Our first pip

[lady farmer]

First time incubating eggs. In day 21 and I only hear 1 chick which has pipped. Temp is 101.5 on top of egg in a still air incubator and humidity is averaging 63-65% since day 18. Does all this sound normal and healthy? Tried to candle but could never really tell what I was looking at. It was all so dark. Could only see air sack. No funky smells at all which is good.

Thnx
Nichole

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

All sounds good Try not to worry 21 days is just a guide nothing is set in stone when it comes to hatching. The chicks will hatch when they are ready. It's good you have a pip and can hear peeping. Hatching is very hard work for them and they do a lot of resting and absorbing yolk and blood vessels before they hatch.

Good luck and I hope you have some fuzzy butts real soon

 

[lady farmer]

All sounds good Try not to worry 21 days is just a guide nothing is set in stone when it comes to hatching. The chicks will hatch when they are ready. It's good you have a pip and can hear peeping. Hatching is very hard work for them and they do a lot of resting and absorbing yolk and blood vessels before they hatch.

Good luck and I hope you have some fuzzy butts real soon

Thanks...it's chirping away like crazy from time to time. Hasn't broken through the membrane yet. Waiting is awful

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Oh yes the dreaded waiting game I too am suffering this right now as I have a hatch taking place now. Have got 7 hatched and pips in other eggs but will be so relieved when they are done. Can't stop looking at the incubator

Once the oxygen becomes low in the air sac this should kick the chick into making its external pip. But I'm afraid it's still the waiting game for zip and hatch.

 

[lady farmer]

Just checked on her. She has a much bigger pip than at 9:30 this morning. I think my concern is that she's the only one to pip. How long do you wait until you give up on the eggs? Day 25?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

When I think my hatch is complete and everyone is moved to the brooder I candle any unhatched eggs to see what's going on in there. If I see no movement in them or internal pip they go. But any I'm unsure off stay untill day 24 then a final candle if nothing happening they go too. I'm not one for eggtopsies on them but if you feel you really need to know you could open them up to see what stage you got to.

This link has a section on what to do if your eggs have not hatched and how to do the float test if you are certain of no internal or external pips. If they wiggle in the water they could still be alive. Here is the link > https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[lady farmer]

We have 3 pipped now!!

. But #1 hasn't pipped through the membrane yet just the shell.

Also my humidity is creeping down to 62% Should I be concerned? I know never open the incubator. How do you'll keep it up when you can't open it? I have two sopping sponges and the windows have condensation on the inside. I don't know what else I can do. Plus it's 100% humidity here with rain today and tomorrow. Just let me know if I need to change something. I don't want to lose my Chickie's to being stuck inside the shell.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Your pip looks ok. Although you can't see right through the membrane it will be enough for the chick. As it progresses it will make more of a hole. If it didn't have enough oxygen it wouldn't be chirping. As to your humidity, with there being condensation I would say it's high enough so is your hygrometer giving you a correct reading? Are you going on what your incubator is telling you or have you a seperate thermometer and hygrometer in there?
Sometimes they say factory set but they are not and give wrong readings, always best to double check with ones you know to be correct. Even when I got my Brinsea I still checked just to be sure as my previous incubator was way off.

 

[lady farmer]

I'm going off the one built in the incubator. I read the link you gave and it said it was ok to open for a second to add warm water to boost humidity. I'll try that.

 

[lady farmer]

So, within 15 minutes a 4th pip occurred and hatched itself out. Yay

Though I have another chick that has pipped on the wrong side as well as the right side of the egg. It was the first one to pip at around 9:30 am. It's now 5:30pm and there has been no peeping or wiggling but I noticed it had a pip on both ends. What do I do???