Lockdown air cell draws down more

[jher77]

I've got 5 eggs on day 20. I dry incubated this hatch but usually have to add water to increase the humidity. This is what I'm used to seeing when they pip. They pip in this general area pretty close the the lowest point of the day 18 air cell.



But this hatch they are pipping so very low. I candled and found the air cell had drawn way down. Had to draw the air cell on the pic because I didn't take a pic. I've noticed this has happened before on eggs that didn't hatch before but I never take the eggs out after lockdown, except this one time, so maybe they all do that. They are doing fine but I do have 2 eggs that haven't externally pipped yet so kinda wondering about those.



Is it normal for the air cell to draw way down like that and I just haven't noticed it before?

Should I be concerned about the other 2 eggs yet? Day 20 is today at 11:00 am est.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I have taken eggs out every day for candling, specifically to see if this was normal because I noticed it on a previous hatch.

The air cell significantly draws down after day 18 for all of them.

If the chick wasn't moving during an eggtopsy it was already dead. They aren't so still as to be confused as dead.

It sounds like it might just have been too weak to pip through into the aircell by the time it needed to. It happens sometimes.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Draw down will occur every day after an egg is laid but not always in a linear manner during incubation. Do you dramatically increase humidity beginning on day 18? If air cell is proper or especially if it is too small at day 18, it is advisable to do so.

 

[jher77]

The 2 that didn't pip were dead. I did an eggtopsy as best as I could do.

Egg #	Laid Weight	Day 19 weight	Day 19 weight loss	Note
25	72.6 g	61.4 g	15.4%	Hatched.
35	69.5 g	61.4 g	11.7%	Ext pipped. Still in shell. Doing fine. Expected to hatch.
38	68.4 g	60.9 g	11.0%	Hatched.
31	70.6 g	59.1 g	16.3%	Dead. ? Full grown. In the correct position. Still had a big egg yolk. Nont internally pipped.
40	71.0 g	61.6 g	13.2%	Dead. Malpositioned, upside down. Not internally pipped.

Is there anything I could have done to prevent a malposition?

I assume #31 just lost to much weight or maybe shrink wrapped. I couldn't tell if it was shrink wrapped or not.

Thoughts on what was wrong or what I could have done better?

 

[jher77]

The air cell significantly draws down after day 18 for all of them.

Yes. That is what it is starting to seem like. Its crazy how much more they will draw down all of a sudden like that.

If the chick wasn't moving during an eggtopsy it was already dead. They aren't so still as to be confused as dead

It sounds like it might just have been too weak to pip through into the aircell by the time it needed to. It happens sometimes.

I thought of that too later on. They were dead when I did an eggtopsy then. Never saw those rock any during lockdown.

 

[jher77]

So that is normal then and I just haven't noticed it drop down that far that quickly?

Once chick just hatched about 30 min ago. 2 have externally pipped and resting. The other 2 haven't done anything yet, unless they have internally pipped. I'm kinda wondering about those two.

Is there anything you can do to help a chick that doesn't internally pip?

This hatch I started out using water for humidity but I found out the eggs weren't loosing near enough weight so I had to remove all the water and dry incubate. I actually dry incubated up till day 19, then raised the humidity to 65-70%.

I'm not used to dry incubating and a little out of my element so that has me wondering about any oddities I see. The humidity on this hatch averaged 29% on day 19. My previous hatches averaged 43-44% on day 18.

Seems like the lower humidity has made them hatch about 1/2 day quicker.

 

[jher77]

Hmm. Maybe I did an eggtospy too soon and #31 hadn't actually "woken up" and started hatching yet. Kinda feel bad about that one.

#40 probably wouldn't have hatched anyways? Not sure.