May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[Mother of Chicks]

As they get larger you're more able to see the rocking from the chicks movement. They might not hatch early but there's no harm in putting them in early lockdown. You may want to wait until you see the air cell drawing down early, pips, or day 18/19 before increasing the humidity. Base increasing the lockdown humidity on how your air cells look. I often stop turning my eggs a day or two early but I won't increase humidity to 65% unless I see internal pips or the air cells are large. Good luck on your hatch!

Thanks - yes I was thinking I would remove the auto-turner and add the hatching mat. I'll keep on candling and hand turning until 'normal lockdown' or the internal pip. It's all so exciting <3

 

[Mother of Chicks]

Day 21 here and no signs of anything. Nothing is moving, no pips. I’m worried I somehow killed them all. They were alive when we went into lockdown at day 18.......
I’m worried.
I know we can just try again if these ones don’t hatch. I think the temp was a little low during incubation so maybe they’re just later.....?

Don't panic yet. If there are no pips you can still candle to see if there's any progress - that might put your mind at ease or give you a clue?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Day 21 here and no signs of anything. Nothing is moving, no pips. I’m worried I somehow killed them all. They were alive when we went into lockdown at day 18.......
I’m worried.
I know we can just try again if these ones don’t hatch. I think the temp was a little low during incubation so maybe they’re just later.....?

If the temp was low you could definitely just have a later hatch. You don't always see the eggs rocking. I've had plenty of perfectly still eggs that hatched without issue.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thanks - yes I was thinking I would remove the auto-turner and add the hatching mat. I'll keep on candling and hand turning until 'normal lockdown' or the internal pip. It's all so exciting <3

You don't need to continue turning, there are studies that show there are no detrimental effects to not turning once you reach day 14. You can candle them up until you see internal pips and then I would I leave the incubator closed until they hatch so the humidity stays more stable.

 

[Mvan42]

Can someone tell me how I ended up with 41 eggs in the incubator? WHO DID WHO PUT THOSE EGGS IN THERE!!!!!

I swear I only put 28 in there..

*lol*

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Can someone tell me how I ended up with 41 eggs in the incubator? WHO DID WHO PUT THOSE EGGS IN THERE!!!!!

I swear I only put 28 in there..

*lol*

The same gremlin that kept adding eggs to my incubators this month. Lol

 

[Mvan42]

The same gremlin that kept adding eggs to my incubators this month. Lol

I am going to have to hunt that gremlin down...

 

[sdm111]

You can take chicks out the incubator as they hatch with no problems

 

[goat114]

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

You can take chicks out the incubator as they hatch with no problems

That depends on the type of incubator you're using. Some incubators don't return to stable humidity very quickly or even when the hygrometer reads higher after opening quickly I have seen signs of it causing the membrane of the other pipped chicks to dry slightly. I do my best not to take chicks out while there are other external pips unless I have a chick that just popped out of the shell. When you have a newly hatched wet chick it seems to return the entire incubator to a more consistent ambient humidity the quickest. This isn't to say you can't get away with opening the incubator, I just try to be patient and don't open it more than necessary. It seems to make for a smoother hatch. Plus I like to let the chicks fluff up a little bit in the incubator so that they don't get chilled when I move them.