First Time Egg Candler Scared!

[sideWing]

Internal pips. If there are no internal pips after 24 hours of the last hatcher, I wouldn't hold out too much hope. If there's any movement, I would give them more time, but I'm doubtful if there's no pips after 24 hours.

I will candle tonight and see what I can see. There are so many that I'm just hoping they are a bit delayed. If it were 2 or 3 I wouldn't worry so much.

I don't candle any more after hatching, so I couldn't tell you. I will say that in all 5 hatches this year, I have had at least 2 pip and hatch on day 22/23. I never shut down until day 23, but I do shut down on day 23. I've had bad experiences with late hatchers

I will wait until day 23 or 24 for sure.

I guess after you hatch enough, you get to an easier point of "long enough". I waited till end of day 24 before I convinced myself that my last 2 were gone. I had 3 day-21, 6 day-22 and one day-23 hatchers.

You had some 2 days apart? That gives me some hope.

Deformed day 24 chicks gave me a cold heart. Not joking, that's why I shut down on day 23

Deformed? From staying in too long or they were in that long because they were deformed and could not get out? What kind of deformed?

 

[scflock]

I will candle tonight and see what I can see. There are so many that I'm just hoping they are a bit delayed. If it were 2 or 3 I wouldn't worry so much.

I will wait until day 23 or 24 for sure.

You had some 2 days apart? That gives me some hope.

Deformed? From staying in too long or they were in that long because they were deformed and could not get out? What kind of deformed?

Any chick I have had hatch after day 23 had splayed legs or curled toes. Both can be corrected, but both can also point to the chick having other problems that visible to the naked eye. I have had them die at 4 days old, and have had to cull them at 4 and 5 days old. Culling a chick is an awful experience, and I would rather them die in the shell than do it again. Not everyone views it the same way, though. Amy would rather know that she had done all that she could to help the chick survive. You just have to do what's comfortable for you. That's why I say I've gotten cold hearted about it. My viewpoint now is that if it doesn't hatch by the end of day 23, it wasn't meant to hatch.

Edit:
I would say that it took that long to hatch because they were already deformed. In nature, they never would have hatched, the mama would have already left with the healthy chicks. Natural selection at work

 

[sideWing]

Any chick I have had hatch after day 23 had splayed legs or curled toes. Both can be corrected, but both can also point to the chick having other problems that visible to the naked eye. I have had them die at 4 days old, and have had to cull them at 4 and 5 days old. Culling a chick is an awful experience, and I would rather them die in the shell than do it again. Not everyone views it the same way, though. Amy would rather know that she had done all that she could to help the chick survive. You just have to do what's comfortable for you. That's why I say I've gotten cold hearted about it. My viewpoint now is that if it doesn't hatch by the end of day 23, it wasn't meant to hatch.

Edit:
I would say that it took that long to hatch because they were already deformed. In nature, they never would have hatched, the mama would have already left with the healthy chicks. Natural selection at work

I am more of a "let nature take it's course" kind of guy. Sometimes it absolutely sucks, but I find it best in the end for the animal in my experience.

I will go to the end of day 24 at least with this batch.

 

[WVduckchick]

I kept notes as mine hatched. I just calculated 55 hours from the first hatch (not first pip) to the 10th and final hatch. 2 days plus 7 hours. Add another 17 hours the first one took from initial pip to getting out and you are at 72 hours.

 

[scflock]

I am more of a "let nature take it's course" kind of guy. Sometimes it absolutely sucks, but I find it best in the end for the animal in my experience.

I will go to the end of day 24 at least with this batch.

I did crack the eggs after my first two hatches and found the same things both times. Fully formed chicks that never pipped and died in the shells. Now I just assume that is what happened, and they weren't meant to hatch

 

[Mommaw]

For the life of me I cannot remember what the abbreviation's are! Ugh! BLR, SLW, etc. Please help this ole gal out!
Now for questions. New to incubating and practicing on my own eggs until I get my breeding birds separated. I have black orpington hens that carry the lavender gene and a lavender roo, plus black copper marans. No way I can see to candle the dark eggs!
1.Do you put point up or down?
2. I read otherwise on humidity and keep mine 60-65%. Am I giving them a death sentence before they get started?
3. How do you tell the air cell?
4. What temp do you keep them
Out of my last practice hatch I got 1 chick out of 7. Not good. Of the ones that didn't hatch 3 were formed but no feathers, 3 formed with feathers. Don't know what went wrong. They never did smell. I have a Styrofoam still air bater with egg turner. First batch I ran at 99.5* Read they should be kept warmer in this type so this batch is at 102* they have been in there 7 days now. Hope I Have a better hatch rate this time!

Any help is appreciated. Also have a good friend that has been doing this a long time I get advice from

Wow this sounds like me writing this instead of you...first time for me too and . trying again...upped temp to 102 finally and I think they may be a day or two behind. Today is day 18...will wait until day 19. Last time I closed at day 18 with that lower temp and 7-8 died and were fully formed and only got one out of many....

 

[sideWing]

I kept notes as mine hatched. I just calculated 55 hours from the first hatch (not first pip) to the 10th and final hatch. 2 days plus 7 hours. Add another 17 hours the first one took from initial pip to getting out and you are at 72 hours.

So what day did the last one hatch? Day 22, 23?

 

[scflock]

So what day did the last one hatch? Day 22, 23?

I know you asked her, but I have had one or two hatchers in every batch on day 23. I still get pretty healthy chicks then, but usually the runts

 

[sideWing]

I know you asked her, but I have had one or two hatchers in every batch on day 23. I still get pretty healthy chicks then, but usually the runts

Thanks Scott!

 

[scflock]

Thanks Scott!