Help please: worried newbie here

[RubyNala97]

Update: just float tested and then had to egg topsy them all, out of 18 eggs only 5 were even alive at day 18.. Others died before lockdown. My question is: two of them had absorbed their yolk already so I wonder if it was the humidity from day 1-18 how could I fell from the egg topsy.. It seems wet inside like fluid like.. But is that normal anyways? I guess I'm just worried it was something I did during incubation.. So for next time it will be better.

You can calibrate the one you bought. It's very simple and will tell you exactly how accurate it is. I give the test 24 hours. Here's the directions:
http://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/20...grometer-humidity-sensor-using-the-salt-test/

There is usually always some fluid when I eggtopsy, depending on when they died. The only time there hasn't been extra fluid is if they were literally about to pip but didn't. If they died a couple days before hatch there wil be some fluid. The problem with having to high humidity is that the air cell does not grow large enough and that gives the chicks more space to grow to large. Then they can't position correctly for hatch and end up drowning. Here's a good article on humidity:
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

I'm having issues too. When is a good time to float test them? I'm 2 days beyond the hatch date with no pips.

Have you candled them with an LED flashlight? I find that candling with light can give you a lot more information then water testing but water testing can be good for beginners. When you candle them check to see if the air cell has "drawn down". Draw down happens in viable eggs right before internal pip. The air cell will grow a lot, about doubling in size. It forms around the chick and you can literally see the outline of the chick and easily spot movement.

 

[linz44]

Ok thank you I will do that! I am lost and worrying about having an egg explode and also scared to toss one that I shouldn't. We did the float test on a couple that seemed like they were not good sized and tiny air cells and one that sunk like a rock with no movement ended up being a live chick. Id much rather use the light and now that I know what to look for at the late stage I will do that.

 

[RubyNala97]

Ok thank you I will do that! I am lost and worrying about having an egg explode and also scared to toss one that I shouldn't. We did the float test on a couple that seemed like they were not good sized and tiny air cells and one that sunk like a rock with no movement ended up being a live chick. Id much rather use the light and now that I know what to look for at the late stage I will do that.

In the beginning I would float test too but I had an egg that had absolutely no movement in the water and when I went into the closet to candle I could clearly see it moving. So I don't really trust the float test. Look for draw down. That's the easiest way to to tell if the egg is doing what it should and it's easy to spot the movement of the chick against the membrane. It sometimes looks like a wave motion. I will try to get some pictures of draw down. And I've never had an egg explode. If they smell fine then I wouldn't worry to much about that.