Help! Day 18 and small air cell...

[mraeirish]

My chick is supposed to go on lockdown tonight and the air cell doesn't seem big enough. I lowered the humidity yesterday and today... should I wait another day before going on lockdown to see if the air cell gets bigger?

 

[nuthatched]

What's the humidity on now?

 

[mraeirish]

What's the humidity on now?

It’s was at 40-50% until I lowered it to 15-20% two days ago.

 

[nuthatched]

@Eggcessive @CluckNDoodle

 

[mraeirish]

@Eggcessive @CluckNDoodle

I think I found my answer in an older thread... looks like keeping humidity low for another day won't hurt!


24 hours won't make a difference. If your air cells are small go two more days dry then up the humidity to 70%. Drowning of chicks is not caused by increasing humidity last few days of incubation. It is caused by not incubating the first two weeks to 19 days at too high of humidity causing no or inadequate air cells. What happens is the chicks rotate in the shell to position themselves to pip and zip. This is the time a few days before hatch you see the eggs wiggle. They rotate putting head on air cell side of egg, when internally piped into this cell of air if it's too small they drown. So again, if your air cells are good size leave it alone. If you feel they are small then pull out all water and go dry for another two days or until you see any egg movement if sooner.

Here is a diagram I'm sure you've seen or something similar. These are not meant to be exacting so don't stress over details. General size is what matters. If your air cells are as big as day 14 on this diagram your perfectly fine. They can even be a bit smaller but I like to see them at least the size of day 14 indicated.

Another point of note is you say you're still air incubating. Temperature for incubation on still airs has been determined to be best monitored at top level of eggs and set to 101.5F. Many people incubate at a lower temp when first using still air. This will delay your hatch by as much as two days if you incubated at 99.5F measured at top level of eggs.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC, how's your egg doing?

 

[mraeirish]

We’re on day 21 and we saw it wiggling today! No cracks yet though.