Egg wiggling but no pips

[artbykarenehaley]

well i don't wanna open the incubator on lockdown...

Hi! I hatched button quail a week ago and had the same concerns as you. Oh! The anticipation! The anxiety! I want to reassure you, if you're seeing wiggling they will likely hatch. I watched my incubator so obsessively I even saw the first teeny tiny cracks that appeared up to eighteen (!!!) Hours before they completely pipped. I think that was the internal pipping happening. Try it, get a flashlight and shine it at the eggs at different angles, you'll see an edge stand out if any have started. If you see this, these eggs are on their way! It took a four day span for all 11 of my chicks to go from first internal pip to last hatch.
To avoid opening the lid all the way, but raise up the humidity, I slipped a wet sponge in near the edge of the incubator near a vent hole and anytime I saw the humidity drop I would use a pipette or baby medicine syringe to get it wet, sticking it through the vent hole.

I opened my incubator a couple times during lock down to add more sponges and all the chicks that were fully developed hatched for me. I did loose one that had begun to hatch. Unfortunately it had pipped but it's abdominal wall had not formed completely. There were six eggs in my batch that quit around day 11 to 14.

I think it's more important that you give them more humidity at this point than worry about opening the lid right now. Using something like a sponge, a wet piece of flannel as someone else mentioned or a wet paper towel will release humidity quickly. More quickly than the reservoir of water will. It will just go down if you wait.

 

[JaeG]

the incubator has an auto pump and a evaporator thingy.... yet it's still at 60%

Sounds much more high tech than mine.

60% is fine but if you want to open the incubator it is fine to do that provided none of the eggs have pipped externally. And honestly I've had a chicken egg unexpectedly pip externally when my humidity was still only 30% and it was absolutely fine. I also open my incubator while chicks are hatching if I need to remove energetic chicks that are ready to come out and I've never had any problems, but the humidity outside the incubator is generally between 50-70% (pretty humid climate) so I don't worry too much.

This part is always nerve wracking, waiting for 'something' to happen.

 

[Nabiki]

Are these button eggs? If so, your humidity is fine. If these are coturnix, your humidity is too high.

They're not due to hatch until day 17, so some wiggling at this time is a good sign. They're getting into position to hatch.

Do you have calibrated thermometers and a calibrated hygrometer inside the incubator? Never, never, ever trust the incubator's readings.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Trust me @Nabiki right i recently had a hatch lot of issues and problems because i trusted incubator xx

 

[KaleDaDuck]

Are these button eggs? If so, your humidity is fine. If these are coturnix, your humidity is too high.

They're not due to hatch until day 17, so some wiggling at this time is a good sign. They're getting into position to hatch.

Do you have calibrated thermometers and a calibrated hygrometer inside the incubator? Never, never, ever trust the incubator's readings.

well they are courturnix quailiens... and no i dont have any calibrated thermometers or hydrometers..... i trust the incubator because its brinsea and its a well known brand... is there a problem with the incubator?

 

[Nabiki]

well they are courturnix quailiens... and no i dont have any calibrated thermometers or hydrometers..... i trust the incubator because its brinsea and its a well known brand... is there a problem with the incubator?

Never, never trust the incubator's readings. Get a few thermometers and calibrate them. A good hygrometer is a good idea too. Even good incubators often don't read right on the temp and humidity.