I know the potential problems of too high a humidity during incubation and not enough air circulation as described in my state's awesome extension service website. http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_pipped.html
I have one egg, the smallest which the pip is up toward the end and the chick is working the hole making it larger. So far he's okay, he piped around 2:30 Last night, 12 hrs ago. 4 out of 7 eggs pipped so far as follows.
1st - Pip yesterday @ 4:00PM, 20.5 hrs ago. It was wiggling for a long time, at least 12 hours post pip. Haven't seen it move in a long time. Note this pip is mostly a little crack, not much more. Pip is at the widest part of the egg.
2nd - Pip yesterday @ 9:00PM, 15.5 hrs ago. Saw it last wiggle at about 3:00PM last night. Same as above haven't seen it wiggle in 10 hours or so. Pip is at the widest part of the egg.
3rd - Pip last night around 2:30 (this is the egg with chick alive & working.) approx. 12 hrs ago. Of note, this is the smallest egg, an extra I received with my order, think large bantam egg or small standard egg. It makes sense it would be the most ready to come out/most developed. I'm actually quite sure it's either RIR or BR egg as that's the other brown egg-layers the site sells.
4th - Pip this morning around 10:00, approx. 4 hrs ago. Not sure of wiggling as I've come out to office to post and get some advice. Pip is at widest part of egg, very much in middle of egg.
Note that the eggs are pipping in the order of size, smallest to largest. Also note that the pips are extremely small, none has pushed through a solid hole.
Lastly you should know I had 2 cooling episodes during my incubation at days 8 & 16 or so. I also fought too high of temps during first week of incubation. I mention this as it happened, otherwise I kept humidity around 60% for 18 days, now between 75-80 at lock-down. I punched new holes in the bator at lock down to increase air flow. I don't think this could be the problem as the 1 chick is vocal doing well trying to get out, clearly has enough oxygen. I figure my issue is one of the following:
A) too high of humidity during incubation causing small air sacs and drowning. (I doubt this as the eggs have piped and then shown life for hours and hours afterward. Note I'm in Mississippi which is generally very humid, plus we've had lots of rain lately, though the house, where the bator is, runs quite a bit drier.
B) the chicks are just going to be slow to hatch due to inconsistency during incubation including too cool temps early on.
So here's my plea for assistance from the BYC community. What should I do? Should I take one of the eggs that seems inactive out to examine? I've got a bit of a plan to do this as I thought I'd take a pan of previously boiling water and hold the chick/egg over it to keep humidity up also focus a heat lamp on it to keep it warm. Why are my chicks, except for the 1 which is actually trying to get out of it's egg, pipping around the fattest part of the egg where I suspect the air sack hasn't been extended too?
Thanks for the help,
Phillip
I have one egg, the smallest which the pip is up toward the end and the chick is working the hole making it larger. So far he's okay, he piped around 2:30 Last night, 12 hrs ago. 4 out of 7 eggs pipped so far as follows.
1st - Pip yesterday @ 4:00PM, 20.5 hrs ago. It was wiggling for a long time, at least 12 hours post pip. Haven't seen it move in a long time. Note this pip is mostly a little crack, not much more. Pip is at the widest part of the egg.
2nd - Pip yesterday @ 9:00PM, 15.5 hrs ago. Saw it last wiggle at about 3:00PM last night. Same as above haven't seen it wiggle in 10 hours or so. Pip is at the widest part of the egg.
3rd - Pip last night around 2:30 (this is the egg with chick alive & working.) approx. 12 hrs ago. Of note, this is the smallest egg, an extra I received with my order, think large bantam egg or small standard egg. It makes sense it would be the most ready to come out/most developed. I'm actually quite sure it's either RIR or BR egg as that's the other brown egg-layers the site sells.
4th - Pip this morning around 10:00, approx. 4 hrs ago. Not sure of wiggling as I've come out to office to post and get some advice. Pip is at widest part of egg, very much in middle of egg.
Note that the eggs are pipping in the order of size, smallest to largest. Also note that the pips are extremely small, none has pushed through a solid hole.
Lastly you should know I had 2 cooling episodes during my incubation at days 8 & 16 or so. I also fought too high of temps during first week of incubation. I mention this as it happened, otherwise I kept humidity around 60% for 18 days, now between 75-80 at lock-down. I punched new holes in the bator at lock down to increase air flow. I don't think this could be the problem as the 1 chick is vocal doing well trying to get out, clearly has enough oxygen. I figure my issue is one of the following:
A) too high of humidity during incubation causing small air sacs and drowning. (I doubt this as the eggs have piped and then shown life for hours and hours afterward. Note I'm in Mississippi which is generally very humid, plus we've had lots of rain lately, though the house, where the bator is, runs quite a bit drier.
B) the chicks are just going to be slow to hatch due to inconsistency during incubation including too cool temps early on.
So here's my plea for assistance from the BYC community. What should I do? Should I take one of the eggs that seems inactive out to examine? I've got a bit of a plan to do this as I thought I'd take a pan of previously boiling water and hold the chick/egg over it to keep humidity up also focus a heat lamp on it to keep it warm. Why are my chicks, except for the 1 which is actually trying to get out of it's egg, pipping around the fattest part of the egg where I suspect the air sack hasn't been extended too?
Thanks for the help,
Phillip
