Had 2 early arrivers but nothing now 3 days later!

[chickens really]

Honestly your not going to cause any issues. Just Candle them or wait another 24 hours.

 

[Olwitch]

This is my first time hatching, what am I looking for? Movement
?

 

[KelseyBoxer]

Look for fluttering shadows in the air cell. You are looking for an internal pip. Any movement would be great at this time.

 

[knowvagale]

Hi! I'm a bit of a newbie but I might be able to help. Look for visible veins around the edges of the embryo, if you see them the chick is alive or was alive less than 24 hours ago, but is not yet ready to hatch. If you don't see veins, don't panic, the chick may have already started absorbing them or fill too much of the shell for you to properly see. Look for an internal pip--it looks like a little triangle shadow in the air cell, and it means the chick will be hatching soon. If you see an internal pip, listen for chirping. You can also take an undamaged egg with NO cracks or dents, and place it in a bowl of 99-100 F degree water. Make sure the water is the right temp. and don't leave the egg in for too long. If the egg is alive, it should rock back and forth slightly as the chick moves. This is called water candling, you can look up more details on it if you want. Hope this helps!

 

[Olwitch]

here is some of them,

the one with the hole is on the outer shell where the chick that was born pecked it.

3 were obviously quitters earlier on as i didn't candle day 18 as planned as had 2 piping.

thoughts on the rest, I'm not sure how they are mesnt to look

 

[knowvagale]

I would wait and see, but it doesn't look very promising. Usually, a chick at this stage would fill up the entire shell and have a very distinct line between the air cell and embryo. A blurred line can indicate that the tissues are starting to break down. I also can't see any veins even though there is a bit of space in the egg--they all look like they are in the same stage of development though. Did your incubator temperature ever spike to above 104? Or maintain a higher temp throughout incubation? That would explain an early hatch and high mortality rate. Check to see if your thermometer is calibrated properly. I don't know if there's much you can do at this point--the embryos look dead to me but I could be wrong.

 

[Olwitch]

Thanks, it is possible the temperature could have spiked. Could be humidity issues as there is no humidty monitor on the incubator. Chicks 1 and 2 seemed fine, but could something have happened when i opened incubator to remove 1 and 2?

 

[Olwitch]

Couldn't see any movement. Just trying to learn so we are more succesful next time round

 

[Olwitch]

We are pleased as punch with these 2 though, strong healthy things.

(They were under the heat lamp don't worry)

 

[knowvagale]

It seems unlikely that opening the incubator would do anything to eggs that hadn't externally pipped. Your eggs look like they died around day 16-17, but it would be easier to tell if you did an eggtopsy. Wait another day, and if there is still no movement, you can open up the air cells and look inside. It might help you figure out when and why they passed away.