Help! Day 21 and no internal pip.

[faithsbrood]

I am on the morning of day 21 and have not seen any movement or heard any noises from my two silkie eggs. I gave them a quick candle, and didn’t see very much movement either, however both chicks were filling the egg with healthy veins showing.
This is my first time using an incubator (I have only ever hatched ducks with a hen) and I am worried I have done something wrong. Humidity is at 63%, temperature is at 37.5C.

 

[LynnaePB]

It sounds like they may be a bit delayed. Do you have a calibrated thermometer reading the temperature? I know a lot of incubators can have an inaccurate readout. Seeing as they don't appear to have even drawn down yet I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature was a little lower than 37.5 C.

I wouldn't worry too much about the decrease in movement as they often move much less as the space is taken up more late in incubation. The healthy veins showing is a great sign they are still ok as of right now.

Given that it doesn't sound like draw down has happened yet you may be in for a bit of a wait before they are ready to hatch. When draw down begins you usually can't see the veins very well anymore as the chick is right up against the air cell membrane.

I've heard of chicks hatching successfully as late as day 26 and there are probably cases of them hatching even later than that. Hopefully your two will be alright even though they are not as developed as most chicks on day 21. Probably not much to do at this point but give them more time to finish developing. Your humidity sounds like it should be fine. Good luck I hope they make it out with no problems for you when they are ready!

 

[Kiki]

Can you get a clear picture by shining a light into the air cell side of the egg? Do it in a dark room. You shouldn't be seeing clear veins on day 21.
You should be seeing a large drawn down air cell.

 

[faithsbrood]

It sounds like they may be a bit delayed. Do you have a calibrated thermometer reading the temperature? I know a lot of incubators can have an inaccurate readout. Seeing as they don't appear to have even drawn down yet I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature was a little lower than 37.5 C.

I wouldn't worry too much about the decrease in movement as they often move much less as the space is taken up more late in incubation. The healthy veins showing is a great sign they are still ok as of right now.

Given that it doesn't sound like draw down has happened yet you may be in for a bit of a wait before they are ready to hatch. When draw down begins you usually can't see the veins very well anymore as the chick is right up against the air cell membrane.

I've heard of chicks hatching successfully as late as day 26 and there are probably cases of them hatching even later than that. Hopefully your two will be alright even though they are not as developed as most chicks on day 21. Probably not much to do at this point but give them more time to finish developing. Your humidity sounds like it should be fine. Good luck I hope they make it out with no problems for you when they are ready!

Thank you! I have a thermometer inside the incubator and the temperature is reading the same as on the bator. Right now I'm just topping up on water when needs be and crossing my fingers.
edit: however I am slightly concerned that the chicks may have died in the egg and are now building up gases. since I can't candle them I am not able to see if the chick has stopped growing.

 

[faithsbrood]

Can you get a clear picture by shining a light into the air cell side of the egg? Do it in a dark room. You shouldn't be seeing clear veins on day 21.
You should be seeing a large drawn down air cell.

last time I candled the eggs (which I'm slightly concerned I shouldn't have) I noticed the air cell on egg 1 was a lot bigger than it was days earlier. Is that a good sign?

 

[Kiki]

last time I candled the eggs (which I'm slightly concerned I shouldn't have) I noticed the air cell on egg 1 was a lot bigger than it was days earlier. Is that a good sign?

Can you candle it again right now and get a clear picture?

 

[Kiki]

Thank you! I have a thermometer inside the incubator and the temperature is reading the same as on the bator. Right now I'm just topping up on water when needs be and crossing my fingers.
edit: however I am slightly concerned that the chicks may have died in the egg and are now building up gases. since I can't candle them I am not able to see if the chick has stopped growing.

Why can't you candle?

 

[faithsbrood]

Can you candle it again right now and get a clear picture?

Gave a very quick candle on egg 1 and found this weird cord thing? I am not sure what it is.

 

[Kiki]

Gave a very quick candle on egg 1 and found this weird cord thing? I am not sure what it is.

When you move the egg does the inside stuff move on its own or does it move with the movement you are making while moving the egg?

 

[LynnaePB]

last time I candled the eggs (which I'm slightly concerned I shouldn't have) I noticed the air cell on egg 1 was a lot bigger than it was days earlier. Is that a good sign?

When draw down occurs the air cell quickly gets larger so if the larger air cell is larger due to that it would be a good sign. I'm not seeing any healthy veins in your picture of the one egg, I know sometimes it's hard for them to show up in pictures though. Do you still see any clearly defined blood vessels? From what I can see in the picture the egg looks like it may have quit unfortunately but pictures can be deceiving sometimes.

Candling shouldn't really hurt the eggs at this point. It's best to put the egg back in the same position you found it so the chick doesn't have to reorient itself but even if they do have to reorient they'll still likely be alright (eggs get kicked around by their hatching siblings all the time and usually are ok). Shrink wrap isn't really a concern at this point with no external pipping going on.