How the heck are you supposed to wait....Day 23 AND WE HAVE A BABY!

[Bravo]

I'm chomping at the bit too. I have a hatch in the incubator that's due tomorrow night/Sat AM. It is so hard waiting....and worrying.

Humidity might be a bit high, can you remove one of the plugs and let it drop about 5%? What was your humidity like during the first 18 days?

Did you candle before you went into lockdown? Were all of the embryo's viable? I know it is totally tempting to candle now for your own piece of mind but I would just try to distract yourself and give it a few more days.

I wonder if anyone finds that in winter, hatches tend to need an extra day or two. When I hatched in the summer/fall those chickies were so quick to get out of their eggs whereas my winter hatches have been slow.

Sending hatch vibes your way!! C'mon chickies!!

 

[IggiMom]

Dear Cluck, yes, we can all identify.

Others have a lot more experience than me, so I don't really know how long they can go, but here is a suggestion.

Why don't you wait until after dark and candle them?

It is hard to see much when they are so near hatching, but surely you could see a little movement or something.

Catherine

 

[IggiMom]

Ack, I'm sorry, I forgot you aren't supposed to candle during lockdown!

Sorry!

Not that I haven't done it!

The thing with lockdown is that you don't want to lose humidity. With the humidity that high, I don't see how it could hurt to take out one or two anyway, and take a peek at them. I don't want to say something that would hurt your eggs, though.

Catherine

 

[cluckcluck42]

We hear chirps!!!!!!!!!! And under one of the eggs, there is bits of shell and a bit of yellow liquid, but we cant see the pip, its on the bottom.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do eggs smell when hatching? I'm getting a whiff of something stanky and wondering if its them or a stinky butt cat.


BABIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of them is CHIRPING at us!!!

See, they just needed to make me worry before coming out.

 

[mstricer]

I dont think they leak or stink, you might be into one nasty clean up (it sounds like one might have gone cablueeee)

 

[cluckcluck42]

Quote:
Ooooh exciting!! Sending you some good vibes for a great hatch!

I removed a plug about 25 mins ago and after that I heard the first chirp! First 18 days, it was a bit high at the beginning, naer 80, then I let it even out at around 45-50.

It's now closer to 70 humiditiy.

Yeah I candled before lockdown, and threw out 4 empty eggs. ALl these are dark dark dark inside with air sacs.

I have chirps, a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders, I am a bit of a worry wart if you cant already tell! lol

Maybe youre right about the winter thing. I dont blame them! I'd want to stay in my toasty egg too, tehy just dont know theres a very toasty heatlamp waiting for them out here in the real world.

That chirp was the best noise ever, I think.

 

[cluckcluck42]

Quote:
Smell seems to be gone, blaming the cats!!!

 

[Bravo]

Quote:
Whooo hoooo! GO CHICKIES GO!!

Ok, now flip the little plug you removed over on its back and with the flat side of it cover the hole about half way. See if you can maintain a humidity of 65-75%

I am so excited for you! Watching a hatch never gets old for me!

 

[IggiMom]

Yeah a bad smell would worry me.

My beloved Huckleberry, my egg sniffing dog, died unexpected last October, a terribly sad event. When he was here, if he came into the room where the incubator is, he would indicate that something was wrong, and then point at the bad egg when I lifted the lid off.

Sigh, fairwell Hucklebery, and flights of angels sign thee to thy rest.

Without a good egg sniffing dog, you might (yes, I know, lockdown, but if an egg explodes, that won't be good for those chicks, either), take a real quick sniff at each egg.

If one is ready to blow you will be able to smell it.

Another disclaimer: someone was doing this last year, I forget who, but the egg blew up in her face. Right away, she knew which egg was bad.

Explain to me again why I am doing this. Hatching eggs, I mean.

Catherine

 

[cluckcluck42]

Wee!!

How long does it typically take between chirping and kung fu-ing out of the egg?? I sang them Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting, and one made a huge attempt at a pip and the egg bounced a bit lol.