Have a bad feeling. Day 21 nothing.

[UThobbyfarmer]

@Justbackyardcrazy Any news on your hatch?

 

[Justbackyardcrazy]

@UThobbyfarmer yes I do have good and bad news we had our second baby born today

but the other three as nothing. I did carefully candle them and the air sac was much bigger than lockdown day. Not really sure what that means but no internal pipping, no movement just VERY Dark can’t even get the light to shine through like usual. . Not sure I’m holding out hope for the other three.. sad and yet grateful all at once.

 

[Justbackyardcrazy]

They all looked like this stock photo. I had to move first little chickety to it’s own box because boy oh boy is that one feisty like nugget . haha

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Oh my. That is a bittersweet update. I’m happy you have two beautiful chicks for your efforts. That really is wonderful.

To address the other eggs. You can hold them up to your ear. If you hear scratching, pecking, or peeping they are still viable. In my experience viable chicks this late in incubation will respond to the movement and you’ll hear something. I know you have kids. It’ll need to be very quiet if you do this.
Otherwise it’s likely they’ve passed. The larger air cells was normal and good. Usually it means the chick has shifted into hatch position in the egg. Some hatching guides refer this air cell change as “dip down”, “dip” or something like that. However because they didn’t hatch we can assume something went wrong with them: malpositioned, congenital/genetics, incubation techniques, poor health of the layer flock, or more.
You can always give them a couple more days. There are some eggs that surprise you. You can also open a small hole at the top of the air cell. If there is movement you can tape over the hole with masking or scotch tape and give them more time. If you don’t you can eggtopsy, or toss. There are lots of directions you can take. It just depends on what your comfort level is.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Also the egg in the photo looks viable to me. It has clear veins visible. When chicks quit the egg get murky looking. No more clear veins.

 

[Justbackyardcrazy]

Also the egg in the photo looks viable to me. It has clear veins visible. When chicks quit the egg get murky looking. No more clear veins.

Thank @UThobbyfarmer ! So I did the water test.
The 3 of the remainder floated air cell upwards.
- 2 of the 3 didn’t show any movement went candled
- The 3 did a little bit but as I was trying to do this quickly not sure
- But only 1 out of the 3 when candled straight after showed movement!

So I THINK we have a third coming at some point .
Someone on another thread said to put the ones not showing life in a baggie but keep them in the incubator just in case. So I’ve done that just in case it starts to leak or explode?
The 3rd I left it out and put it down, it didn’t look like it had internally popped but there was def movement right below the air cell line. So I kept it separated. Also it’s a different egg? Maybe a different breed of chicken so could it be possible it needed a bit more time? I heard some breeds take slightly longer to incubate? God this is stressful. I’ve had three kids they were all NICU Preemies, this is so similar to those incubation days when they were little good god I hope I’m doing this right. I don’t know how y’all do it !! Thank you and to all the others for guiding me through this I’m very grateful to this community!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I’m happy to hear you’re moderately satisfied with your testing. Be sure to post a final update when you clear the incubator.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I had three dark brown eggs that I could not tell if they were alive or not the whole incubation period because they were so dark making it hard to see movement while the two lighter eggs hatched right on time. I left them in for an extra two days and they all hatched. I now have five little maniacs running around the brooder right now. Even with hatching ducks prior I have never used no movement as a sign at this stage. I would also be worried about putting them in bags. Eggshells are porous and chicks need oxygen both during the incubation period to grow and at hatch.

 

[Justbackyardcrazy]

I had three dark brown eggs that I could not tell if they were alive or not the whole incubation period because they were so dark making it hard to see movement while the two lighter eggs hatched right on time. I left them in for an extra two days and they all hatched. I now have five little maniacs running around the brooder right now. Even with hatching ducks prior I have never used no movement as a sign at this stage. I would also be worried about putting them in bags. Eggshells are porous and chicks need oxygen both during the incubation period to grow and at hatch

Thank you for the advice. maybe should I seperate the incubator with a little carboard partition ? My fear is in keeping them in the incubator with the one I’m sure has life if it explodes and sprays the one that has hatched it would die? Sorry I didn’t seal the bags I should have said that the bags are open but facing the opening in towards the incubator wall so if there is splatters it will not go on the good one. But maybe the cardboard is good enough to splatter proof ?

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@Justbackyardcrazy You’ve reached the point of a hatch where you’ll drive yourself crazy with self doubts. You need to make decisions 100% off of your intuition and comfort level. Maybe that means fiddling more, maybe less. When the hatch is complete you will learn something each time whatever you do.

I’ve learned good hatching techniques through many, many bad hatches. It’s a painfully steep learning curve but you’ve done great. The dice has been cast for these final chicks. Either they are strong enough to pip and hatch or they’re not. There is little you can do at this point besides caring enough to try your best and learn something (which you’ve already proven through this post).