My First Hatch- May be problems. Late Hatching

[ChickenMechanic]

So first off, I didn't think any of my eggs were fertile. I couldn't see anything on day seven candling. The eggs are cream colored to light brown.

My little brother hatched some eggs a few years back and said he had the same thing, but left them in anyways to see if anything hatched.

I didn't see anything in any eggs. In fact the air sacs looked detached and floating around. I thought they were all infertile. Not even blood rings.

But low and behold I heard a peep tuesday. That was the due date for hatching. Day 21. Then today, Wednesday I called my wife from work at lunch and she said a chick was in the incubator. And another had started a hole in its egg. When I got home I stuck the chick from the incubator into another incubator. That way it didn't roll the eggs around and confuse the other chicks.

It is now 930pm on wednesday, and the same chick at lunch that had broke through hasn't gotten much farther. The hole is a little bigger. Another chick has broken through its egg with a little pip. A few more eggs are moving around a little.

I kept humidity around 68% since day 18. It is now 71%. I believe because of chickes breaking through their eggs. It doesn't seem that my first chick had any problems. There were no breaks in eggs this morning, and lunch there was a chick.

Is this okay. I would rather not help the chicks hatch if it could be done without.

Also, temps were right on with my calibrated thermometer. I used dry hatch method and kept humidity between 25% and 40%. Most often it was 35%.

What could cause them to hatch late? Is this a normal thing?

 

[sumi]

It is normal for a hatch to spread over 2 and sometimes 3 days. Whether you are hatching under a broody hen or an incubator. I've never had a batch of eggs all hatch on day 21 (but I'm still trying

). Sometimes you will have also have a chick that pips, zips and completes the hatch in a few hours, others take their sweet time and will hatch up to 24 hours after pipping. As long as they are lively and doesn't look distressed just give them time. If they have made no progress 24 hours after pipping though they may need help, but it's better to let them try and hatch by themselves first.