Looking for the opinion/hunch of experienced hatchers!

[KirstKennedy]

Hello!
I'm very new to backyard chickens. We have recently incubated 16 eggs. 3 were obvious duds early on and we removed them (on day 7 I think). Of the remaining 13 we had 3 we were unsure of but the rest had moving chicks in them right until lock down on day 17. Of the 3 we were unsure of, 1 hatched and 1 died while hatching We now have 6 healthy chicks that starting hatching on day 19. Today is day 21. We have 4 eggs left that havent hatched or even pipped. They havent been moving at all either. Also no chirps heard. I had 3 in total that started to hatch and had both "pipped" and "zipped" and then died! Anyways, the wisdom I seek is.....do you think these last 4 have a reasonable chance of hatching over the next few days?

 

[Messica]

What are your settings at, temperature and humidity level? Why did you lockdown on day 17 and not 18? Did you increase humidity and not touch them from that point on?

 

[sourland]

I would give them a couple more days 'just in case'. If incubator heated unevenly, they may have been in a cooler section increasing incubation period. Good luck.

 

[KirstKennedy]

I would give them a couple more days 'just in case'. If incubator heated unevenly, they may have been in a cooler section increasing incubation period. Good luck.

This is interesting. I didn't think of that! Maybe they were the ones closest to the vent holes.....This gives me hope! Thank you very much!

 

[lazy gardener]

If you have not yet read all of hatching eggs 101 in the learning center, please do so. That article is a treasure trove of information that will help you problem solve to increase your hatch rate. Sour makes an interesting point. Before your next incubation, you might want to spend a couple days analyzing the air flow and temps in your bator, assessing every section of it for consistency of temps with a calibrated thermometer. You might have some surprising data to work with. Just b/c there is a fan, that does not mean that the temp is consistent throughout the box!

 

[KirstKennedy]

What are your settings at, temperature and humidity level? Why did you lockdown on day 17 and not 18? Did you increase humidity and not touch them from that point on?

Temp has been steady 99.5, humidity was 40-50 before lockdown and 65-70 during lock down. I locked down on day 17 because of life schedules. I was glad I did because we got our first pip the next day.

 

[KirstKennedy]

Still nothing happening with the last 4 eggs. No movement at all. It's only day 22, but they are the last of a batch of 13. I feel like its unlikely anything is going to happen at this point. Should I candle them? Water float test?

 

[lazy gardener]

If your equipment was calibrated, I would say that your problem with hatching was related to high humidity during the incubation phase.

 

[WVduckchick]

Still nothing happening with the last 4 eggs. No movement at all. It's only day 22, but they are the last of a batch of 13. I feel like its unlikely anything is going to happen at this point. Should I candle them? Water float test?

Candle. Don't float.

 

[KirstKennedy]

I candled them and 3 look normal but no movement and 1 when I move it around, the contents move around, even into the air cell area. Should I chuck that one?