The pictures look great... Some times the eggs will wiggle and then nothing and you may think they have expired but not to worry they are just resting. Sometimes they take quite lengthy rests. I would put the eggs in lockdown on day 18. I candle the eggs at day 10 to look for any infertile eggs and again on day 18 when I put the eggs into lockown. I just hatched 29 out of 34 eggs today. Today was day 21. I open my hatchers and grab the hatched chicks and their shells out quickly as soon as they hatch. I don't leave the chicks in the hatchers to dry out. I have brooder boxes I let them dry out in. My hatcher doesn't loose much humidity and the temp stay pretty good too and it recovers quite quickly. I have had chicks get stuck once in a great while, but nothing serious. I did have one once that was pretty stuck but for the most part they haven't. I keep my humidity from 35% to 50%. It usually stays around 40% to 45% during incubation and then I raise it to between 65% to 75% during lockdown. The humidity usually stays around 70%. I watch my broodys when they are hatching, they are on the nest for the most part but do get off once in awhile even during their lockdown and the eggs still hatch. I do not take as much as a scientific approach and many do and my hatches have been good. I just put 30 more eggs in the incubator today. I do staggered hatches. I have hatches due on Oct. 29th, Nov. 2nd and Nov. 9th so far. Now time to save up more eggs for another hatch. This is just what I do and may not work well for others. I am fortunate to have a cabinet incubator and I use my styrofoam incubators as hatchers. This works well for me. Good luck and have fun...
Some of the chicks have already gone to their new home. These chicks are what is left of our Oct. 9th hatch and Oct. 18th hatch.
Some of the chicks have already gone to their new home. These chicks are what is left of our Oct. 9th hatch and Oct. 18th hatch.
