first incubation

Okay, a little help please. I put 12 eggs in the incubator. One is definitely, possibly two are not fertile. The first 3 hatched on day 20 and 21. Since then there hasn't been anything happening at all. Today is day 22. I know they could still hatch but I'm freaking out. Yesterday the temp got up to 104 so I opened a vent hole. While I was gone the humidity went up to 82 so I stead of contacting me my husband opened the incubator. I don't know how long it was opened for but my monitor says the temp has not gone below 99 and the humidity hasn't gone below 60. Should I be worried? I know that every time the door is opened it reduces the hatch rate. I need reassurance please. It's been 30 since the last chick hatched.
 
Okay, a little help please. I put 12 eggs in the incubator. One is definitely, possibly two are not fertile. The first 3 hatched on day 20 and 21. Since then there hasn't been anything happening at all. Today is day 22. I know they could still hatch but I'm freaking out. Yesterday the temp got up to 104 so I opened a vent hole. While I was gone the humidity went up to 82 so I stead of contacting me my husband opened the incubator. I don't know how long it was opened for but my monitor says the temp has not gone below 99 and the humidity hasn't gone below 60. Should I be worried? I know that every time the door is opened it reduces the hatch rate. I need reassurance please. It's been 30 since the last chick hatched.

Did they look ok at your last candling? I mean, did they look developmentally different?
If you don't see any pips, I would candle them first, and if no obvious movement, I would try the float/wiggle test. Day 22 is not bad though, so they could just be slow. Don't panic yet, but I would suggest candling them for movement.
 
Okay, a little help please. I put 12 eggs in the incubator. One is definitely, possibly two are not fertile. The first 3 hatched on day 20 and 21. Since then there hasn't been anything happening at all. Today is day 22. I know they could still hatch but I'm freaking out. Yesterday the temp got up to 104 so I opened a vent hole. While I was gone the humidity went up to 82 so I stead of contacting me my husband opened the incubator. I don't know how long it was opened for but my monitor says the temp has not gone below 99 and the humidity hasn't gone below 60. Should I be worried? I know that every time the door is opened it reduces the hatch rate. I need reassurance please. It's been 30 since the last chick hatched.
First off, every time you open the bator does NOT reduce the hatch rate. I open my bator frequently during HATCH with over 90% hatch rate. The small risk that opening a bator does have is during pip and zip and then the risk is small IF you have adequate humidity. I know there are people dead set against opening a bator during hatch and that's fine, but the scare that is pushed onto new hatchers is terrible. Obviously the less you mess the less chances of something happening are. If you don't get in a car, chances are you won't have an accident. Getting in a car doesn't mean you will and not getting in a car doesn't mean you won't.

Now, with that being said, if your eggs hatched day 20&21 and it's been over 24 hours without a pip then chances are pretty good what is going to hatch has. On the average, most hatches hatch out w/in 48 hours (of course there are exceptions.) If there is no pip or activity 24 hours after the last hatacher, I recommend candling to check for internal pips or obvious signs of life. If neither of those are present, chances are you won't have more hatch.

You said you opened a vent on day 21. Do you still have your vents closed? The vents need to be open for hatching to get fresh air flow to the chicks.
 
WVduckchick, they were all okay before lockdown. I could see movement and blood flowing.

AmyLynn2374, this is my first time so of corse I have to believe what I read until someone experienced tells me otherwise. I'm glad to know the chances of a good hatch aren't lowered from opening the bator. Is it okay to candle them tonight, on day 22? Also the vent has since been closed since I removed the hatched chicken last night. They are enjoying their MHP, jumping, eating, running, all that good stuff.

I will have to research the float/wiggle test. When is it okay to do that? What exactly will it t well me?
 
WVduckchick, they were all okay before lockdown. I could see movement and blood flowing.

AmyLynn2374, this is my first time so of corse I have to believe what I read until someone experienced tells me otherwise. I'm glad to know the chances of a good hatch aren't lowered from opening the bator. Is it okay to candle them tonight, on day 22? Also the vent has since been closed since I removed the hatched chicken last night. They are enjoying their MHP, jumping, eating, running, all that good stuff.

I will have to research the float/wiggle test. When is it okay to do that? What exactly will it t well me?
The float test is usually done any time after hatch time. You just get a bowl of warm water (100F) and put the egg in it. If the egg floats AND wiggles independently then you know there's movement in the egg signifying life. Usually sinkers and floaters w/no movement signify non viable eggs, but it's not 100%. And should only be dones after a standard candle to make sure there are no pips in the eggs.

Candleing is fine. I always have mine candled within 24 hours after the last hatcher so I can access if there is any more viable eggs.

I hope that didn't come off as overly assertive to you. I certainly didn't mean for it too. I get frustrated that articles and other hatchers make newbies scared to death to open the bator and gives them undue stress. Some people make it sound like certain death if you open a bator after lockdown and that's just not true. I'm not saying there is no risk. But what risk there is is small to begin with and with adequate humidity the worry should be little. I personally believe that a lot of hatching deaths are contributed to "opening the bator" when in fact that is not the case. Granted if you are running 60% humidity and opening your bator, you have a much higher chance of causing complications to your hatch. If you are at 75% and opening the bator and you replace that humidity in a timely manner the chance that your hatch is compromised is miniscule. How long it's open, how dry the air is that is that is hitting exposed membranes, how fast an incubator replaces lost humidity are all things that are going to have an impact when opening the bator. While every hatcher should do what is comfortable to them, and if that is leaving the bator shut, great, but no one, especially a newbie, should have the added stress of thinking they are going to be the cause of certain death because they have or they need to open the bator. That's what get's my goat.
 
You didn't come off as assertive. More helpful actually. I had already decided before lockdown that I was going to remove any dry chicks 24 hours after the first hatch. I will candle them tonight and see if there is any movement. Since they are so big I probably won't see them move but possibly their blood vessels. Also most of the shells are dark so it's hard to see into them. How do I see an internal pip? Or I guess what does it look like?
 
You didn't come off as assertive. More helpful actually. I had already decided before lockdown that I was going to remove any dry chicks 24 hours after the first hatch. I will candle them tonight and see if there is any movement. Since they are so big I probably won't see them move but possibly their blood vessels. Also most of the shells are dark so it's hard to see into them. How do I see an internal pip? Or I guess what does it look like?
An internal pip is basically a shadow of the beak (usually triangular) sticking up in the air cell. If you see it, you'll know what you are seeing.
 

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