newbie incubating. need help

[looking4chick]

i'm new to hatching eggs. i purchased a few silkie eggs and its day 21 and nothing. i candled them the last time at 18 days. a few still looked good to go. the temp is at 100 and humidity at 65%. is it ok to candle them again at this point or wait it out a couple more days? i hope we have lil chicks soon

 

[Granny Hatchet]

you can do both. take a quick peek if you cant help yourself but def. give it a couple more days. can you hear anything? if they have piped the first membrane you can hear them with a good ear

 

[looking4chick]

i haven't tried listening for them but i did have my boyfriend candle them. they are in there, nice and big, but not moving around like i see other people have posted. Is this normal?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

if they are alive and getting ready to hatch there really is no room for them to be moving much. if the air space is smaller then they have piped internal . guess its a wait and see thing. hope it goes well

 

[backyardklukker]

You can reach inside quickly and turn the eggs 1/3 of turn. They will wiggle to re-adjust themselves for the next few minutes afterward. If you see no movement, still don't worry. They simply stop moving sometimes and still hatch. But if they don't hatch, you were probably opening the door too much. The humidity drops from 65 to 30 as fast as you can close the door. That low humidity happening so quickly causes the membrane inside the shell to shrink tighter around the chick. That would also stop him from wiggling. Give it until day 24 before you start worrying and try to keep yourself from opening the door. We, ALL were doing that when we first started. The excitement can be a killer!

 

[clairegareth]

hi i am New to incubating and am currently on day 3 I have tried to candle but all i can see is what looks to be the pores of the egg and maybe airsac or yolk any suggestions

 

[Granny Hatchet]

day 3 is way too early to see anything. day 7 would be early . you would just start to see little spider veins then

 

[clairegareth]

Ok thanks I haven't seen an egg being candles before so wasnt sure and you hear diff things as to what days to candle thanks again

 

[looking4chick]

Monday will be day 24. To make matters worse, my boyfriend tried to help while i was at work by adding water, didn't close the lid all the way. temp wasn't too bad but humidty was 30. it was for an hour or two. That happen saturday morning. i checked them sunday and one has good veins and the others i can't really see. i read somewhere about poking a hole at the big end of the egg. is this something i should do? should i wait longer? help!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

its starting to sound like your not having good luck at all !!! i have hatched chicks but i never had one live that hadnt piped already. in the air sack end, you can do a small hole to see if there is any life in them but beware, if they are rotted they can explode. i always open mine to see the cause. most people will tell you if it cant hatch itself its not strong enough to survive.