Hatching chicken eggs first timer please help

[kastie]

Hi there it's my first time of hatching chicken eggs I've currently got four chicken eggs in an incubator that are fertilized and growing nicely to what ive seen by candle lighting them I'm now on Day 21 and nothing really as started to happen, no pipping no movement nothing, I know that sometimes eggs can take a little longer then 21day to hatch but how do I know if there okay or not?? Also I've put my ear to the incubator and I think I can hear noises of them tapping but I'm not too sure if it's the incubator motor or the chick. If it's the chicks then how long roughly would it take for them to start pipping or is it just a waiting game? Thank you in advance

 

[Pyxis]

What date did you set the eggs? Also, what temperature has your incubator been at and is it still air or forced air (has a fan)?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are correct, the 21 days is just an approximation, it can be less or more for different reasons. But are you counting the days correctly? That is a real common mistake. It's sort of intuitive to say "one" when you put the eggs in the incubator but you really need to wait 24 hours. An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development when you put it in the incubator, it takes a day to get that development. An easy way to check yourself is that the day of the week you set the eggs is the day the 21 days are up. If they went into the incubator on a Tuesday, the 21 days are up on a Tuesday.

You should not be hearing tapping, at least I never do. After the chick internal pips you will often hear chirping. A chick talks to the broody to tell her it is on the way so she can be ready and so she won't leave the nest. Sometimes if you tap on the incubator it will start the chick chirping. Sometimes you will see an egg wiggle. That's the chick getting into position for internal pip or external pip. Often I don't see or hear anything until the chick external pips.

So, yes, it is a waiting game. Sometimes a very frustrating waiting game, even after you see an external pip. It just seems to take forever.

 

[kastie]

Thank you yeah they went in to the incubator on the Wednesday 6th of January and temperature as always being set at 38.0°c ive been told by someone else to play chick noises as that sometimes can encourage the Hatch to happen, I don't no I suppose it worth a try.

 

[kastie]

What date did you set the eggs? Also, what temperature has your incubator been at and is it still air or forced air (has a fan)?

It's always been set at 38.0°c as been instructed in the manual when I got the incubator, it as an little moto in side that helps airflow

 

[kastie]

It's always been set at 38.0°c as been instructed in the manual when I got the incubator, it as an little moto in side that helps airflow I think it's a fan

 

[Cazook]

When did you stop turning the eggs? Have you been monitoring the humidity?

Like others said, day 21 is after 21 full days of incubation. They can also take up to a few days longer than that in some cases.

 

[kastie]

Day 19 as i didn't no you had to stop turning them and no am not to sure how to do that I've got an humidity monitor and it's got a smile face on it and it says 50 so am gussesing that is good? When can I candle light them again or can't you?

 

[Cazook]

You can't candle them this late (except to check air cell size I guess..?), I would just be patient, it's better to leave them so they can position themselves. Things should start to happen within the next 24hrs or so.

 

[My2butterflies]

I might be overly handsy with my eggs. I’ve candled right up to them piping.
You can most definitely see a live chick move in the egg. You just need to candle at the fat end with the air cell and look closely for shadows moving. I did this with very thick guinea eggs and was always able to see that they were moving.
The main reason you shouldn’t is because the humidity will drop when you open the incubator. If your incubator isn’t fast at building humidity then it’s better to leave the eggs alone.

I should add that I was opening mine but not losing much humidity doing so. Plus, being summer at the time we have a lot of humidity here. I’m sure that makes a difference too. I’m expecting it will be different now hatching in the winter, it’s so dry in the house.