First time here. I don't think my eggs are going to hatch, so sad. :(

[moonjelly]

I've kept chicken in the past and I was thrilled to be able to keep them again. I decided to start from the ground up and purchase an incubator. I got the Hovabator Genesis with the auto turner. I wanted to make things as easy as I could, since I'd never hatched eggs before. I did read a lot about it and I purchased my eggs from a seller that only lives five hours from me. She sent out my eggs packaged very well and I got them the very next day at 8:00am. I even drove to the post office to get them myself so they would not be jostled around in a mail truck all day.

The eggs all were outwardly in good condition and I let them settle for 24 hours as the seller instructed me. After that I put them in my incubator which had already been running constantly for 3 days at the pre-set temps. the Hovabator comes programmed with. It was around 35%-45% humidity most of the time.

The next day I set the eggs in my auto turner and I only really opened the incubator to add water to the tray. I tried to candle a couple times, but I lacked a good flashlight and the eggs were very dark brown, so I gave up on that idea.

On day 18 I took the auto turner out and increased the humidity to 65%. It's now day 22 and nothing has happened. No pips, no noises, no movement and there never was. I am baffled as to what went wrong. I am sure at this point nothing is going to hatch and I never thought for a second I wouldn't get at least a few hatched out of the 14 eggs I got.

The incubator seemed so easy to use and the whole process straight forward. Where did I go wrong? I want to order more eggs, but I'm just afraid of failing again. I really had my eye set on hatching some emu eggs before the season ended, but I wanted to have a successful chicken hatch under my belt first.

I feel so bad for these eggs and trying again seems so stressful and pointless.

 

[Bill 101]

There is nothing here that would indicate YOU did anything wrong. Not being able to candle the eggs means your not sure that ay of them were even fertile.

I would wait a couple more days & then break one open to check. WARNING - you may find a chick inside, so be prepared.
I would also check the thermometer in the incubator. You can do that by simply putting another thermometer inside, but don't count on that one as being totally correct, just use it to "get a second opinion" If you find that the two do not agree, I would calibrate the incubator thermometer with the ice check method to see if it's accurate.
If you find that your thermometers are correct & you haven't had any chicks hatch or start hatching after 25 days I call it quits & break them open to see what is going on.

 

[Gspeed31]

I'm brand new here but I just wanted to say that we also thought none were going to hatch. Out of 6 eggs, five have developed and we thought they'd be hatched by now. Day 20, 3 of them were wiggling ever so slightly and day 21, nothing.... day 22 nothing.... now on day 23 and finally 1 little chick is pipping slowly but surely. The other 2 that were moving have since stopped so it looks like they might not get out?? Stinks, but don't give up. I read on another informative thread on here that 21 days is just a guideline, it could take 23-25 so I won't give up on the others until day 26! Also, I was manually turning the eggs and have no humidity meter on my borrowed incubator so I imagine your method is better than ours. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[KittyUK]

Hi. I'm playing the waiting game too. 5 hatched perfectly, one got stuck and got a bit of help. 6 looked viable on late candling but haven't yet pipped at the end of day 22. I'm gonna wait a few days before cracking em!

 

[Mtn Margie]

It is very hard, but try to be patient. I have heard of 26, 27 day chicks.