's amazing he has made it this far.

Good luck with your new eggs as well, I love incubating local eggs, so much easier than the shipped ones!

 

[Tatuana]

I checked again. No movement. I'm hoping that it's too bright to see clearly. Last night you could see him kick really well. I haven't counted him out yet (I mean, he WAS dead a few days ago) but it's not looking well.

I did have to make a memo to self. We turned on the AC today. Which is fine and dandy, except my incubator is in the basement. An alarm started going off telling me it was too cold. I thought putting in the new eggs chilled it. (They were kind of chilly). It wasn't going back up. I watched it carefully and realized my AC was blowing. It went low when the AC went on. So now it's snuggled in a pair of my jeans, and I'm carefully keeping an eye on the temp to be sure it's stable.

Local eggs are also so much cheaper! I got a dozen for $8. I wanted mutt mixes again, which I got. She collects all the pretty chickens, and has a barred rock rooster. We shall see if they hatch and what weird things I get.

 

[LynnaePB]

Sorry to hear there still isn't any movement. I'm glad you managed to find a good deal on local eggs, it sounds like the eggs you just got will hatch into interesting chickens! I love hatching mixes, it's so fun to see what they turn out to look like, the few times I hatched local mixed chicks they were great at hatching successfully!

Good luck keeping the incubator temperature stable, I can sympathize, I had to learn to live with a little fluctuation in my incubators when our house temperature was swinging over 10 degrees colder at night vs in the day. I tried wrapping a blanket around the base of the incubator but I could never get it quite right.