How long should I expect to wait on a late hatch?

[Tathea]

I am on day 24. I had one little guy hatch at about 9 hours ago. I am not seeing any movement, chirps (other than the hatched chick) or pips. My one little chick seems to be doing okay, not yet fluffy but starting to, moving all around the incubator and still looking very tired. The temp is 99.5 and humidity is between 65 and 75. I'm starting to get concerned that nothing else is happening especially with the beginning of the hatch starting so late. I tried candling them early but they are Marans and Olive Eggers I had trouble seeing anything and was afraid of disturbing the incubator too much. How long should I give them before I try inspecting the eggs? Planning to at least give them until tomorrow, but from there I have no idea.

 

[sourland]

Did you calibrate/check your thermometer and humidity sensor prior to incubating ? It almost sounds as if your temperature was running too low.

 

[Tathea]

No I did not. This is only my second hatch and the last one was several years ago. I also do not have a thermometer or humidity sensor other than the one one the incubator.

 

[Uff Da]

It doesn't do any good now, but always check your incubator with a calibrated thermometer before you incubate. Incubators are rarely ever at the right temp. I have even had to adjust the temp on my Brinsea, which are known for dependability.

Day 25 is the latest I've seen people claim to have eggs hatch.

Sorry.

 

[Tathea]

It doesn't do any good now, but always check your incubator with a calibrated thermometer before you incubate. Incubators are rarely ever at the right temp. I have even had to adjust the temp on my Brinsea, which are known for dependability.

Day 25 is the latest I've seen people claim to have eggs hatch.

Sorry.

What qualifies as a calibrated thermometer? I did Pop a meat thermometer in the air vent and it seemed to indicate it is at 98 to 100 it was fluctuating a bit.
Do you think there is still any chance of them hatching? Should I leave the live one in overnight or move it to the brooder this evening?

 

[Tathea]

Well the one chick that hatched didn't make it. Out of the 27 eggs only 11 had any development. One of those hatched but died. Of the other 10 one had piped but I didn't see it as it was on the bottom, it had almost no air sac and seemed to be very watery. Of the other 9, they seemed to have a good size air sac and and developed, some had already absorbed the yolk, others not.

Can anyone help explain what went wrong? Obviously since the only hatch was on day 24 the temp must be low. Trying to use my meat thermometer to test temp it seemed to be showing identical to the incubator. I now have the incubator cleaned, disinfected and am trying it out with a borrowed outdoor mercury thermometer, and will double check my meat thermometer. I ran the temp at 99.5 and it did fluctuate to 99 often.

I am expecting quail eggs to arrive the first of next week so want to iron out my issues before putting them in! After the quail I'll try a second hatch of chicken eggs.