Help! Day 22 of chick incubation

[Jayhawks]

Ok, so this is my first time ever hatching chicks! I’m pretty sure I’ve done everything right— I put them in the incubator on May 1st, used automatic egg turner, kept temp at 37.5 Celsius, humidity between 40-50% for the first 18 days. On Day 18 that night, I took out the egg turner & cranked up humidity to 65% with same temp. I have seen a tiny bit of rocking in 1 egg, other than that, I haven’t heard anything, no pipping & no movement from any of the others. I candled them before they went into lock down and there were no blood rings from what I could tell. My eggs were shipped to me from Meyer’s hatchery. Is it bad I’m not hearing any peeps & no others are rocking? I’m so afraid that none are going to hatch!!

 

[kelseyk]

Hang in there! Sometimes chicks may go later than the normal 21 days. I have had some wait until day 23. Do you have a secondary calibrated thermometer (Like a meat thermometer) inside your incubator? The built in thermometers on the incubators are not always correct and if temp is a little low the eggs are more likely to hatch later. They will need to internally pip before you can hear any pepping and is usually around 24 hours after that they will finally externally pip. You can candle them again to see if there is an internal pip shadow in the air cell and to look for movement. And it sounds a little silly, but I have found (when done on my eggs) that you can do the ring/nail test (where you tie a ring or a nail to the end of a piece of string and hold it over what you want to test is should either go in a line or a circle) and if it does not move in a definite line or circle at all, after holding it there for quite some time, that it is not alive anymore. I usually hold my nail over the egg for a good minute, and the line and circle are very obvious compared to just the normal shaking from your hand. Hoping they are just slow hatchers and that you get some chicks for your first attempt!! Keep us posted!