Hatching questions thread

I'm in the middle of a hatch at the moment. 3 have hatched- 2 have been removed and 1 has only just hatched so is in the incubator drying. But after it hatched I noticed another one of the eggs seeping! I quickly removed it and wiped the seeped liquid off the incubator floor but I'm pretty sure some of it will have dropped into the water underneath...is this going to cause bacteria to get to hatching chicks!?

 

Don't know if this is to late but I would change the water straight away but it should be ok because as the water evaporates, it would not and just stay at the bottom so hopeful should not contaminate chicks. Update us

 

Thank so much Molly1chickens. Just an update- I'm not sure if it was due to the seeping egg or something else but only 4 eggs hatched and the other 9 just sat for days doing nothing. The 4 that did hatch seem perfectly healthy though. But this is also the 1st time I have ever incubated eggs I have stored over a week so not sure if that had something to do with it. Definitely the lowest hatch rate I've ever had!

 

Did you do eggtopsys on them to see why they didn't hatch? Yeah the longer you store them for before putting in the incubator defiantly decreases the hatch rate. Sory about your loss but congratulations to your 4

 

Thank you. I couldn't bring myself to do eggtopsys. I candled them and they didn't appear to have broken into the air sac. Hopefully better luck on the next hatch. Thanks for your advice.

 

I have 3 fertile eggs I got from a friends flock... I put one under each of my 3 broody silkies. We are at 21 days. One has cracked and chirping (whooo hooo!) and the other two are status quo. How long will it take to fully hatch that chick?
Two hens are broody together one is on her own in a coop with other hens... I took her egg and out under the other two because I could separate them easily from the other girls. Was that a good idea?