first time incubating

[cheepteach]

eggs visibly wiggling

 

[AmyLynn2374]

eggs visibly wiggling

I seldom ever see wiggling until they pip. A handful of times I have see egg movement prior to pip, but not usually.

 

[WVduckchick]

I seldom ever see wiggling until they pip. A handful of times I have see egg movement prior to pip, but not usually.

Me neither. I saw the most wiggling when I took mine off the turner. It was like they were getting settled in from being upright in the turner to the laying down position. After that, they were pretty still until they started pipping.

 

[chickenlittle84]

So you are on day 26??  Are these chickens or ducks or something else??  (sorry, I can't remember... to many details with so many people hatching right now)  26 days is pushing it for chickens (not unheard of, but most folks would have tossed them by now....  I suppose you could try a float test. 

I have 9 ameraucana( or so I was told) chicken eggs that were set on a Sunday evening 26 days ago. And 1 Muscovy duck egg that is due to hatch in another 9 days. The farm I got them from had a lot of different ducks and chickens running around, so its possible some could be something else. The colours of the eggs are all slightly different shades of a light blueish grey, olive tinted and almost white except one that looks pink and the big white duck egg. I did a float test on the 23rd day and everyone floated the same air cell portion above water and a few wiggled. I saw movement in every one before lock down as well and in a few when I candled before floating.

 

[WVduckchick]

I have 9 ameraucana( or so I was told) chicken eggs that were set on a Sunday evening 26 days ago. And 1 Muscovy duck egg that is due to hatch in another 9 days. The farm I got them from had a lot of different ducks and chickens running around, so its possible some could be something else. The colours of the eggs are all slightly different shades of a light blueish grey, olive tinted and almost white except one that looks pink and the big white duck egg. I did a float test on the 23rd day and everyone floated the same air cell portion above water and a few wiggled. I saw movement in every one before lock down as well and in a few when I candled before floating.

Oh... so you might see some bills pop out of there instead of beaks...

 

[chickenlittle84]

Oh... so you might see some bills pop out of there instead of beaks...  

Maybe, the one that died was definitely a chicken though with lovely black markings
Looked like the Americauna day old pics I found online.

 

[WVduckchick]

Maybe, the one that died was definitely a chicken though with lovely black markings
Looked like the Americauna day old pics I found online.

Have you candled them lately?

 

[chickenlittle84]

Have you candled them lately?

The last time I candled was on the 23rd day before I opened the egg that I thought was dead. The egg shells are pretty thick and hard to see much except in a couple of them that I saw the outline of bird moving around. One was the pinkish one and the other an almost white one. If any are ducks I'd guess those 2 but was told she only had a male of the Muscovy and that egg is huge in comparison. We only wanted a dozen chickens but my 5 year old found the duck egg in the grass and the lady let him keep it. Lol

 

[chickenlittle84]

Do you think I should candle them again or is it going to be harmful and/or prolong hatching even more?

 

[WVduckchick]

The last time I candled was on the 23rd day before I opened the egg that I thought was dead. The egg shells are pretty thick and hard to see much except in a couple of them that I saw the outline of bird moving around. One was the pinkish one and the other an almost white one. If any are ducks I'd guess those 2 but was told she only had a male of the Muscovy and that egg is huge in comparison. We only wanted a dozen chickens but my 5 year old found the duck egg in the grass and the lady let him keep it. Lol

I guess I'm just at a loss for words because 26 days is so unusual for chickens. But like I said, its not impossible. If I remember right, if a male Muscovy mates with a mallard-derived female, its the female that controls the incubation time, so they would be 28-day'ers.

Do you think I should candle them again or is it going to be harmful and/or prolong hatching even more?

If keeping your humidity up is not a problem, I think I'd float test them again, since you say the shells are hard to see through. But if your humidity is tough to deal with, then I think I would just wait. I'm not a very patient person though, so its really up to you.