HELP!!!! Humidity all wrong!!!

[WVduckchick]

I’m SO thankful for this article, by the way! I do wonder if there is any specific guidance for folks whose humidity was off and may be dealing with drowning chicks. I have looked all over the Internet but not found specific guidance for rescue in that situation. If anyone knows more, I’d love to hear it!

That's the thing, I believe I mentioned in my humidity article, starting low is better because you can (almost) always increase humidity later to slow down the air cell growth. Decreasing and going the other way is not so easy, as you have found.
So maybe if things work out for you, you can write one about what you did!

I don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but I've also seen folks try lightly sanding eggs with fine grit sand paper, to thin the shells. I don't remember if it worked or not, never tried it myself.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

That's the thing, I believe I mentioned in my humidity article, starting low is better because you can (almost) always increase humidity later to slow down the air cell growth. Decreasing and going the other way is not so easy, as you have found.
So maybe if things work out for you, you can write one about what you did!

I don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but I've also seen folks try lightly sanding eggs with fine grit sand paper, to thin the shells. I don't remember if it worked or not, never tried it myself.

Yes—Oh how I wish I had read that article before I started! I wasn’t intending to incubate yet, but I was suddenly in a huge rush after Rooster Dude was killed in the line of duty—had to save his genetics and honor him with progeny. It just goes to show that you can never be too prepared!!

I love the sandpaper idea. In my case, I’m not seeing a huge difference between my washed and unwashed eggs (the above photos are unwashed), so I’m not going to risk over-handling at this time. However, it would be something I would try if I were a future reader in desperation!

EDIT: In fact, if I were to be in this situation again, I might aim to get the bloom off and thin the shell in the area where I think the chick might pip. Yes or no? It might make the egg easier to break through, and because I'm dealing with too much fluid, I don't think I'd be worried about membranes drying out there. This is speculation on my part here. Yes? No?

 

[vivaciouswoman]

We have 2 pips!! Greenie is chirping for all she’s worth. Brownie, however, pipped outside the air cell. I applied the tiniest amount of coconut oil at the pip sites to keep them from drying out!

1–What to day for Brownie??? Going back to the article! Article: not much to do. Wait for 30 hours at least!
2–Now, what to do with humidity?? Desiccant is removed.

 

[cmom]

What is your humidity. I put mine at around 75% when in lockdown. Add some sponges. I have some small trays that a sponge will just fit in and I put a wet sponge in it and put that into a hatcher. I have one for each hatcher.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

What is your humidity. I put mine at around 75% when in lockdown. Add some sponges. I have some small trays that a sponge will just fit in and I put a wet sponge in it and put that into a hatcher. I have one for each hatcher.
View attachment 1428257

That's what I'm wondering about. Since I only have 2 pips and I'm still hoping to draw moisture from the other 30 eggs, I'm holding off on the humidity increase right now. Those little pips are protected with a tiny bit of coconut oil to keep the membrane from drying out.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Okay, I took the lid off for a more thorough investigation. I have 5 more that have clearly internally pipped into their air cells!!!!!

Greenie continues to peep for all she's worth!

I think it's time to get the humidity back up and hope-hope-hope that I did enough for them. Keeping an eye out, though, especially on the baby that pipped outside its air cell.

 

[cmom]

I have had chicks pip the pointy end of the shells and still hatch out ok.

 

[Ugadano]

So glad to find this thread, and thanks for the commitment to finishing the story!

I selected all my EE green shelled eggs plus one light brown for a clutch, but my home cobbled incubator is not consistent with temp, so the 2 chicks that are peeping now are doing it against all odds! The other eggs are not warm to the touch like the 2 vocal ones, so the viable ones must be generating some heat on their own now. I set this clutch on a monday night, so Monday june 11 would be the 3rd Mon after. Is Mon actually day 21 or 22 at same time on clock?

Also, they started peeping yesterday inside, still no external pip. Last broody hatch I had 2 or 3 pip about a thumbnail size area and found them dead in the shell under hen next morning. My green shells are pretty strong, so maybe they couldn't get out, were too dry? Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[vivaciouswoman]

So glad to find this thread, and thanks for the commitment to finishing the story!

I selected all my EE green shelled eggs plus one light brown for a clutch, but my home cobbled incubator is not consistent with temp, so the 2 chicks that are peeping now are doing it against all odds! The other eggs are not warm to the touch like the 2 vocal ones, so the viable ones must be generating some heat on their own now. I set this clutch on a monday night, so Monday june 11 would be the 3rd Mon after. Is Mon actually day 21 or 22 at same time on clock?

Also, they started peeping yesterday inside, still no external pip. Last broody hatch I had 2 or 3 pip about a thumbnail size area and found them dead in the shell under hen next morning. My green shells are pretty strong, so maybe they couldn't get out, were too dry? Any thoughts appreciated.

I've lost babies under my broodies too, and among the three that we lost, one was shrinkwrapped--the membrane dried out and prevented movement. And lots and lots of quitters under my broodies, EXCEPT one momma who went off on her own and hatched all 12 healthy chicks all at once, lost the first two to exposure the first night, and then we coralled them into a safer environment the next day. Those sneaky mommies seem to do a really good job somehow!

 

[WVduckchick]

Okay, I took the lid off for a more thorough investigation. I have 5 more that have clearly internally pipped into their air cells!!!!!

Greenie continues to peep for all she's worth!

I think it's time to get the humidity back up and hope-hope-hope that I did enough for them. Keeping an eye out, though, especially on the baby that pipped outside its air cell.

Don't worry about moistening pips. Even ones that pip outside the air cell shouldn't need it. Most of yours will probably be outside the air cells, since the air cells were small. It's fine. BUT...they will need longer before requiring any assistance. Without breathing the air cell air, and going straight to external pip, they are skipping that 24-hour-ish period, so give them a good 36 hours before even thinking about doing anything more for them.

This is eggciting!