Hands on hatching and help

[Mill Chick]

I think my incubator is overly humid (57%) and it is possible my temperatures have been higher than they should be: 100.5 to 101. I had egg movement at Day 15 on two of 7 eggs, and on day 17, all eggs were moving. These are from a jersey giant rooster with a mixed of JG, barred rocks, buff orpingtons and cinnamon girl moms. Day 18 begins in 6 hours. My question is: should I put an emergency air hole in the air space before I upped the humidity for lockdown?

Sorry for the late reply! You know the eggs aren't supposed to hatch till day 21 right? Don't put the humidity so high right now if you had it high earlier. I have never done a safety hole before so I don't have much experience with them so I'm not that much help but I will tag some people for you. @Debbie292d @Eggcessive

 

[Debbie292d]

I think my incubator is overly humid (57%) and it is possible my temperatures have been higher than they should be: 100.5 to 101. I had egg movement at Day 15 on two of 7 eggs, and on day 17, all eggs were moving. These are from a jersey giant rooster with a mixed of JG, barred rocks, buff orpingtons and cinnamon girl moms. Day 18 begins in 6 hours. My question is: should I put an emergency air hole in the air space before I upped the humidity for lockdown?

No air holes. Just put them into lockdown. I normally set them in lockdown at 70%, but if this happened to me, I'd set it to 60-65% during lockdown for at least a day of it.

I didn't read the whole thread as I just saw the tag from @Mill Chick, but if nobody recommended getting a hygrometer/thermometer, I will. We have four incubators, three are big Brinseas, and not one is correct. There are many good ones you can find, but I like the Govee brand, and many here do too. You can recalibrate them in a few months yourself if they ever stray.

 

[zippychippie]

I did not add any air holes, and all 7 hatched normally, beginning the end of Day 19 for the first one. The last one was 14 hours into Day 21. All are healthy.

I know my incubator's reading are nonsense. I had a couple of those battery powered hygrometer/thermometer I found on Amazon. I tried four of those, but they did not agree. How often does one change the batteries on those devices? I see how necessary knowing the truth about temp and humidity is, but I am frustrated with how hard it is to nail down accurate readings.

 

[Debbie292d]

I did not add any air holes, and all 7 hatched normally, beginning the end of Day 19 for the first one. The last one was 14 hours into Day 21. All are healthy.

I know my incubator's reading are nonsense. I had a couple of those battery powered hygrometer/thermometer I found on Amazon. I tried four of those, but they did not agree. How often does one change the batteries on those devices? I see how necessary knowing the truth about temp and humidity is, but I am frustrated with how hard it is to nail down accurate readings.

Are yours calibratable? Meaning, if you know for sure one is off, can you change the readings on it?

Regardless, I would do the ice test and see what they read. Do one at a time though unless you're using some huge bucket. Put ice in a large bowl (crushed ice is best). Fill with water. Put a few more cubes in if there's room. Put your hygrometer in a zip lock bag (not a sandwich one, you need a stronger one like quart size). Bury the hygrometer and wait about 10 minutes. It should read 32F.

If you find one reads say 33F, it's reading a degree higher, so I'd mark that on your hygrometer with a sticker that 100.5 = 99.5.

 

[newchickychick]

Hi all! I know it's been a while since the last reply, but hoping to get some insight. I don't think I'm near needing to assist but wanting to make sure. It's Day 20 and we had one chick go from external pip to zipping and hatching within like 20 minutes. She was in a rush to get out! There's another chick with an external pip, and four without any pips. Those are set upright as their air cells were loose or one egg that was much smaller compared to the others and I wanted to be sure it didn't get knocked around.
From first external pip, how long do you wait before moving to assist? The external pip on the second isn't full, in that the egg shell is cracked in a little hole but not an outright hole to where the chick's beak is visible. And if the others don't pip by a certain time period (tomorrow's day 21), when do y'all decide to try to step in?
Just wanting to be sure I'm prepared JUST in case. Thanks ahead of time for the advice!

 

[Debbie292d]

Sometimes chicks just hatch early. The rule of thumb about assisting is give them 24 hours from first pip. It doesn't matter how big.

I wouldn't be worrying about any yet as they're not even due for another day. I've had say half of mine hatch the 20th day, the rest hatch the 21st day, and perhaps one is left in there with nothing going on. I'll pull the chicks that are dry and fluffy out, then candle that one. If alive, I may put in a hole by the aircell and see if it broke the membrane, so it'll get air now. If not, I'll pull off a small piece where it's head is and put it back.

Here's an excellent article about assisting if it comes to that.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[kattabelly]

From first external pip, how long do you wait before moving to assist?

24 hours if they aren't "overdue" and there's nothing else to suggest they need help. If membrane is visible but not broken after an external pip and stays that way for a while (more than a couple of hours) I'll often nick a tiny hole in the exposed membrane, just to make sure the chick can breathe.

At or after day 21 I'd candle and listen to the others for signs they'd pipped internally, and if they have maybe make a small hole in the air cell to make sure they don't suffocate.

 

[newchickychick]

Sometimes chicks just hatch early. The rule of thumb about assisting is give them 24 hours from first pip. It doesn't matter how big.

I wouldn't be worrying about any yet as they're not even due for another day. I've had say half of mine hatch the 20th day, the rest hatch the 21st day, and perhaps one is left in there with nothing going on. I'll pull the chicks that are dry and fluffy out, then candle that one. If alive, I may put in a hole by the aircell and see if I can get to its beak, just enough so I know it's getting air.

Here's an excellent article about assisting if it comes to that.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

Wonderful, thank you so much! So would you give it 24 hours after you found the first pip even if that's early day 21, or wait 24 hours after day 21's about over? That's where I got confused. I love our first little baby so much, so wanting to be sure I help the others out IF they need it if I can.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wonderful, thank you so much! So would you give it 24 hours after you found the first pip even if that's early day 21, or wait 24 hours after day 21's about over? That's where I got confused. I love our first little baby so much, so wanting to be sure I help the others out IF they need it if I can.

24 hours after the pip. You've got an early hatcher there.

 

[newchickychick]

24 hours after the pip. You've got an early hatcher there.

Wonderful, thank you! I'm hoping it'll keep going tonight. We came in this morning to the two pips and the humidity down at 52%. I bumped it up to 62%, and the other baby hatching bumped it up to 70%. But there's just the crack in the egg, not really a hole, so I'm thinking it hopefully didn't have an opportunity to get shrink wrapped with the humidity down. It would've had to have been after 1 a.m., so I'll stay up late with good snacks for myself and a pair of tweezers. I've got coconut oil and corn starch just in case. Hoping it'll go well if I need to assist!

24 hours if they aren't "overdue" and there's nothing else to suggest they need help. If membrane is visible but not broken after an external pip and stays that way for a while (more than a couple of hours) I'll often nick a tiny hole in the exposed membrane, just to make sure the chick can breathe.

At or after day 21 I'd candle and listen to the others for signs they'd pipped internally, and if they have maybe make a small hole in the air cell to make sure they don't suffocate.

Thanks so much! I'll definitely be sure to candle late tomorrow if we've got no more progress on the others.